But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts]. For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do. But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law. Galatians 5:16-18 Amplified Bible
Living Reactively Or Responsibly?
What happens when we live reactively? What does that even mean? Living Reactively? We do and will encounter many different experiences in our day, some of them gradually work out and some of them swoop down suddenly into our life path. What is our comeback to the situations that suddenly arise in our life? Is it impulsive reaction? Is it connected response? The first choice of every day, we are either going to connect in a vital-vertical dependency on Christ, or we are going to buck up our will and link up to our flesh, independent from God. Subconsciously or consciously this is what we choose: Flesh or spirit, our will or God’s will.
The thief approaches with malicious intent, looking to steal, slaughter, and destroy; I came to give life with joy and abundance. John 10:10 The Voice
The Enemy In The Unseen
Living reactively, my will takes what I experience on the outside to the inside and it quickly bucks up, a very impulsive soul reaction. Don’t underestimate the power of the human will that has been enticed by fleshly desires, motivated by the enemy in the unseen. Our will has a temporary strength that influences our soul emotions, and apart from God, it has a high risk of impulsively reacting, outside of the will and wisdom of God. A self-willed soul reaction is usually a really exaggerated feedback to our situation, one which we usually end up regretting and wishing we had not so quickly expressed. Independence from God does have its risks, because the reaction of our human condition will leave us emotionally depleted and this is where foolishness enters the scene as we are easily tricked by our unseen enemy who has intentions to kill, steal and destroy us.
Self-Willed Reaction
Reaction can be a powerful emotional tornado, but it always spins out and dead ends. There is not much substance in our impulsive reaction, as common sense is overpowered by soul-emotions. Reaction is messy, it quickly blurts out, it offends, hurts and emotionally spits up all over everyone in the vicinity. Our emotional reaction, usually leaves a human mess, with no will power left to clean it up. Reaction is independent from God, which makes it lean into the sinful, temporary, valueless, finite, weak characteristics of our human condition and doesn’t change anything in that forever kind of way, in the situation we are in. Self-Willed Reaction makes things worse.
And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. Galatians 5:24 CEV
Purge ~ Crucify ~ Deaden
Purge your flesh. Crucify your flesh. Empty your flesh. This is the first step towards living from the inside out, living a responsive, responsible, accountable God-life. Response is the best way when things suddenly U-turn and you find yourself not going in the direction you planned, and are divinely disrupted by a “Higher Power” than your will power. What is your response? It should be dependence. Why? Response is not impulsive or flesh reactive. Response is spirit controlled action. Response from the inside-out adds value to the situation you are facing, it doesn’t detract or step you backwards, it pays forward wisdom, paving a God way for your next step.
God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won’t stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6 CEV
From The Inside-Out
Living from the inside out, where the Holy Spirit reigns in your inner man, this is how response is generated. Our flesh wants to live reactively, it takes what is seen from the outside and reacts from the surface situation, out of a worldly viewpoint. God wants us to live deeper, out of His Kingdom Perspective. It is in living with God’s Holy Spirit, walking with the Holy Spirit’s reveal truth, from the inside to the outside, that thwarts the fleshly reactions, stops our impulsive human nature and causes us to be guided by the Holy Spirit and the truth He has taught us and is currently teaching us. This gives us a miraculous edge to our spiritual growth, because we are not naturally finishers, but God is; He finishes what He starts.
Less Of Me, More Of God
Less of me and more of God, this is how I respond when I have chosen a vital-vertical relationship with God. At the get go of my day, I bow my life before God and I make a relational heart connection with God, a commitment of accountability to God’s Holy Spirit in the day at hand. I am living out of the spirit from the inside to the outside, therefore the outside does not get the demanded impulsively-willed reaction that it asks for. I am able to be self-controlled by the Holy Spirit of God in me. There is less of me in play and more of God and His purposes in play in my life. I am living responsibly, accountable to God, not reacting, but responding out of His Spirit and Truth.
For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time, it hurries toward the goal [of fulfillment]; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it, because it will certainly come; it will not delay. Habakkuk 2: Amplified Bible
Hurry Up And Wait
In the military they have a saying “hurry up and wait”. When the vision for the mission is cast, they are hurried up to get ready to go and carry it out. Yet with great wisdom, the impulsive nature is disrupted by the chain of command. Ready to go, you submissively wait. It is in the waiting time, that the mission becomes clearer, the commitment solidified and the action that ensues is not a reaction to the hype of the mission, but a response to the deeper vision of courage, honor and duty. Clarity causes the mission to never supersede the vision. Commitment becomes deeply habitual, and evil is unable to steal the vision of the Kingdom, when our focus is Holy Spirit centered, as we wait on a response that is God directed. Reaction or Response? Worldly Viewpoint or Kingdom Perspective? Commitment to a cause or a wholly-holy vision? Which will it be? Following after the impulse of fleshly enticements, or followship of God?
