By The Spirit

I’m an enneagram 8. At my core I like DOING. Words like “hustle”, “go”, “build”, “the grind” invigorate me, the idea of movement sends life into my heart. I can check off a todo list, plan an outing with the kids, dream up a new start up, head to a work out, have a bunch of meetings and feel. just. great.

The problem is, I can get moving SO FAST that I forget to ask God for directions - let alone empowerment. I will be 40 miles ahead of Jesus heading in the wrong direction and not know I’m off course until I zoom off of the road into a ditch. (Anyone relate?) For those of you versed in Scripture, you know that the New Testament makes a distinct difference between our self-effort and God-effort. Scripture calls these two states of our soul “walking after the flesh” and “walking in the Spirit”.

In one of my favorite sermons of 2018 I talked about God doing the IMMEASURABLE in our lives. But in order to do that, we have to walk by the Spirit. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” declares the Lord (Zech 4:6) In other words, God can do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. But it will be his path, not ours. His power.

God wants to empower our lives, our homes, our future. But it will be BY HIS SPIRIT. Not by our self-effort. The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, now it’s our decision to keep in step with the Spirit.

So.

Therefore, to start the New Year, I will be focusing on the fruits of the Spirit, and asking God to build in my inner man a deeper understanding of the Spirit. For the next 9 days I will delve into studying:

LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULNESS
GENTLENESS and
SELF-CONTROL

I invite you to join me. We can learn how to walk in Him, with Him, for Him, through Him. May your 2019 be propelled, empowered, focused and fruitful!

-jessie

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