Obedient By Choice

The Holy Spirit is the voice of authority and the voice of knowledge within. When he speaks, the growing Christian automatically hears and does, with contentment.

We are obedient because we want to be, not because we have to be. We are contented to obey because we know that not only will God be glorified but we will be blessed richly.

It is a pleasure to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit because of the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that we can partake of. Those resources make a difference. 

Knowing God is supposed to make a difference in our lives. Those who love God covet that difference. We embrace the authority of God's Holy Spirit because we want to live in the blessings of God. We want to daily experience the difference that knowing God can bring. We are obedient to the authority of God's Holy Spirit because we choose to be.

Walking In The Reborn Spirit

Galatians 5:17 tells us that the flesh fights against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. This is because our flesh is not reborn when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Our spirits are reborn. The fleshly attitudes in us are against God and will never be subjected to him. The fleshly way is against God and the flesh can never be subjected to God's way, love or law. (Romans 8:7) I know that when I am disappointed in God, unhappy with him and not appreciating and respecting him, I am walking in my flesh. 

My reborn spirit loves God with a perfect love. The more that I walk in the spiritual life, or in the spirit, the more that I am happy and satisfied with God. This knowledge and revelation helps me to quickly get back into my reborn spirit side of my being, with the help of the Holy Spirit, when my thoughts and feelings are not helpful or fair. It is difficult to resist the fleshly way of thinking because we are born into it. We always need the help of God's Spirit in us to get back into our reborn spirit's way of functioning.

While on this earth, we as Christians have our reborn spirits and we still live in bodies that function by fleshly control. The best that we can do with our flesh is to crucify and bring it under.  (Galatians 5:24, I Corinthians 9:27)  Doing that with that same flesh, however, does not have lasting effects. The flesh, any way that you cut and dry it, profits us nothing. That's why we fall back into our detrimental habits and destructive ways when we try to make ourselves do better.

Romans 8:13 shares that through the spirit man we do mortify the deeds of the fleshly man. This profound knowledge helps me to know that I am not bad or wrong when I suffer through my fleshly attitudes and habits, because my fleshly influence does not go away or die in this life. My reborn spirit man is real and I need to use it like God means for me to. I must always remember that I have a reborn spirit and that I must spend quality time building it up. I must use the spiritual strength that comes from God to quickly get back into my reborn spirit when the flesh directs my thoughts.

Happy Wednesday: God's Daily Provision

God will always provide our needs daily. We are to practice good management of our lives but this does not include obsessing and stressing about the future. 

Our main management efforts are to focus on today and also not to be overly absorbed with physical and material needs and wants for today. 

God wants us to be centered on spiritual growth each day. Through that commitment will we then see God's provision in every way, each day.

Matthew 6:33-34

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A Little Leaven Leavens The Whole Person

Evil spirits always want to entice us with what we should not have but it's rarely in the form of an outright transgression. It's usually something on the thin line between what is acceptable and what is not, something that our flesh can slip past our reborn spirits. 

Paul, in Galatians 5:7-8, says, "You were doing well in your faith." He then asks, "Who persuaded you to not continue in the truth? It was not God the Father who called you to follow his Son Jesus." He goes on to share that he believes that through the Lord they will understand and remember the truth about the leaven of lies and seduction. 

We may think that little, questionable indulgences are not that bad but a little leaven will eventually leaven the whole attitude and direction of the person. It will cripple our walks in Christ. (Galatians 5:9) Succumbing to those minor fleshly desires will wreak havoc in our spiritual lives over time. 

Temptation and enticement to subtle, ungodly things are not insignificant. Evil spirits are not out to play with us. They are out to destroy us in as many ways and from as many directions as they can. The more that we brush off accepting small allurements and discount receiving little inducements the more destruction that rulers of the darkness of this world can do. Just as we eat and drink the Word of God everyday, they eat and drink plans for our destruction every day.  

When we work with God as he shows us the little issues, we allow our spiritual eyes to be opened so that we can see what the enemy is doing. We can perceive evil influence and control in our lives. We can obtain the answers that we need and information on directions to take regarding issues in our lives. Leavening takes over. That's what it's designed to do. Depending on what the leaven is, it can also be beneficial.

Adding the leaven of the Word by reading and studying it everyday will transform us. The Holy Word is living, like leaven, and will cause us to become more like Christ and draw closer to God. We don't have to be overcome by all of the Christian practices and traditions that we are judged for not being able to keep. When we focus upon putting the Word inside of us, we will please God and grow in him. A little leaven leavens the whole person, for bad or for good.

Christian Creativity: Cross Thank You Tags

Cute Christian thank you tags that I made as an incentive gift when I was selling physical handmades online. I die-cut circles, distressed the edges with a purple ink pad and stamped them in green.; with a thank you stamp.

I think I ordered the crosses from a paper crafting seller, because I can't recall that I have a cross punch. The unique thing that I did was pop up the crosses with dimensional tabs similar to Pop Dots. Then I punched holes in the top with my nifty rectangle hole punch. I added magenta-colored ties made with embroidery floss.

Making thank-you tags is a nice hostess gift, birthday gift or just because gift.