Skip to main content

Walk in the Spirit

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Galatians 5:16-18


I am trying to read a chapter of the Bible with my daughter every day, and spend some time in the Word myself while she is napping. The distractions are manifold. I don't do a perfect job. I have noticed that it does make a difference, though. The weeks when I am consistently reading the Bible myself, I find I struggle less with food choices. It is still difficult some days. Studying my Bible is not a magic bullet to make all of the temptation go away. But consistency seems to be the key. Being consistently in the Scripture means I am more motivated and focused to battle my temptation or ignore it completely.


I am grateful for the aid of the Spirit in battling my flesh. The flesh feels like such a tyrant. As Paul says, “you do not do the things that you wish.” Many, many times I look back at my days and wonder why I made the choices I did. Why didn't I stop and think before I acted? I didn't actually want that food! I would have been better off without it.


But if I am filled with the Word, and not my own thoughts, it becomes an easier battle to fight. I am not alone with my thoughts and feelings. I have a higher standard, and a Helper. When I am walking in the Spirit, I know what is required of me. I know  I must choose to be disciplined and obey the Word of God. I know that the chip aisle, the dessert table, and the coffee shop are perhaps permissible, but not helpful for me, at this time. My flesh may be screaming for some chemical high, but the Spirit in me helps me to know that I can and should walk away.


I still fail frequently. I am a work in progress. But this I know: with the help of the Holy Spirit, through prayer and reading the Holy Scripture, I can more easily face the difficulties of the day. They might be food or entertainment or difficult children or many other things. But equipped with the Word of God and His Helper, I “shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Birth Story

Sitting on my bed, I stared at the brand new creature in my arms. She was beautiful, eyes open wide, staring in wonder at the fuzzy world around her. She was so small as I held her, and yet she had seemed SO BIG just a few minutes before (if you know what I mean). But how did we get here, to this magical dreamland of oxytocin-induced bliss?  My birth story does not start with “I went into labor at x time.” It needs just a little more background. Warning: This story is pretty detailed. Depending on how much you actually want to know about birth, proceed with caution. At around 36 weeks, I began to develop PUPPP, which stands for pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy. In short, it is the worst rash that you can possibly imagine. It has no known cause, though some theories include an over-taxed liver, an allergic reaction to the baby's cells, or overstretched skin. It typically starts in the belly's stretch marks. It is more common in first pregnancies, particularly...
2 comments
Read more

Devastation: My PCOS Story, Part 2

No answers, no hope. That was where I found myself after 18 months of trying to figure out why I had periods that lasted 3 or 4 weeks at a time. For the next year, nothing really changed. I did, however, make some interesting discoveries. The first discovery was food. At the recommendation of the naturopath, I had tried to eliminate simple carbs. I will be upfront and say I was not good at this much of the time. I struggle with binge eating and food addiction. My years of trying to conceive were weeks where I ate minimal carbohydrates followed by weeks where I ate far too many donuts and chips. Because of this cycle, however, I noticed something interesting. If I ate poorly for a month, the next month's period would be weird and too long. If I ate more cleanly, the next month I was more likely to ovulate (more on that in a minute) and have a normal, 7 day period.The food I ate certainly played into my periods The second discovery was exercise. I have always hated exercise. Why ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who am I?

I checked the clock. The numbers glowed green: 9:30. My sisters were all asleep, but I was still tossing and turning. Something felt off. I pictured my heart as a puzzle, the kind with a frame and pieces that simply matched up, not interlocked. A piece was missing. I wasn't quite sure what it all meant, but I knew I needed to talk to my dad.   I was a little apprehensive as I walked down the hallway to the stairs out of my grandparents' basement. A few weeks earlier I had been unable to sleep, frustrated and saddened and confused by the family situation. Why would God put my mom in the hospital with heart failure, then again with cancer? Why would He make my brother be born premature? Why did my dad have to spend so much time away from us, especially since Mommy wasn't around? Daddy had told me about Job, and I had been able sleep a little better. Now, though, I was supposed to be in bed. It was late, and Daddy was surely busy. But I had to talk to him. I knew t...
1 comment
Read more