The Holy Spirit taught me a lesson from Genesis 1: 11-12, which tells us that everything produces after its own kind. He showed me that spiritual growth and maturity comes as a result of exercising your spirit to the point where it becomes your default mode of operation.
The human response to pressure and discomfort is usually fleshly. We choose the most convenient / accessible option; we choose the thing that makes us feel good (even when it truly does not resolve the issue).
When we operate out of the flesh, we remain spiritual babies, easily swayed, never truly understanding who we are and what we have been placed on earth to accomplish. The flesh is extremely convenient, but it yields no desirable thing.
It’s easy to respond to malice with malice. To receive insults with a quick clapback, to respond to fear with impulsiveness or even anger, and so on. It is under circumstances like this that you find believers exhibiting what I term as ‘contradictory christianity’, where they are Christians until they come under pressure. Sanctified until stressed! Oh dear.
Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. - (Galatians 6:8 NLT)
When we give into the flesh in this manner, we give no room for the growth Christ desires for us (Galatians 6 : 8). Each time we do this, we refuse the Holy Spirit from working in us and through us.
But we won’t give into carnality because the Holy Spirit has a higher calling for you and I. Paul says since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives- (Galatians 5:25). One reason it’s so important to remain tuned into your spirit at all times is because life’s situations are your spirit’s physical gym; it is where you test ability and grow capacity.
It is where you gain mastery of your flesh. When you continually put your spirit to work, you learn that physical things are fleeting, but things of the spirit are permanent. That anger is a response best suited to the unwise and that a gentle answer turns away wrath. That it is more blessed to give than to receive and that truly, increase comes from God. I could go on and on, but you get my drift.
What Christ desires is for us to be so confidently persuaded of His love, that we only speak and act in a manner that pleases Him because we know it is for our growth, and edification- no matter the situation.
This won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it.
How do you do this? Fellowship. Fellowship. Fellowship.
I find that frequent fellowship with the Holy Spirit is the oil the wheel of life requires to remain switched on and tuned in. Our time with the Holy Spirit shouldn’t be reserved for bedtime and wake time only. Talk to Him during the course of your entire day. Never stay too far from your secret place. For you will hear a voice behind you saying “This is the way, walk ye in it”- Isaiah 30:21. Because “there is a way that seemed right unto a Man but the end thereof is destruction”- Proverbs 14:12
I remember telling the Holy Spirit I didn’t have time to talk with Him as much as I used to because I took on some responsibilities that required more of my physical attention. He told me, ‘my altar is in your heart, we can fellowship anywhere, anytime’.
Friends, you can never go wrong when you choose to stay with The Word and in tune with your spirit. For the Spirit will always bring with it goodness and God’s glory.
Graceuntold 