Tag Archives: spirit led life

October 28, 2025 · 5:57 AM

Staying In Sync

Have you ever had the chance to watch a military marching band? It’s one of the most incredible things to watch as a hundred band members play instruments and march in beat while creating formations. No one does it better than the Fighting Texas A&M Aggie Band. Sometimes they are spread out over the space of an entire football field. Between the echoes of the music coming off the bleachers and the distance apart from each other, if they relied on sound, they would be off. Instead, the band members keep their eyes on the drum majors to keep in step and in time. The drum majors set the tempo, the direction and ensures that the members stay in sync.

In Acts 10, Peter was on a rooftop praying when God gave him a vision of a picnic cloth coming down out of heaven. In it there were all kinds of animals that were considered unclean to eat. He heard God say, “Kill and eat.” However, he pushed back thinking it was a test. The lord said, “Don’t call unclean what I have called clean.” It repeated three times and then was drawn back up into heaven. Just then some Gentiles, who were sent by an angel, knocked on the door looking for him. The Holy Spirit told him to go with them. Peter obeyed and salvation reached the Gentile world. Peter had to adjust his thinking and beliefs in order to stay in step and sync with the Holy Spirit. He followed the Spirit’s lead rather than his flesh.

Galatians 5:25 says, “If the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives” (TPT). The Greek word Paul used for “to direct every aspect of our lives,” invokes images of soldiers marching in sync with disciplined movements. He was reminding us that the Spirit is our drum major and we must listen to Him and allow Him to direct every aspect of our life. We can’t rely on preconceived notions or what the culture around us tells us. We must trust the Word of God to give us direction in our life and to guide our decisions. When we keep our eyes on Him, He will direct us so that we march with His tempo and direction, as well as to stay in sync with His plans for our life.

Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Unsplash

Here’s a video of the Texas A&M band marching in sync.

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May 15, 2025 · 5:30 AM

A Conditional Mindset

Have you ever told God, “I’ll go wherever you want me to go, except…”? Or you might have said, “I’ll do anything you want me to, except…” it’s crazy how we sometimes put conditions on our obedience. The truth is that we’ve got a mindset that we’ve adopted on earth that makes us think we can do that. For some reason we’ve bought the lie that we get to pick and choose what we want to obey. You can’t say, “God, I’ll honor you, but I’m not going to honor my spouse or my parents.” To dishonor them is to dishonor God and the commandment He’s given. The mindset that tells God what we are and are not going to do is wrong.

Take Jonah for example. God told him where to go and what to say. He didn’t say anything back to God. He went down to the shore, bought a ticket like he was going and boarded a ship in the opposite direction. His mindset was the kind that said, “I’ll go wherever you want except Nineveh.” God wasn’t pleased with Jonah, nor is He pleased with us when we adopt the same mindset. He might not send a great fish to swallow you so you’ll get an attitude adjustment and a mindset change, but He will try to get your attention so you’ll follow and say what the Spirit leads you to do and say. We can’t forget that He is the potter and we are the clay.

Romans 8:7 puts it plainly what’s happening when we do this to God. It says, “In fact, the mind-set focused on the flesh fights God’s plan and refuses to submit to his direction, because it cannot!” (TPT) When we refuse to submit to God’s direction for our lives, we’ve adopted a flesh driven mindset rather than a Spirit led one. It’s a visible sign of rebellion because of a lack of submission to God. To live by the Spirit is to live in obedience and without conditions to what God says on how to live, where to go and what to say. It’s the way God has asked you and I to live. The next time you find yourself putting conditions on obeying, stop the sentence, repent and say, “I’m your servant. I’ll do whatever you want.” It may not be easy, but that’s what a Spirit led life looks like.

Photo by Aravind Vijayan on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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September 19, 2023 · 5:37 AM

Giving God Control

One of the books I read a couple of years ago was a study of 100,000 churches and the results. Something that caught my attention was it showed how many Christians are good with living lives that are close to Christ. However, there was a significant drop off to those who live Christ centered lives. We’re comfortable with the first one, but struggle to make the leap into giving up full control. A life that is close to Christ prays, reads their Bible and seeks Jesus for decisions in their life. It’s like a person who is driving the car of their life and asks Jesus for directions of which way to turn. By contrast, a Christ centered life is one where Jesus is in the driver’s seat making the decisions and we are in the passenger seat going where He takes us. Few fall into this category.

