W6D3 Knowing Who Lives In Me

READ THE BIBLE

Romans 8:5

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

Galatians 5:16

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

REFLECT ON WHAT IT MEANS

Speaking to a large audience, a well-known preacher (D.L. Moody) held up a glass and asked, “How can I get the air out of this glass?” One man shouted, “Suck it out with a pump!” Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.” After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. “There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.” He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by “sucking out a sin here and there,” but by being filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is the meaning of our Bible readings today. If we want to live the way God calls us to we need to get rid of sin from our lives and put God’s ways into our lives. How can we do that?

By focussing on being filled rather than being emptied. When the Holy Spirit fills our lives he changes who we are from the inside out. How do we do that? There is a great clue in today’s readings. It’s where we fix our thoughts. We can determine to fill our minds with the things of God, like his word, his will for our lives, his ways of living right each day, worship. Then we will experience true life from God working deeply inside us. The Holy Spirit living in us will work with us to inspire our thinking in this way.

We can’t do it on our own. We all need the Spirit of God to fill us, to guide us, to speak to us. He gives us the help we need and inner motivation to say, “No” to the wrong thoughts and wrong ways.

On the other hand, it is possible to fill our minds with all kinds of negative, worldly thinking, anxieties and distractions. These come from our old nature, the flesh, and if we set our minds on them, will find our spiritual life in Jesus draining out of us. We will end up feeling spiritually dead, in our minds and in our whole being. We will end up giving in to temptation and going back to our old ways and patterns of living.

So, the secret of living the Christian life daily is to be filled with and listening to the Spirit all through the day. To do this we cannot allow other, wrong thinking, to come into our minds. We have to fix our minds on Christ and fill them full of positive, godly thoughts. The Holy Spirit who comes to live in us, will stir us up to love God and to follow Jess in all our ways. This is what pleases God

RELATE IT TO YOUR LIFE

If I could transmit my thoughts onto the TV at home what would people see? Would I be embarrassed or ashamed if others were watching with me? How can I best set my mind in the things of the Spirit? Choose what fills my thoughts in the day, reject and refuse to have fleshly thoughts in my mind. Pray and ask God to help you in this area.

RESPOND WITH A DECLARATION

“The Holy Spirit, who lives in me will help me get my thoughts in order for God.”