Are you feeding the spirit and starving the flesh?

I was visiting a church in San Diego this Sunday and the Pastor made a statement that stuck in my spirit and so I thought I’d write an article around his statement. His premise was that if we are to be victorious in our walk with Christ we must starve something and feed the other. The something that we must feed is the spirit and that something that we must starve is the flesh. He used the analogy of having two dogs and the idea of feeding one and starving the other. The outcome of course is that one would thrive and one would die, hence, the principle of starving the flesh and feeding the spirit. If we feed the spirit it will thrive, grow, and take root in our heart and mind conversely if we starve the flesh and its desires our flesh dies, that is we are no longer a slave to it, but a slave to the spirit.

The reason this stood out for me so profoundly is because if we are honest in the church we seem to be top heavy in the fleshly stuff, because we are so focused on stuff, and light weight in the spiritual, the things of God. If you don’t agree with me let’s take a look at lives and see which realm you are in:

If you feed the flesh and starve the spirit: (if you feed the spirit and starve the flesh your life is the opposite of these below.)

You spend a great deal of time watching television and less time, if any time, studying your bible.

You spend a good deal of time on the phone and very little time in prayer, if any time at all.

You spend a good deal of your time listening to secular music and hardly any time, if any, outside of church, listening to gospel music.

You plan family outing’s and trips but spend no time planning family prayer and devotion.

You spend an enormous amount of your time talking with your friends about folk (the good, the bad, and the ugly), about challenges and any other issue that’s plaguing the world, and little if any time in praise and worship.

You follow all the news topics, local, state and national but you have no clue on the things of God neither are you committed to ensuring that the things of God are your first and foremost priority.

You check book reflects your values. There’s high amounts paid to department stores, entertainment, houses, cars, and recreational vehicles, but very little in the area of tithing.

You can always find time for friends, family, work, sleep, recreation, computer games, etc, and yet you can’t find time for God. Your priority is not spending time getting to know Him in a very intimate way just as you would your spouse, your child, your job, or your companion.

You find yourself inserting how you would do something or handle a situation instead of sharing what the proper spiritual way is to handle things or situations.

You seek out the advice of people instead of seeking the will of God.

Your value systems are worldly and not spiritual.

You fight all your battles through your own strength instead of allowing God to fight your battles for you. Now don’t get me wrong you may pray for help and guidance but you fail to wait on His instruction and one of the most difficult things for you to do is to be still and know that He is God. You lack the ability of resting in Him and absolutely trusting Him. If you trusted Him you would not fight your own battles in your own strength.

You are not forgiving. Hot off the press – forgiving is not the act of forgiving only if the person apologizes but it is the act of forgiving when the person doesn’t apologize.

The bottom line to this exercise is that Jesus Himself told us that a time is coming and the time is now when God is seeking true worshippers. These worshippers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

A true worshipper seeks the things of God and the things that will please Him.

A true disciple is one who loves those who spitefully use and abuse them.

A true disciple understands that God sits high and looks low protecting those who love Him. How do you show love? AHHHH glad you asked.

 You show Him you love Him by keeping His commandments.

You show Him you love Him by loving others.

You show Him that you love Him by acknowledging you no longer live for yourself but for Him for what He did on the cross.

You show Him you love Him by bearing fruit – love, peace, longsuffering, self-control, kindness, patience, joy, gentleness, faith, and meekness. Scriptures says when we bear much fruit that God is glorified.

So you see if you really want God to show up strong on your behalf. If you really want the blessings of God, if you really want to hear Him say well done good and faithful servant, if you truly want to live your life to His glory then you will feed the spirit and starve the flesh.

Help I am out of control!!

I am sure many can relate to this statement or cry “help I am out of control!” so I decided to write this article to encourage you as much as it is intended to encourage myself. At a weekly woman’s bible study held in my home we ladies made a pact. This pact had everything to do with taking control of areas in our life that were out of control. The beauty of this pact is that we are not trying to make world evolutionary changes but we are committing to identifying one area in our life that is out of control then identify one, simply one thing that we each could do to begin to bring that area in to control. We agreed that sometimes the most overwhelming prospect of anything is absolute drastic change. We believed that if it was too drastic we would eventually fail.  

Here’s some examples of areas that can be out of control:

Dieting – it must become a way of life. Changing a palate, a habit, taste buds and the like all at once can seem defeating at least I know that is true for me. This is for free: Don’t fool yourself into believing that if you do something for 30 days that it becomes habit. Like anything you must work at this for the rest of your life.

Balance in life – family, friends, relationships, God, etc. Obtaining balance in these areas instantaneously can seem impossible.

Disciplining anything that has not been disciplined – pets, children, etc. Trying to correct anything that wasn’t put in check form the onslaught can seem daunting.

Exercise  - having led a life of sporadic ups and downs in the world of exercise can seem unbearable when one tries to bring exercise back into his or her life.

Studying the bible – attempting to make bible study a daily regime can seem an uphill battle, especially when it has not been a consistent, or worse something you’ve done on a regular basis in the past.

Cleaning your house – with such a busy life cleaning the house is the last thing you really want to do and left unchecked you have no idea where to begin.

Spending – a life that’s busy, bored, uncensored, and undisciplined can continually find itself financially stressed, even broke.

Of course as always this list is not meant to be exhaustive just reflective. We acknowledged in the bible study that if we took one issue at a time, one component at a time, over time we would be victorious at bringing our out of control lives back into control.

Here’s some steps I am personally taking to bring my out of control life into control.

I am looking at a particular issue with just the day I am in at hand. The bible says give no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow has enough issues of its own. So my focus is today. At the end of the day on a calendar I will mark off that day.

I will identify the area that I would like to tackle first and then identify one component that I can tackle that day, spelling out victory for that day. Example: Dieting – already stated it must become a life style. One component I am tackling is the elimination of sodas and any sweetened drinks from my daily intake. I have made a picture of tea with the natural sweetener stevia, so I am still getting some sweet just a sweet that is better for me. I am also drinking more water and adding lemon juice as a natural diuretic.

After I have gone a few days with this goal in mind and I feel that I have brought that particular component into submission to me, I will look at another component that needs to be added. Example: I walked my dogs today a mile and when I came home I had a glass of water with lemon juice in it. VICTORY!

I won’t be critical of myself. I will allow myself grace while I go through this process. If there are 31 days in a month and I follow this pattern 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 and more days I will celebrate every day that I followed through realizing that however many days I did it is more than the previous months of my life and no matter how you look at it I am better off.

I will seek strength during this process from God. I will pray for strength and will power. I realize that I need help to reposition myself or even help to get some place I have never been. I will utilize all elements of worship (praise and worship, prayer, scripture) to mentally strength myself.

I will use these very affirmations to encourage myself daily.

I will strive to be and do the best that I can, by understanding what my make-up is and not desiring the make-up of someone else.

I will only share my goals with those who will encourage me and not those who will follow along only to wait for the fall. Positive people must be a part of my daily affirmations. These positive people must never chastise or criticize me in any area that I fail to have victory in during this process.

I will love me during the journey.

Each one of the above mentioned out of control areas and those that you describe can be applied with the same principles. Just remember one step at a time, one component at a time.

If you would like to join us please do and post your comments on what you’re doing to bring your out of control life back in to control.