Live in the Spirit

 

One of the hardest things for Christians is to learn to live in the Spirit. We have become so accustomed to our own reasoning, feelings, past experiences, and circumstances that hearing the Spirit can seem challenging. 

 

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts'" (Hebrews 3:7-8a).

 

We control the sensitivity of our hearts. Our choices yield either a hardened, insensitive heart or a tender, perceptive heart open to the Spirit. We are the ones who choose to harden our hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit. 

 

Many Christians live from their minds, wills, and emotions. We live by our feelings and walk by sight rather than by faith. Many of our prayers come from our feelings. Exercising the spiritual mind of Christ and praying from the Spirit remains elusive for many. 

 

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:13).

 

The Spirit must guide our Christian walk. Our spirit man needs to live by every word from God's mouth. The Spirit will inspire us to pray in genuine faith, to receive words of knowledge and wisdom, and to access gifts of healing and deliverance. If we are overwhelmed and distracted by our feelings, we will experience frustration and struggle to walk in the Spirit. 

 

"These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:13-14).

 

An unsaved person lives according to what his natural mind dictates. He does not receive the things of God. They make no sense to him. A saved person has a choice. He can understand with his natural mind or with the spiritual mind of Christ he received when he was born again. A Christian living a life dominated by his natural understanding and perception is insensitive and hardened to the things of the Spirit. This insensitivity is why so many miss out on God's promises. The Spirit reveals God's promises and motivates our faith to believe. 

 

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:12).

 

We have God's Spirit, enabling us to perceive the things God has freely given us. The flesh opposes the Spirit. Choose today not to harden your heart to His voice. Daily walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of your flesh. Pray in the Spirit, and your feelings will not interfere. Expect the Holy Spirit to guide you and to reveal God's truth, and He will.

 

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Romans 8:5-6).

 

Do your thoughts wander as you create strategies and scenarios to navigate life? Do you let your feelings guide you? The Word states that this mindset leads to death. 

 

A hardened heart will keep you from perceiving spiritual truth. You decide to nurture your heart to hear the voice of the Spirit. You decide to keep your heart soft and open to His guidance. You possess the mind of Christ, which transcends the natural man. Focus your thoughts on the spiritual matters of God, and you will foster a mindset of life and peace. Each day, "put on the new man who was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). 

 

The choice is yours to live in the Spirit.

 

 

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