Emotional Whirlwinds
Our human condition sets us up for battles between God’s will and our bucked up will. The contrarious human will, stirs up our soul with the insatiable desires of our flesh. These incredible, willful, emotional whirlwinds of our soul emotions, stir up strong desires in our flesh and our will becomes contrary to our commitment to God. God doesn’t step into our soul tornados, He waits, as the righteousness of Jesus allows this time for us to grow through. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit convicts us, as the emotional whirlwind spins out and our exhausted will fails the fleshly mission. The Holy Spirit graciously, purposefully and timely re-establishes Godly order and vision to our confused and emotionally battered soul. Our circumstances are not changed, but we have come full circle to the choice of respond or react, and this time, we are armed by the Holy Spirit with the wisdom of experience and kingdom vision. Hopefully, we will now choose to live from the inside out, dependent on God.
Paying Forward Less Me~ More God
How do I get to more of Jesus and less of me? I get there by way of God’s Love. God sacrificed His Own Son, this is an unfathomable love. Jesus came to us, surrendered His Kingdom rights and the Holy Spirit stayed here with us, this is hard to wrap our human minds around. There is no greater love to be a mirror reflection of, than this love of our God. When we cling to this incredible love, the greatest acts of love known to mankind, we mirror it, from the inside to the outside. Choosing less of me, is sacrificing what I want, surrendering to a greater, permanent will. Laying down my lesser, temporary will, brings about more of God in my life. Letting go of my rights is the first step. We cling so hard to our worldly viewpoint, we block the vision of our Kingdom Perspective. We don’t want to lose anything, yet there is less of the world to lose, if you are not gripping it so tightly. When we let go of our rights, sacrifice our fleshly desires, and stay committed to God and His Kingdom, we know and experience the power of God’s love, which pays forward less of us and more of Him.
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder [unrest, rebellion] and every evil thing and morally degrading practice. James 3:16 Amplified Bible
In Control? Sowing And Reaping?
Am I in control? Am I living independently from God? Am I relying on God’s Holy Spirit or on my personal will power? Am I a self-savior? Am I a self-justifier? Independent from God, I am making some exchanges: I am going to trade love for hatred, arguing and anger. I will replace joy with jealousy and idolatry. I will forfeit peace for envy, bitterness and contentiousness. I will replace patience with self-righteousness, pride, judgement and division. I will give up kindheartedness for selfishness, self-centeredness and sanctimoniousness. I will substitute faithfulness with witchcraft, moral impurity and habitual sin. I will swap my pure heart of gentleness with adulterated, hard-hearted strife. I will lose self-control to the devices of my enemy, who will use my depraved human condition for his evil intent. I will underestimate the power of evil at work in me and do heinous things, I could never have begun to imagine doing. Being in control of my life is totally not worth the consequences.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 AMP
Our Triune God~ A Powerful Advocate
The Triune God is the best solution to thwart the works of the flesh in me. I don’t want to have a heinous legacy, I desire with all of my heart to have a living legacy, full of God’s love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, patience and be self-controlled by God’s Holy Spirit. The Triune God is our powerful Advocate and walking in our God, through the power of His life, my flesh is subdued and no evil temptation will conquer it. Our Father God is the “Proof”, the Creator of all. He is Truth that can never be disposed, our Inheritance that is our forever hope. Jesus Christ, His Son, is the “Proven”, He has defeated sin and death, He is the righteousness that covers us and empowers us with resurrection power, which our enemy continues to underestimate.
The Proof ~ The Proven ~ The Prover
The Holy Spirit, Who stays with us in that miraculously, omnipresent way, He is our “Prover”, we no longer need our will power. The Holy Spirit is the Proving Power in all we think, say and do; He is the Prover. When we give our lives each day, wholly-holy surrendered to our Triune God, our Proof, Proven, and Prover, we successfully and faithfully live from the inside out, responding out of the Holy Spirit, the Prover. The burden of proof, it is not on us, it is not about us, it is less of us and more of Him. We live truly, speak truly and act truly and the Holy Spirit is “The Prover” of all we, in followship of Him, speak and do. When we respond to our life situations, out of a mirror reflection of the Holy Spirit, our Prover, our burden is light and easy, because He is our Way-Maker.
If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. Galatians 5:25 Amplified Bible
Wait~Trust~See God’s Glory
We are not the Holy Spirit and we should stop every action that precedes a willful reaction to fix things in our lives. We do not react out of the flesh, living shallow from the outside in, we respond from the inside out, with the righteousness of “The Proven”, Jesus, standing on the side of “The Proof”, our Father God and His truth which stands the tests of time, and letting go, letting “The Prover” work out His Salvation in our life-situations as we wait, trust and see the glory of God. Less of us, more of our Triune God. Let it be so.
Miraculous Musings Is A Table At The Bridegroom’s Café That Brings Much Delight To Our Souls As We Sit With Jesus, Eating A Meal He Has Prepared Especially For Us. Miraculous Musings Are Spoken By God And Written By KimberlyMac. He speaks, I listen and when I mull things over and over in my mind, the things of the world seem to shake off and the purity of Kingdom precept remains in my soul. Enjoy My Miraculous Musings And May They Change Your Life In The Forever Way That Only God’s Word Can. AWE-GOD! Think about it yourself and leave a comment from your miraculous musings, something that will bless someone else. Pass on the inspiration by using the social media buttons below. Thank you.
I highly suggest you get a copy of the book: The Bridegroom’s Voice, it is an amazing God Journey.
