What Is Leading You?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins in my Sweet Home Alabama! :) Today is going to be a great day...I have never seen THIS one before!

At my church we are going through a bible study titled, "Freedom." Last week we went through our week four study titled, "Spiritual Order." Don't you just love it when you learn something and then it fly's right back at you - repeatedly!! - throughout the week?!?! The whole point of this study is that we are all made up of a spirit, a soul and a body. We have to choose - we will choose - which one we will allow to lead us. The way God designed us is that we would be led by the spirit...oh but how real the struggle is that the soul and body want to lead! I think most of us understand the body wanting to lead with our physical desires, cravings, etc. The soul, as described in our workbook, is made up of three parts: 1) The mind, which thinks and reasons; 2) The will, which makes choices; 3) The emotions, which believe, feel, and remember.

So first, let me tell on myself. Coming off of our Bible Study on Sunday night I am bound and determined to be Spirit led. So....
- Monday I have "one of those" days! My emotions are kicking my rear end and I come home. My Beautiful Bride sees me and says, "How is your Spirit?" I tell her, "My Spirit is fine. My emotions on the other hand...not so much!" 

- Wednesday I am having a conversation with a gentleman and I am frustrated. I am joking with him but I know that my joking is not pure-hearted. While I am not being mean, rude or offensive, I become painfully aware that I am once again allowing my emotions to lead.

- Thursday I am praying about a situation. I pray that I will be Spirit-led. I beg God to help me. I see the person at the center of the situation. I don't say anything negative, rude or flippant. The Spirit won! (Had to include a victory!) :)

- And the times I allow the body to lead?! EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! Chips & salsa are placed before me!!! Horrible tools of Satan!!! :)

This morning I want to share several excerpts, and perhaps a few notes I took, from our Bible Study workbook titled, "Freedom." It was written and prepared by Highlands Small Groups. The information I will be sharing comes from Week Four: Spiritual Order.

"Did you know that you are a spiritual being having a temporary physical experience on earth rather than a physical being having a temporary spiritual experience? God's plan is that our spirits become the strongest part of our three-part design and be the "command center" of who we are and what we do."

"Now that we are one with Christ, we have the ability to understand spiritual truth and discern right from wrong. We can adjust our lives to hear the voice of God. It is much like tuning a dial to pick up a radio station. Sometimes there may be static in the airwaves (distraction, confusion, fear, etc.) but if we continue to seek the Lord and His way of doing things, our spirit will rise above the static , and we will be able to tune in to the broadcast of truth."

"Our bodies have appetites, both good and bad. The Bible says to be careful of any sin that leads to our flesh getting anything it wants. Often people want to know how far they can sin and still enjoy the benefits of God's blessing. The snare with sin is that it never satisfies."

"A filter for sinful actions should be: How will this action affect those around me?"

"What we give the most attention to will become the most influential. Our spirit can take the lead only if we feed it more than our soul and body."

"The world around us constantly feeds our souls through things we see and hear. And our bodies, if starved, make it known that they're hungry. If we withhold gratification from our souls and our bodies, they get loud. Our spirit, on the other hand, when not fed, gets quiet. We have to be intentional to feed our spirit."

"God convicts; He does not condemn."

"We face decisions every single day, and the choices we make dictate the lives we lead."

And a few of the notes I took:
- Who is in charge of your life?
- You teach what you know. You reproduce what you are.
- Find disciplines and put them in place.
- It is not just about what you are feeding. It is also about what you are denying.
- Do you elevate the thought Satan has placed in your mind OR do you elevate the truth of God?
-What can we do to be more intentional?

Friends, I am not here to tell you what to do, how to live or what to think. Heck, I have a hard enough time keeping up with myself! :) I am here to simply testify to what I have found in my life and to make you aware that you have a choice and that you are, in fact, choosing every day. I will close this section with a scripture that both instructs and inspires me:

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The acts of the flesh are obvious; sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5: 16 - 23 

I want to share two other little things from this week:
- I heard a quote earlier this week that said, "Don't let a blind man stepping on your toes offend you." That is a spirit-led truth! :) We are so quick to judge, to become offended, etc. Others don't believe what I believe, know what I know, have what I have, have the perspectives I have, etc. Essentially, we don't see the same things and in this, we are all blind. Let's stop being offended, genuinely value and respect one another, learn from one another and, above all else, show love, mercy and grace to one another!

- And I guess this one is a rhetorical question/thought. This morning I was listening to a podcast with Inky Johnson. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Inky, he is a former football player at the University of Tennessee. He aspired, and had the potential, to play in the NFL. He got injured, paralyzing his arm, ending his dream. When asked by Jon Gordon, the podcast host, if he could go back and change what happened would he, he responded no. He went on to say that sometimes the things we go through are not for us but for others. My mind immediately raised back to John O'Leary. As a little boy, John suffered 3rd degree burns over 90% of his body. He should have died but did not. In his book, On Fire, he recounts a story where he is asked if he could, would he go back and change what happened. He said no. He said even though he could go back, change things and thus not have to face all the pain that he has endured, and continues to endure, he would also have to give up all of the blessings that have come from and through the pain. The power of the human spirit, the choice to choose one thought over another, truly inspires me.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families! :)

Kev