"I say then, 'Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.'
Galatians 5:16-17. NKJV
We try so hard not to let God down but, despite all our efforts, we end up letting Him down anyway. What can we do? Answer, keep on trying, never give up. Don't lose sight of what God is doing within you, He wants to bless you every way He can.
When we grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), we'll be the first to know, and that is fact. We have an overwhelming feeling of guilt and sadness - a strong heaviness. From one point of view it's good to know this as it confirms we belong to Jesus; if we didn't belong to Him, we wouldn't care. However, from the other side of the coin, it is not good to know that we have grieved the Holy Spirit and hurt Him deeply, because then, we have a feeling of being alone, like the Dove - the Holy Spirit, has flown away, as I mentioned in my commentary entitled The Dove on 6th September 2020.
We need to start developing a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, so that we will do nothing knowingly to grieve Him or bring Him displeasure. First of all, let us try to:
(1) ACKNOWLEDGE THERE'S A BATTLE GOING ON. In other words, be mindful at all times, that as a Christian you are a target of the enemy - the devil. He will do all he can to rattle your cage.
(2) ADMIT YOU'RE POWERLESS AND SUBMIT TO GOD. We are powerless without Jesus (John 15:5) and it is God's desire that we walk in the Spirit; but we need to be tuned in to Jesus.
(3) EXERCISE SELF-DISCIPLINE. Be honest with yourself, you know the difference between right or wrong. You know it is dangerous to become involved with things that are unwholesome. Therefore, stamp it out of your lives.
(4) REMEMBER, IGNORING THE CONSEQUENCES BRINGS DISASTER. Denial is the wrong route to take. Telling yourself that, 'it'll be all right, no one will know,' is a recipe for disaster. Many people have done this and lost everything. It comes down to living for self.
Just like Regular Soldiers need to exercise to keep up their fitness, we too, as Soldiers of Jesus, have to do the same. Living for self has to be exterminated. I rather like what Bob Gass writes about self:
S.E.L.F
(S) Surrender to Christ daily
(E) Empty yourself of anything that hinders you from doing His will.
(L) Lift up your heart to Him
(F) Feed on His Word Copyright 2010 Bob Gass The Word for Today
Jesus knows it's a struggle, so He is with us every step of the way. Thank God for that!
Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard
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