When God Says No!Sample

Another time a "no" hurts is when we want to live with the best of both worlds. We want to enjoy all that the world has to offer and also what God has to offer. Matthew 6:24 clearly tells us that we cannot serve two masters. It’s either God or money. We must choose. When we live in this dilemma, there is a constant struggle, a wrestle that goes on between our flesh and our spirit. At every turn, we are trying to see how we can win in both these areas. We try to get eternity and also indulge in everything this world has to offer.

The solution to this is to walk in the Spirit. The Spirit opposes the things of the flesh. We must choose to live by His Spirit that indwells us. We know that the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He becomes Lord of our life, and He gives us His Spirit to come and indwell in us. We must then learn to feed that Spirit. For example, let's take our human bodies. If we are not careful with what we eat and constantly consume sugar, our body will crave it more. However, when we start to eat clean, we give our bodies a balanced meal, which reduces our cravings for those sugar spikes we once craved. Similarly, the more we feed our spirit, the more we can overcome the flesh and live by the power of the Spirit.

Sin is fun because it’s exactly against what the spirit is saying. It crosses that boundary where the intrigue lies. We are wired to rebel. It’s inherent in our nature. So, we need to constantly feed the spirit. This requires us to say no to ourselves and submit to God.

Prayer

Lord, help me to feed my spirit, to stay in the Word, and to stay close to You. Help me develop a longing for You, and help me to live in the power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.