Holy Spirit | God IN Us

Many years ago, our pastor from MN preached on a topic that was quite convicting. He ended his message with this:

“So bummer for you, the ignorant bubble you’ve been living under has now been popped so you have a choice to make: will you walk in the wisdom & Truth the Holy Spirit just revealed or will you return to what was once ignorance but is now an outright lie?”🤕Ouch!

Y’all this is true for any area of our lives. One of the bubbles that was popped for me with regard to health is sugar. I like sugar - a lot! My mom gave me homemade molasses cookies for my birthday & I think I ate six of them in one day 🤢

I knew what it would do to my gut,  the effects it could have on my skin & scalp, & that it has adverse effects on my immune system, but I disregarded truth to indulge in the lie that it was “worth it”. 🙄

Yesterday our pastor spoke about living a life directed by the power of the Holy Spirit. He said something that rang in my thoughts well into the morning:

Jesus is Emmanuel, God WITH us.

The Holy Spirit resides within - He’s God IN us!

Jesus left His royal throne to become a lowly human so that He might live a sinless life & conquer death, ensuring a ticket to eternity for anyone who’d follow. But here’s the thing, when we accept Jesus as Savior, our citizenship changes from hell to heaven, but our feet remain planted on this earth.

Jesus made a Way but He left us here while He prepares a place for us in heaven! He still has work to do, but left SO THAT the Holy Spirit might come to guide us into ALL Truth!

Paul writes about this in Galatians 5 & summarizes the whole shebang with this:

Those who belong to Jesus have nailed the passions & desires of their sinful nature to the cross & crucified them there Since we are living BY the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading IN EVERY part of our lives.

...even the sugary decision parts🥴

Holy Spirit, reveal any desires that we have yet to nail to the cross. Guide us beyond our flesh into a life of Truth. We want to become set apart emissaries fully equipped to carry out the assignment Jesus left us - to reveal Himself as the Source of all Truth to a watching world through our relinquished lives!

#oneyearbible #truth #holyspirit

September 20th One Year Bible Readings

💡ISAIAH 33:10-36:22

💡GALATIANS 5:13-26

💡PSALM 64:1-10

💡PROVERBS 23:23

What’s My Goal?

I watched a show recently where the main character, Barry, can travel back in time. His mentor exhorts him not to do so because it may create an alternate timeline wrought with consequences.

Barry eventually gives into temptation & travels back to save his mom from a tragic death. He enjoys the gift of her presence, but suddenly begins to lose memories of his former life. He eventually tries to fix the mess he’s made only to discover that he‘s  created two more timelines & a whole lotta mess!

Kinda funny, but that quantum physics stuff popped in my thoughts when I read a letter from Paul to the Galatians. He’s talking about people pleasing & writes,

“Obviously I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal I would not be Christ’s servant.”

It reminded me of a convo I had with one of my sons  about the timeline theory & Christ’s Lordship.

Our Creator God has THEE most perfect timeline planned for our lives, & we can stick with His storyline, or like Barry, please ourselves (or others) by writing our own.

God’s trajectory for our future holds His best laid plans, but sometimes, in a moment of temptation, we step out from under His Lordship & start writing our own.

✨When we make decisions outside of His will & His way, however, history He didn’t intend will happen.✨

There are many decisions I’ve made that I wish I could highlight, click & delete; decisions that carry consequences to today. Unlike Barry, however, I can’t travel back in time to change them.

What I can do, however, is step back under the power, protection & provision of my Savior. I can allow Him the supreme position of Lordship & trust Him to lead The Way forward.

I’ve written it before, but it bears repeating: we are always a slave to something-ultimately to self, sin or Savior; we just gotta choose which master we’ll serve!

Father, pleasing self or others not only leaves us wanting for more, it creates a timeline You didn’t intend. Holy Spirit, guard us from the goal of momentary good things that keep us from God things. We turn our hearts to You this morning & allow You the perfect position of Lordship over our lives! We aim to please You alone!

September 14th One Year Bible Readings

💡ISAIAH 15:1-18:7

💡GALATIANS 1:1-24

💡PSALM 58:1-11

💡PROVERBS 23:12

#oneyearbible #bible #truth #devotional #dailydevotional #encouragement #hope #peace #jesus #security #identity #belonging #purpose #family #faith #freedom #future #marriage #parenting #familygoals #light #beaconlife #goals