"... I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
This morning I woke up with the temptation to forget who I am and to walk out this day in frustration and a lack of peace and patience! I had a terrible sleep last night. Traveling the U.S. with 5 kids in an RV is a blast somedays but not everyday is so peachy. Last night we spent the night in a parking lot as we were just passing through a big city. We had 2 kids in our bed, making a good nights sleep near impossible on it's own. To add to that we had kids drag racing next to our RV part of the night and another group of people decided to pull up right next to our bedroom slide and blast their music with horrible lyrics as they all had a dance party in the parking lot. I have no idea if they were intentionally trying to wake us and cause problems or if they were using our rig to hide behind as they danced their hearts out and did who knows what else. Regardless it was obnoxious and impossible for me to sleep through. So naturally I woke up feeling exhausted and frustrated. Every negative thought entered my mind as soon as I opened my eyes. Things like ,"this is going to be a long day", "Ugh the kids are up and already annoying me", "I can't handle the noise and fighting today" and so on. I sat down and tried getting into the Word but just got more frustrated because of all the distractions and noise. As I cried out to my God in frustration He quickly reminded me of His promise in Matthew 28:20, "... I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Thank God for the Spirit of Truth! I instantly realized that Satan was trying to steal something from me today. He is seeking to steal my identity. You see the bible says that if I am a Believer (if I believe on Christ and believe He is the Son of God, died for my sins and was raised from the dead where He now sits at the right hand of the Father) then I am no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit of God. Now the Spirit of God is not ordered by nor influenced by earthly circumstances so neither should we be! Romans 8 says it so clearly. I encourage you to read all of Romans 8 but for times sake I'm just going to share some of the verses here. Verse 5 says, "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". So I had a choice today to focus on the things of the flesh (being tired, not getting sleep, kids not sleeping in their own beds, rude people, etc...) or on the things of the Spirit (the fact that the Spirit of God lives in me and if He is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control then I am too!). Verse 6 says, "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace". This day I choose life and peace! To focus on and be led by your flesh, by what you feel in your body, what you think and feel in your mind will lead to death every time! If I gave into my flesh this morning I know I would have spoken death words over myself, over my children and my spouse. I would have stormed around all day in frustration making everyone around me walk around on eggshells. And I would have ended the day feeling discouraged and defeated. That is not who I desire to be and even more importantly that is not who my God desires me to be. I want to please Him and verse 8 says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
I love verses 10 and 11! "And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." How awesome! So because of sin your physical body, your flesh (including your mind, will and emotions) are dead. Sickness, disease, depression, anxiety, fear, pain, anger, etc.. can all manifest and reign. But the Spirit of God is life because He is righteous. No death reigns in Him. The same Spirit that rose Jesus Christ from the dead is the same Spirit that lives in you! So if you have the Spirit of God that is life and not death living inside you it is only natural that your body that was dead through sin will be made alive in Christ. Do you see that it is a choice that you make? Every day, all day long you get to make the choice to live in the Spirit and the things of the Spirit or the flesh. Life and peace or death. Deut. 30:19 says, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. Choose life friends! Choose blessing! Set your heart and your mind on the Spirit and the things of the Spirit. Get into His word and seek the heart of your Father, your good good Father and He WILL manifest Himself to you (John 14:21)!
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