OH MY SOUL!!!! I had done it again! I slipped from living in the Spirit to reacting from my soul! You know….The soul – Your mind, Your will, and your emotions. The place where you act out. My mom used to say, “Don’t be ugly.” Well, I had been “ugly”. I knew it. I hated it. I loathed it but there it was and there was nothing I could do to take it back. The thing was, it didn’t take but a second to slip. One momentary lapse of Spirit control and there it was.
It seems that since the Lord has been speaking about returning to the “former things”. I have been tested…..tested to the very limit of my flesh and yet there is no excuse….for IF HE is the One calling to return – I must return by His way and not my own.
There it is. My will. My iron justifying will. Left to its own – manipulates my emotions and my thoughts. I can proclaim,” I want to live life from the inside out.” But do I really? Do I want to die to my own will and surrender that stubbornness to be bridled and tamed by the Master of this universe? To return to the “former things” – I must remember …..
remember and return…
to times of prayer and meditation – spent in praise and intercession. Times of unhurried stillness. Times of quietness before the throne. Times of listening and then acting. Times of reading, pondering and meditating. Times of deep conviction and death to my flesh. HONEST Times with a gracious, merciful God!
So what do I do from here?
Remember! Stop. Bend the Knee. Cry out to God and tell Him the reasons I haven’t lived as I ought. Be still. Be honest. Be transparent BE. The soul is the very place where inner battles are won or lost. The soul is the place where the enemy loves to set up camp in areas of unforgiveness, anger, rage, woundings of all sorts. You and I need to REMEMBER WHO WE ARE AND WHOSE WE ARE!
OH that HE would hear my cry! I will return HIS way. I will remember and return. I will submit my will. I will die to gain. I will…
remember, kneel, submit. I will.
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen for He who calls you is faithful” I Thessalonians 5:23-24
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians. 2:20
I know most of us have been “living the life” for a long time. Have you ever been in the emotional place written about today? How did you deal with it? What steps did you take? Do you need to take?
You can post a comment in our Devotional area or Forums and discuss your thoughts on living life from the inside out!
Praying for you Sisters!
Love,
Diane
