LED BY THE SPIRIT

Good Evening To All!

I couldn't resist trying to dress this little picture up a tiny bit and put it on here. I thought it was rather cute. I see bumper stickers saying to Honk your car horns if you love Jesus all the time, but never a gaggle of geese! I tried for a couple of hours to paint them white, but I am definitely no artist! LOL!. Anyway, on with the post.

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If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]
(Galatians 5:25 AMP.)

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (KJV)

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Tonight's verse speaks of living and walking by the Spirit, which are the same as being led by the Spirit of God.

Have you ever stopped to think about what leads us to do the things we do? There are so many influences in this world. Just a few are other people, the devil, the flesh (our own bodies, minds, wills, or emotions, or the Holy Spirit. There are many voices that speak to us, some even at the same time This can be very confusing at times unless we are sure about who or what is leading us. We must b e diligent in pursuing the will of God, and that we learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit. He is the One who knows the will of God, and will Guide us into All Truths. He was sent to dwell within each of us if we will let Him. Only He can show us how to be what God wants us to be. He can direct us, and lead us down the right path toward God's will. The main thing is we have to allow Him to do this. He will not interfere with our "free will", therefore we can stop listening to Him at anytime. It is NOT a smart thing to do however.

I have seen some people "try and take a vacation from the Holy Spirit". They seem to think that they can turn a deaf ear to the Holy Spirit for a time and listen to the other voices, talked about earlier, but that will only cause them problems. Yes, God will forgive them IF they repent, which means not to do it again, but every time they do it, they get further and further away from God, til eventually they don't even bother coming to Him and asking forgiveness or repenting. Then at that point, it will be too late. A person CAN FALL from the grace of God. What happens is that their spirit becomes hardened and they can no longer hear God talking to them. He has a still, small, voice. He is not going to scream at a person to get them to ask Him. It must be done from their heart. That's what the Holy Spirit is all about. guiding us and teaching us, keeping us on the path to righteousness. When we can't hear Him anymore, we will lose our way.

It is essential that we stay in tune with the Holy Spirit, walk with Him and live by His direction. It is imperative that we read God's Word to know if what people say is in line with His Word or not. If it's not, then we better not listen to them.

The Holy Spirit needs to be in every aspect of our lives. As Paul said in Acts, "I die daily". He repented. The "old man" died out to the "new man". No one is perfect, so this is what we must do. Repent daily and ask forgiveness everyday. Whether we realize it or not we will do something wrong everyday. It may just be a little something that we don't even think is a sin, and it may not be a sin, but it might be something that will hinder our prayer life, or some part of our walk with God. For example, getting angry with someone and saying something mean. It may not seem like much at the time, but when you try and pray, it can be enough for God to delay the answer to your prayer. The Bible says we are suppose to settle our differences with others by asking for their forgiveness before we come to God to pray. Bitterness and anger are like a wall that is put up between us and God, so there must not be any. This is what the Holy Spirit can do. He can touch your heart and let you know if something is not right so you can fix it and have a full prayer life.

As we get closer and closer to Christ's coming back for us, the devil is pulling out every trick he can think of to confuse us, to trip us up. He will mix a little bit of truth with a lot of lies to deceive us, so we better know what God's Word actually says. The Bible says there will be False Doctrines, False preachers, so we best be on the look out for them.

One thing my Pastor has told us is to READ our BIBLES. He was placed here to guide us. Our Pastors are our Shepherds, and we are his flock. He is to keep watch over us, and help us, but he does not take the place of the Bible. We should listen to our Pastor, take notes about the Bible verses he talks about and I even take notes about what he says. I come home and go over them again, as well as reading the Bible text which he quoted.

Remember, when you welcome the Holy Spirit in every area of your life, He will come. He will speak to you, guide you, correct you, help you, empower you, and lead you. This is not saying that the other voices won't still try and turn your head toward them, but the Holy Spirit gives your the power to resist them and enables you to follow Him.

Ask yourself who you are allowing to control and direct your life. Other people, emotions, the lies of Satan? If it is anyone beside the Holy Spirit, you need to get back to your Bible, prayer, and change your way of thinking. The "FATHER KNOWS BEST".

I hope you liked my little drawing at the top.

Good night to all and May God bless!