Journal Entry ~ 11/10/18

for we walk by faith, not by sight. - 2 Corinthians 5:7

In order for us to walk by the faith, we must be filled with the Spirit. We simply don’t have the power to walk by faith on our own. Paul tells us in these verses to walk by faith because He knows we have the Spirit living in us. The problem is many of us don’t know how to tap into the power of the Spirit that lives inside of us

We don't have a lot that God has promised yet, but we do have His Spirit. If the very same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of me, the same Spirit who promises supernatural peace and joy, strength for my battles, freedom from my sins, then why do I continue to struggle?  

At the moment of our conversion, we get all of the Spirit. The problem is that the Spirit doesn't get all of us. That's why we still struggle with anxiety, anger, fear, despair, loneliness, and all those other heavy emotions even though we are filled with the Spirit. 

When we find we struggle, it should be a huge red flag to look deeper into our heart. Our flesh and our Spirit are in constant battle, and when our flesh wins, we feel those defeated feelings. It's as simple as that. But we don't need to stay there. If we feel that way at any time, we need capture our thinking and start looking for where our heart is getting in the way of the Spirit filling you. For us to be filled with the Spirit all of the time, we need to first recognize those heavy emotional thoughts and confess them as sins.  Then we need to ask God to fill us again - and He will. Those feelings will evaporate. So where do we look?  

First and foremost, we need to recognize when we are resisting the Holy Spirit. When we have a conviction to do something, we may be resisting the conviction. We need to take hold of that resistance and submit to what the Holy Spirit is prompting us to do. We know we should call her, but we don't want to endure the uncomfortable conversation. We know we should go to small group, but we'd rather stay home tonight. We know we should get into the Word, but we'd rather hit that snooze button one more time. I'm currently struggling with this very thing - the Spirit is convicting me I should be doing something, and I'm resisting because it's hard and my flesh doesn't want to do it. So, I'm working on confessing the sin of resistance and asking God to fill me so full of the Spirit that the conviction becomes overwhelming to me and my flesh no longer desires to resist. 

When we resist what the Spirit is convicting us to do, we quench the Spirit and He becomes quiet. But when we are obedient and give in to the promptings of the Spirit, He is strengthened and His voice becomes louder - that’s when we become filled with those supernatural fruits of joy and peace. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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