Flesh and Spirit
"..girl you're a 9.9...tide up t-shirt...girl you make my speakers go boom-boom...I'm a little drunk on you and high on summertime..." -Luke Bryan
"You be my sugar baby, I'll be your honeybee..." - Blake Shelton
"This old boy's got it going on, got the good Lord shining on me..." - Craig Morgan
"There's somethin' about a truck..." - Kip Moore
Are just some of my favorite songs. I could just swerve off the road with excitement when they come on the radio! Thankfully I don't. However, I'll cut straight to the chase. This is the question I've asked myself for the last month. "What am I feeding more? My flesh or my spirit?"
"I want my life the reflect the beauty of the KING."
Comes from one of my FAVORITE songs: "Live Like That" by Sidewalk Prophets
So here's the realization:
Country music for instance:
1.) [Country songs are still some of my fav] However, it inadvertantly causes me to dream of what I do not have. My husband to be.
&
2.) A lot of my focus turns inward.
So if I want my life to reflect the beauty of the our KING then what must I do?
* Set aside time, daily, to: Pray [talk and listen] and/or write, read devotionals, read scripture, pray out scripture, pray for others [fam, friends, countries], share my faith, practice patience, extend grace, love and pray for my enemies, and quite possibly the most important one: Repent, keeping things right between the Lord and I. Walk forward. Accept grace; embrace it! Forgive as I have been forgiven.
* In growing intimate with the LORD our perspective transitions from our limited one to God's expansive one!
* In growing our faith our discernment is sharpened. Therefore it is easier to discern what the LORD's will is concerning our lives than if we kept our relationship with God at surface level.
When we feed our flesh [more than our Spirit] we become....
When we feed our spirit [more than our flesh] we become...
As I write this out I see how the fruit of feeding our spirit is far more desireable. Is it not?
Though I really REALLY enjoy country music I have to be careful what I take in. [Now the Lord totally uses country music to speak to me. I would not tell you the music is evil. My friend even likes to say the Lord is my "Country Boy" and in many ways she's right!]
So the same goes for you! What are you taking in? When you're listening to your favorite songs what is it doing within you? For me it often causes me to dream of what I do not have, [instead of being thankful for where I am at]. Or what are you taking in concerning television, youtube, video games, ...you name it.
--- Our actions reflect what we take in; what we feed. ---
"You be my sugar baby, I'll be your honeybee..." - Blake Shelton
"This old boy's got it going on, got the good Lord shining on me..." - Craig Morgan
"There's somethin' about a truck..." - Kip Moore
Are just some of my favorite songs. I could just swerve off the road with excitement when they come on the radio! Thankfully I don't. However, I'll cut straight to the chase. This is the question I've asked myself for the last month. "What am I feeding more? My flesh or my spirit?"
"I want my life the reflect the beauty of the KING."
Comes from one of my FAVORITE songs: "Live Like That" by Sidewalk Prophets
So here's the realization:
Country music for instance:
1.) [Country songs are still some of my fav] However, it inadvertantly causes me to dream of what I do not have. My husband to be.
&
2.) A lot of my focus turns inward.
So if I want my life to reflect the beauty of the our KING then what must I do?
* Set aside time, daily, to: Pray [talk and listen] and/or write, read devotionals, read scripture, pray out scripture, pray for others [fam, friends, countries], share my faith, practice patience, extend grace, love and pray for my enemies, and quite possibly the most important one: Repent, keeping things right between the Lord and I. Walk forward. Accept grace; embrace it! Forgive as I have been forgiven.
* In growing intimate with the LORD our perspective transitions from our limited one to God's expansive one!
* In growing our faith our discernment is sharpened. Therefore it is easier to discern what the LORD's will is concerning our lives than if we kept our relationship with God at surface level.
When we feed our flesh [more than our Spirit] we become....
- I'll equipped for Satan's attacks
- Irritable
- Conceited
- Arrogant
- Foolish
- Argumentative
- Sour/a drag to be around
- less attractive
- jealous [jealousy rots inside of us]
- we become instantly gratified [not bad huh? Oh but it is.]
- Chained/bonded to addictions and/or struggles
- unstable/confused
When we feed our spirit [more than our flesh] we become...
- A fragrant person [2 Corinthians 2:14, 16]
- A joyful person
- Wiser
- Free of guilt and shame
- understanding
- familiar with God's ways
- enjoyable to be around; a delight
- beautiful on the inside and out
- A brook of joy [in my case]
- We are eternally gratified
- We become aware of others around us and how we may be of encouragement/help to them
- We become men and women of peace
- We become stabalized because Christ is our firm foundation
- Confident/not cocky but Confident
- We are humbled
As I write this out I see how the fruit of feeding our spirit is far more desireable. Is it not?
Though I really REALLY enjoy country music I have to be careful what I take in. [Now the Lord totally uses country music to speak to me. I would not tell you the music is evil. My friend even likes to say the Lord is my "Country Boy" and in many ways she's right!]
So the same goes for you! What are you taking in? When you're listening to your favorite songs what is it doing within you? For me it often causes me to dream of what I do not have, [instead of being thankful for where I am at]. Or what are you taking in concerning television, youtube, video games, ...you name it.
--- Our actions reflect what we take in; what we feed. ---
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