Say Goodbye To Sin

" So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. " Galatians 5:16-17

We all have that sinful nature. All of us. There's always going to be that fleshly desire to do what is not of God and not of the Spirit. That's why I love reading these verses above, because they tell me exactly how to fight off that which is trying to derail me. When that selfish ambition rears its ugly head, I can laugh at it and rest in the Spirit and exhibit self-control and gentleness instead. When jealousy tells me that I really want what that person has and that I should be jealous and hateful, instead I can embrace joy and kindness and be happy for that person instead.

But how does one live by the Spirit? That sounds complicated and complex...it sounds like something that might be a little scary. But it's really not. When we became saved, when we asked Jesus to be our Savior, the Spirit came along for the ride. The Spirit has been there already with you, helping you, maybe without you realizing it. It's the Spirit that dwells in us and prompts us towards those right decisions, and tries to help us fight off the bad ones. But maybe you just need to be a little more in tune with that Spirit. That comes by spending time in God's Word, and spending time in prayer. The more time you spend trying to get to know the Spirit that is already with you, the more you learn to recognize its promptings and its protection. Sometimes those promptings can be pretty big. That feeling that you simply shouldn't go somewhere one day, so you don't, only to find out later that there was a catastrophe of some kind there. That prompting to take a different road than the one you normally do, only to find later that there was a major accident the way you usually take. Or the prompting to call someone who you haven't spoken to in a while, that can be the Spirit's way of telling you that person needs someone to talk to and pray with.

Having the Spirit in our lives is fantastic! And the more time we spend trying to recognize the promptings of the Spirit, the easier it gets, and the more in tune we become with what He's trying to say to us. When Jesus left this earth to dwell in Heaven, He left us a mighty gift with the Holy Spirit. Learning to hear the Spirit is not difficult, nor is it scary. It just takes a little time. It takes time simply getting to know him.