Flowing with the Spirit

The cadence of God's voice reverberates in and out of time, and to flow with the Holy Spirit is to keep pace with God's voice.  When you walk according to the Spirit, you will not often be in step with the world, but attention to the Holy Spirit's leading is protective. God's wisdom will guide you to safe harbor when the world's "wisdom" would place you in harm's way. 

Trying to pay equal attention to God's voice and also to the world's demands will result in the instability of confusion.  "You cannot serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24).  Hearing God's Word but failing to put it into practice has a similar result (Luke 6:49). 

Pray to put into practice the good guidance that flows from the Holy Spirit within you.  He will never lead you astray.  Obey the Lord and leave the results of that obedience in His hands, even when you must turn your back on the opinions and judgments of other human beings.  The Lord will be your advocate (1 John 2:1). 

Sin

Sin makes the sweetest drink bitter and the bitter intolerable.  Forgiven sin (the clean heart that results) makes even the bitter sweet.  

"Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered" (Psalm 32:1).  

Embrace Humility

The constraints that hold you are not external, but internal.  Rebellion has a characteristic stench; skirt a wide path around it.  Humility is protective; embrace it. 

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you" (Romans 12:3).  

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love"  (Ephesians 4:2).  

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble'" (1 Peter 5:5).  

 

Not Your Own

The Lord is with you, not because of any merit of your own, but because of His love. Past, present, and future, His all encompassing, full coverage love surrounds you.  God's love for you depends upon Him, not you. 

This love edifies, lifts, and grants you status in His eyes; status that is not of you, but of Him. Love is His gift to you, so that you have no reason for pride.  It is possible to be humbled and simultaneously glorified by God's love, but you must remember the glory in which you participate is God's glory and not your own. 

Do not fall to the snares of success.  Humble yourself before God, and He will lift you up.  Serve others, and He will cause you to be served, not for your own sake, but for His.  There is no task too small (inconsequential) for you to perform.  Scrub toilets, mop floors, serve others,  and do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.   

Your beauty is not your own.  Bear it with humility, trusting the One who has given you strength.  God is with you.

"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you" (Romans 12:3).  

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).   

Take the Freedom Path

I tell you, the enemy you face does not come from without but from within.  There is nothing keeping you from blessings but the paralysis of fear through which Satan would afflict you with laziness and overweight, not as primary sins, but as offshoots of a need to escape from the terrible discomfort of fear. 

The Lord is going to make you a way through, Child, but you must have courage to walk the path. 

Ease will come as you walk the freedom path.  Freedom from overweight.  Freedom from weakness.  Freedom from procrastination and its accompanying helplessness of guilt and remorse.  The Lord is with you. There is time yet.  Take the freedom path.  

Scripture:  "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).  

Only Trust Him

There are many quotes about courage to face reality.  You do not need that kind of courage, which is many times a euphemism for the willingness to face worse case scenarios.  The Lord never asks you to extrapolate from your current circumstances to “what might happen” in the future, He asks you to trust in Him despite circumstances that seem hard.  Trusting God for your current circumstances is a very different proposition from trusting Him for what might happen in the future.  He asks of you the former, never the latter.  Trust the Lord for today and leave tomorrow in His hands. 

"Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me" (John 14:2 NLT)

Do Not Give Way to Fear

You fear what will not happen, and this drains your resolve and energy.  Walk in the Lord's freedom, which will not be compromised because it is His and not yours.  By submitting to God you have gained higher ground, above the ability of the enemy to broach.  Do not succumb to the devil's fear tactics.  Stand firm.  This is not too difficult for you; only do not give way to fear. 

Scripture:  “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them (Numbers 23:21).