God is sovereign, meaning he’s in total and complete control of everything. It also means that even in his sovereignty he gives us free will, the right to choose. God isn’t going to force us to do anything. I believe if God forced us to do everything, we’d never learn the hard lessons, we’d never learn what it means to endure and suffer well. We’d never learn that patience and waiting upon the learn produces perservence.
I’m learning and understanding this concept of choice more and more as I believe I am maturing in my walk with Christ. There was a season in my life where I made the choice to do the bare minimum in my walk with Christ beceause I thought God was going to do most of the grunt work for me. I thought that he would rescue me, pity me, and pull me up out the funk I was so desperate to get out of. But at what point do we decide to pull ourselves out of the funk or rut we’re in? After all, we did play a part in getting there in a first place. We in fact made a decision, whether we realized it or not to stay there longer than we needed to.
Don’t get me wrong or misunderstand what I am saying here, yes, in His word it says that just like the shepherd goes to get his lost sheep who may have strayed away from the herd, Jesus would too leave the 99 to come and see about the 1 who strayed away or got lost and bring it back to the herd. But … does that mean that every single time - even if we choose to voluntarily step away or find ourselves off course that he will just come and get us every single time?! I don’t necessarily believe that is the case, especially as we mature in our faith and our walk with Jesus. At some point, we have to choose to stay with the herd and not separate ourselves. And yes, we have the Holy Spirit, to help us, guide us, and convict us - but what good is the Holy Spirit at work if we still choose to WILLINGLY go against those unctions and urges to actively walk in the Spirit?! NO. GOOD. THING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! (*cues “What is it good for?! Absolutely nothing! 😂🎶 )
I think sometimes audacity and entitlement creeps in and tries to get us to believe that we are more deserving in being rescued by the Father, time and time again, as if we’re always the damsel in distress by the enemy, by somebody else or some sort of thing. God forbid we cause the distress ourselves. You see that, that right there, was a choice.
The Holy Spirit recently led me to do a deeper study on the Fruit of the Spirit. I’m currently reading a bible plan on it and it’s given me a perspective shift in a major way. I found myself asking the question of, “How can the Fruit of the Spirit be at work within us and displayed outwardly, if we are actively CHOOSING to display the “works” of our flesh?” (i.e., unforgiveness, gossip, anger, impatience, etc.,) I mean the list goes on. All these “works” of the flesh are complete and total opposites of the Fruit of the Spirit, which are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
So for me, I’ve been actively choosing to display impatience, anger, and unforgiveness. I have actually overcomplicated the concept of choosing - of making a choice. I want to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God, that starts with actively choosing to deny my flesh and walk in the Spirit. That looks like me actively communing and talking with the Holy Spirit when I feel my flesh rising up in anger, or holding a grudge, or being impatient with my boys. Don’t get me wrong, those emotions will take place, but I get to make the choice on if I’m going to stay in those emotions, dwell in those emotions and allow them to overtake me … OR I can choose to feel them and don’t stay there with them. I can choose to identify them, why I feel the way I feel and then partner with the Holy Spirit to help me instead, display the Fruits. I can actively and willingly trade impatience for Patience, I can actively and willingly trade anger for Kindness and Gentleness, and I can actively and willingly trade unforgiveness for Love, Peace, and Self-Control.
Again, it’s a choice, it’s always going to be a choice!
The question is: Am I choosing to walk in the Spirit, honoring God’s word and obeying his commands … or am I choosing to satisfy the things of my flesh because it feels good in the moment?
Please be careful friends, don’t let those fleshly things linger longer than they need to, because they can corrupt and slowly eat away at who God has truly called you to be.
Galatians 5:13 (NLT), “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”
Galatians 5:16-24 (NLT), “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
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