It reminded me of the story of the Rich, Young Ruler in Mark 10:17-27. This man approached Jesus to ask what he needed to do to receive eternal life. Jesus told him to obey the commandments. He felt good since he lived a life that did that (like most of us). Verse 21 says, “Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, ‘You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me’” (GNT). Jesus didn’t tell him he wasn’t going to Heaven. He called him to a life that was Christ centered. To give up his will and possessions for Christ was more than he was willing to do. He, like us, enjoyed being in the driver’s seat and went away sad because he wasn’t willing to give up control.

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the Fruit of the Spirit that God produces in our lives as Christians. Then in verse 25 it says, “The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.” How much control have you given the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you find yourself in the driver’s seat or the passenger seat? Both are saved and going to Heaven, but only one offers a life that is truly Christ centered. The life that Jesus was inviting the rich, young ruler into. If we want that kind of life, we’re going to have to give Him control of our life. It’s not an easy thing to do which is why so few make that leap. Jesus is always calling us into a deeper commitment to Him, to a life more abundant. The way to get to the fullness He offers is through giving up control.

Photo by Frames For Your Heart on Unsplash

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September 22, 2022 · 5:30 AM

A Call To Repentance

I’m reading through the “Killing Kryptonite” devotional by John Bevere. In it he said, “Repentance means changing our mind so deeply that it changes our personality from the core of our being.” As I read that, I thought about today’s world. Our culture is just the opposite of that. As a society, we celebrate and encourage people to be who you are. The problem with that is that we are encouraging them to identify with their Adamic nature rather than the image of God that is in them. We encourage people to suppress the new creation God is trying to bring out in order to celebrate their sinful nature.

When God called us to repentance, He called us to leave behind our Adamic nature so we can identify with His fingerprint on our life. Repentance means to turn around and go the opposite direction. We are not just called to accept Jesus, but to repent as well. The old life is gone and God turns you into a new creation from the core of who you are. There is a transformation God wants to do in each one of us, but it’s up to us to turn away from the fingerprint of Adam on our life, which is a spiritual cancer that God wants to put into remission.

Acts 20:21 says, “I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus” (NLT). Repentance and confessing faith in Jesus go hand in hand. We change identities when these two things happen so that we become who God created us to be. We walk away from who we once were, and leave the path we were on in order to become a new creation and be Spirit led. Your transformation starts with salvation then begins when you turn around and walk towards the life God has for you.

Photo by Arina Krasnikova: Pexels

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.
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April 20, 2022 · 5:44 AM

A Conditional Mindset

Have you ever told God, “I’ll go wherever you want me to go, except…”? Or you might have said, “I’ll do anything you want me to, except…” it’s crazy how we sometimes put conditions on our obedience. The truth is that we’ve got a mindset that we’ve adopted on earth that makes us think we can do that. For some reason we’ve bought the lie that we get to pick and choose what we want to obey. You can’t say, “God, I’ll honor you, but I’m not going to honor my spouse or my parents.” To dishonor them is to dishonor God and the commandment He’s given. The mindset that tells God what we are and are not going to do is wrong.

Take Jonah for example. God told him where to go and what to say. He didn’t say anything back to God. He went down to the shore, bought a ticket like he was going and boarded a ship in the opposite direction. His mindset was the kind that said, “I’ll go wherever you want except Nineveh.” God wasn’t pleased with Jonah, nor is He pleased with us when we adopt the same mindset. He might not send a great fish to swallow you so you’ll get an attitude adjustment and a mindset change, but He will try to get your attention so you’ll follow and say what the Spirit leads you to do and say. We can’t forget that He is the potter and we are the clay.

