Hello Friends!
Ohhhh were almost theeeere ooohh OOHH livin on a prayer!
I am int he final home stretch with just 5 days to go after this. It is hard thinking about how to go about life post-fast. I don't want to binge eat unhealthy food and consume hours of Netflix and Instagram again. It was so hard overcoming those things that I feel like it would be waist to jump right back into them.
Truth Bomb: We have a choice between a sin empowered life of flesh OR a spirit empowered life of faith.
Prior to this fast I never really thought that scrolling on Instagram, watching Netflix or drinking with my friends was a 'sin'. In reality the mere action of doing those things that I listed aren't a 'sin'. It is when our flesh becomes obsessed and consumed with it that it permeates to our thoughts, motives, and actions.
Living by the flesh is the natural and comfortable thing to do. Lets look at the root word in comfortable, it is comfort. When you have the feeling of comfort you are in a state of ease and your guard is down... that is when the devil creeps in and begins to manipulate your frame of thinking or simply numbing you to stay in that place of ease and contentment-causing you to never do anything for God---like never reading your bible, praying, going to church, volunteering, being in community, ministering to others. Our human nature is to be comfortable, which directly turns into us conforming to the patterns of this world. Which, is what Romans 12:2 cautions against.
You may be thinking the way I did at first...that you've gone too far and that there's no way to switch from a flesh empowered life to a faith empowered life. I have good news. In order to live a spirit empowered life I am realizing that it requires time, effort, and attention. For example, think about a professional athlete. They exercise, train, have a specific diet, and study film and competitors to achieve their goal of being the best. Their success doesn't come over night and it most definitely doesn't come from sitting on the couch all day. Their success at their sport requires hard work, determination, and a whole lot of their TIME.
Similarly, we need to be exercising our 'faith muscles' day in and day out in order to live a spirit empowered life of faith. Think of church as the locker room talk at half time. Think of your Bible as the playbook. Think of prayer as getting guidance form your coach. Think of fellowship with christian friends and family as practicing with your team. Think of your daily walk as the game.
Lets strive to live Christ reflecting lives empowered by the spirit not our flesh.
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