God's Way leads to Life

Welcome back! For the first blog post, I have been pondering with the Lord on what to share. I felt He encouraged me to write about where our journey reemerged. Where He really grabbed my heart and attention again. At the beginning of our journey, He led me to read Galatians 5:16-26. Below are portions from the Message version.

(My way - Life in the Flesh) Emphasis added

19-21 ‘It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all -consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.’

(God’s way - Life by the Spirit) Emphasis added

22-23 ‘But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard – things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.’

Upon reading this, I thought to myself this isn’t too bad. I feel like I’m doing okay. I didn’t really see myself living my way. That’s when Holy Spirit kindly stopped me and asked me to re-read it. Then He proceeded to show me how and where I’ve been living my way in the flesh and not by His Spirit. That was a hard pill to swallow. I didn’t realize I wasn’t fully walking with Him, but rather I was trying to get Him to comply with what I thought were my wants.  I was trying to make Him part of my story, verses me being a part of His story. This wasn’t intentional, I really thought I was trying to live right. I feel that a lot of people may resonate with me in that. If we were to really examine our lives, I think most Christians would think that they are living right with the Lord and probably are in some areas. I was grateful Holy Spirit loved me too much too not bring correction where it was needed. Once I re-read those passages again with the knowledge of where I was at, I was completely disgusted with myself, because I realized I had been living more in my flesh and praying for the things I wanted in the Spirit, again trying to get Him to conform to my way.  It started making more sense to me why my life was the way it was. I wasn’t a horrible person, and it wasn't horrible. But there were those little things tangling me up, preventing me from really experience true joy and Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see where deception kept me in the dark of how I was behaving. That night changed my heart. Transformation began.

I decided to write out these two different ways of life on a piece of paper and it’s hanging in my office where I can still visibly see it every day. For the first thirty or so days I would read it and ask myself, who do I want to be today? Do I want to keep going in the direction of my own way, or do I want to really dig in and give God’s way a serious try again. After all, I love the Lord, and I truly want to walk out this life with Him. (I forgot to mention that part of the reason I wasn’t walking in full obedience with the Lord was because of some past wounds that I was still carrying that I wasn’t even aware were still in my heart. That’s another whole story, but still part of the transformation into a real authentic relationship with the Lord.  More to come on that topic.) So, I got to work. I read the passages then meditated on how I could walk and be led by the Spirit. That practice took me being intentional with my engagement of relationship with Him. Meaning, I really needed to spend time in prayer with Him instead of making Him a daily chore, something to mark off my checklist of to-dos.

I leave you with this to ponder. I would encourage you to read Galatians 5:16-26 in whatever version the Lord speaks to you in. Then ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you are living?  Have you overcome some of these areas? Are there any of these areas where He may want to talk with you about? Are you walking freely with the Holy Spirit leading your steps? As we grow stronger in our relationship with the Lord and allow Him to lead, life looks and feels different. You’ll know the difference when you’re making decisions or allowing your decisions to be determined with Him.

I would preface that walking with Him is not always easy, your flesh will not like it, but the Bible does tell us that our flesh is in constant battle with our spirit (Galatians 5:17). Every day I get stronger and closer to the Lord by committing my life into His and choosing to be led by Him regardless of the way I feel. That is the beauty of really walking with the Lord.  It hasn’t been easy, but it does get easier each day as I sit and talk with Him and just be with Him. Praying that your time with Him is beautiful and fruitful.

Father, thank you that Your desire is to walk with us. Have a living and breathing relationship with us. As we walk and talk with You, You show us how to be in relationship with You. I pray that as we ponder over these words this week, month, year, or however long, that You reveal Your truth to us of where we have not been in right standing with You. Also, I pray that You would show us where we have been abiding in Your truth. You give life and in You we have all things. I pray a blessing over each of those who are reading these words that You would strengthen my brothers and sisters in You, that You would make yourself more real to them than ever before. Your desire is to know us more intimately. We commit these scriptures and time to You. In Jesus Name.

If you resonate or have a story of your own, please leave a comment, share your thoughts. We overcome by our testimonies and there are people out there that need to hear your voice. It matters! Blessings.