Romans 8:7 puts it plainly what’s happening when we do this to God. It says, “In fact, the mind-set focused on the flesh fights God’s plan and refuses to submit to his direction, because it cannot!” (TPT) When we refuse to submit to God’s direction for our lives, we’ve adopted a flesh driven mindset rather than a Spirit led one. It’s a visible sign of rebellion because of a lack of submission to God. To live by the Spirit is to live in obedience and without conditions to what God says on how to live, where to go and what to say. It’s the way God has asked you and I to live. The next time you find yourself putting conditions on obeying, stop the sentence, repent and say, “I’m your servant. I’ll do whatever you want.” It may not be easy, but that’s what a Spirit led life looks like.

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

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October 27, 2021 · 5:44 AM

Seeking God’s Guidance

I’m a pretty spontaneous person. A friend could show up and ask if I wanted to go on a road trip. I’d grab a few things, toss them in a backpack and be ready to go in about ten minutes. It might be a few hours later before I realized I forgot something or realized I had a prior commitment that I had forgotten about. Meanwhile, I have friends who given the same circumstance would not be able to make a decision to go on the road trip for a couple of days. They’d need to know exactly where the trip was going, where they would be staying, when they were coming back, etc. It might take them a couple of days to decide if they were going. If they did decide to go, they would have looked at everything from all the angles before committing.

In 1 Kings 22, King Arab asked King Jehoshaphat to go to war with Romath Gilead. Jehoshaphat jumped at the opportunity, but then thought better of it and wanted to get God’s blessing first. They got about 400 prophets together and asked them. They assured the kings of God’s blessing and victory. Jehoshaphat wasn’t convinced. He asked if there were any more prophets. They told him there was one, but he always gives bad news. Jehoshaphat wanted to hear what this prophet Michaiah would say. Michaiah told them they would be defeated and die. Ahah threw him in prison and the kings decided to go to war anyway. They were defeated and Arab was killed.

Galatians 5:16 says, “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]” (AMP). When it comes to making big decisions, we need to be less spontaneous and more deliberate in seeking God’s guidance. Not only that, we need to follow His leading even when it conflicts with our own desires. The Holy Spirit is constantly prompting us and speaking to us. He warns us of temptations and sin. If we hear or feel His promptings and ignore them, we are choosing to be led by our flesh instead of God. If we want to live a Spirit led life, we must habitually seek Him, listen to His guidance and follow it. When we do, we open the doors to His blessings and live the life we were created to live.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

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September 14, 2021 · 5:51 AM

Feeding Your Spirit

One of my teachers taught me a tale of two dogs. They were alike in every way. They asked who would win in a fight. I thought that if they were alike in every way, it would end in a tie. They told me I was correct. Then they said, “Let’s take those same two dogs and only feed one of them. If they were to fight, who would win?” Again, I thought it was pretty easy and told them the one that was fed would win. After agreeing with my assessment, they explained that there is always a fight going on inside each one of us between our flesh and our spirit. No matter how much I wanted one of them to win, it would always be the one I fed the most.

I love that the Bible didn’t cover up things or just show us the best version of people’s lives. It told us how Abraham lied about his wife being his sister. It kept the part where Moses murdered an Egyptian. It didn’t try to cover up David’s adultery like he did. It included Jesus rebuking Peter. Every one of these people are heroes in the faith to us, but they were just as human as you and I are. They wanted to serve God as much as you, and they failed Him as much as we do. What made them stand out was that they repented and learned to feed their spirit more. They knew that they needed to change who they fed when they messed up, and they did it.

