Live By The Spirit
The fourth thing I learned about the pit was that it causes stress. There is a movie called The Nuns Story staring Audrey Hepburn. It’s a great movie. It’s about a Nun’s inner struggle with humility and losing herself to Jesus Christ. This is a quote from the movie. “Tension is the sign of an exhaustive inner struggle”. My struggle came from within. It was that sinful part of me (pride) struggling with the spiritual (the side that knew better because of Christ in me) side of me.
The tension (stress) from that inner struggle comes out in different ways, and it will come out. It can come out physically, mentally and spiritually. We can become physically ill. Our minds can become confused, foggy and we have difficulty making good decisions. As women, we can become more emotional than is normal. We can develop a short fuse. We can become critical and judgemental. The list can go on and on. We become slaves to that inner struggle. We all have those inner struggles at one time or another in our lives. Everything that happens in the midst of this becomes intensified. It could be a family member passing away (as in my case), an illness in the family, the fact that we are over committed or just everyday life. There is a reason the sinful nature and the Spirit are in conflict with one another. Read the following passage of scripture and write down why they are in conflict.
Galatians 5:16-17
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For 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.” NIV
The Spirit and the sinful nature are in conflict with one another, so ________________________!
I think that this is an important issue in our lives, as women. I think it is important because the Lord wants us to enjoy our lives by finding our joy in Him. If we are not focused on Him in our daily lives, for whatever reason, we lose sight of this.
Today, I want to leave you with a statement and Scripture to ponder.
Statement: It is difficult to be spiritually fit when we have issues (or inner struggles) in our lives to deal with. With the same heart we are hiding what needs to be dealt with, is the same heart we are trying to love God, and others with.
Scripture to Ponder: Read Romans chapter 8. We have the ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide us because we are Christ’s Daughters (see Romans 8:16). Wow, and Praise God!
This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
