Sunday, May 1, 2011

Never free from conflict BUT...I determine the choices

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict." Galatians 5:17

How does the Holy Spirit motivate you?

How do your feelings motivate you?

When you find yourself making decisions do you go off of your feelings or the Holy Spirit?

If you are like me, you would love to say the Holy Spirit 100% of the time, but that would not be true. I am not sure I could even say it was 50/50.

I have been studying Galatians 5 a little more in depth lately and this one particular passage has jumped off the page, into my heart, and is swirling around in my mind, getting my thoughts all tangled up. In a good way!

"The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants.  And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict." Galatians 5:17


For me the war I am in consists of "Feelings" which is all about the "Me" VS the Holy Spirit. Both are motivators and have been for a long time. So, what is it that I love about our passage? It is that though my choices are never free from this conflict, they are still CHOICES. Choices that I determine.

And I determine whether to choose the Truth of the Holy Spirit that leads to a closer relationship and understanding of Jesus, which then leads to His reflection in me and out of me, verse, the choice of acting off of my feelings, which, as we all know, are fickle, crazy, emotional, a roller coaster, and based off of the "Me" (flesh).

Now, I do believe feelings have their benefits, but there is a fine line between the Holy Spirit's leading and the leading of our feelings.

Discernment brethren, one of the most important necessities!

In short of  all that rambling, we have to be careful about what we let motivate us. We must be certain each decision, each goal, each thought, action, and spoken word is motivated by the Holy Spirit and the Word itself.

We will decipher the two more in detail later. It's good, real good!

Jesus You are my greatest motivator, may I listen, hear, and be mindful of Your voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Amen


Hey, by the way sweet reader- I ADORE YOU!