In Psalms 86:11, David prayed, “Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do, and I will obey you faithfully; teach me to serve you with complete devotion” (GNT). David, like all these other heroes of faith, always went back to God to teach him in those moments of failure or need. He wanted to serve God with complete devotion. In order for us to do that, we must be willing to be taught how by God and we must feed our spirit the Word of God. We must spend time in prayer and obedience. We have to spend less time feeding our flesh, and to not dismiss the tension of the fight between the two inside of us. If you find yourself failing more times than not, take a look at how you spend your time. What are you spending your time doing? Which side is that feeding? You can always change who your feeding to change results. Ask God to teach you what He wants you to do and how He wants you to feed your spirit. He will show you.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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February 1, 2021 · 5:25 AM

Having Your Reigns Pulled

If you’ve ever ridden a horse, you know they’re fairly easy to control with the reigns. A slight tug on the right makes them go right. A slight tug on the left and they go left. Pull your feet into their side just a little and off you go. I used to ride horses in the Sahara Desert near the Saqqara pyramid in Egypt. This horse was fast and fun to ride. I’d ride her over dunes and through small valleys, up and over as fast as she could go. All was good until I went over one dune and she could see the pyramid. Immediately, she would go into memory mode and start walking toward the pyramid. No matter how hard I pulled the reigns, she wouldn’t turn. I would have to dismount, cover her eyes and lead her to where she couldn’t see them so I could ride some more.

You’re probably familiar with the story of Jonah and the whale. He was told by God to go to Nineveh and preach, but he didn’t want to go. Instead he boarded a ship and went the other direction. A bad storm came to try to get him to change directions, but he stayed the course. The storm got worse to the point they started throwing things overboard as God tugged on Jonah’s reigns. Finally he admitted he was the culprit and asked to be tossed overboard. He’d rather die than to go to Nineveh. God prepared a great fish to swallow him until He could lead Jonah to where He wanted him to go. Even there, Jonah had to have his reigns pulled a few times and even felt some spurs to the side to encourage him to move. We like to point at Jonah without looking at how we disobey God’s leading, but God has to pull on our reigns too.

God has a plan for you and for me. We were created with purpose, and God is constantly revealing it to us if we’re looking and listening. He’s constantly pulling on our reigns to keep us on track. In Psalm 32:9, God says, “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule that needs bit and bridle to stay on track” (MSG). We get distracted like my horse in Egypt and become fixated on things of the flesh rather than the tasks God has for us. God pulls and pulls on us to go where He’s trying to lead, He will do whatever it takes to get our attention (just ask Jonah). You’re probably not in danger of being swallowed by a fish, but thankfully God will use people and things to guide us back to our purpose. Take it from me as someone who’s had their reigns pulled a few times, it’s better to obey and to stay on track. Follow the tugging of the Holy Spirit today and go where He leads.

Photo by Marylou Fortier on Unsplash

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December 23, 2020 · 5:59 AM

Pleasing God

I was able to attend a Christian school for junior high and high school. During my freshman year, one of my teachers told us to get our Bibles out and a pen. He had us open them up to Romans 7. We were instructed to read it once, then go back through it with our pen. Each time we read the words, “I, me, my, myself,” etc., we were to circle them. We were then told to read Romans 8. After we read it, go back through it and circle, “Spirit, God, Jesus, Christ,” etc. Once finished, we had to go back and count them in each chapter. There were a lot of circles in my Bible between the two. Towards the end of chapter 7, Paul wrote, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong” (NLT). He then said he was a wretched, miserable person trying to live like a Christian on his own. He wrapped up that chapter by asking, “Who will free me from this life dominated by sin?” He then answered his own question with Jesus.

Chapter 8 starts off by reminding us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. I love that he included that because so many times we condemn ourselves because we fall prey to what Paul was talking about in trying to follow Jesus by willpower alone. He then starts writing about the battle between the Holy Spirit and our flesh, and how they’re always at war because they have two different goals. One is to please yourself, and the other wants to please God. He then makes a bold statement saying, “For if you live by its (the flesh’s) dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.” It becomes clear at this point in the chapter that we must learn to let the Spirit lead our lives if we’re going to live how God wants us to. It becomes a matter of who we choose to listen to.

As I read Philippians 2, it talks about us needing to have the mind and attitude of Jesus. He lived a Spirit led life doing what God wanted Him to. After encouraging us to live the way God wants us to, he encourages us in verse 13 with, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” God is at work in you and me, helping us to live Spirit led lives. We don’t have to try to do it on our own. His Holy Spirit resides in us, guides us and works in us to build us up into the people He’s called us to be. If you’re struggling like Paul wrote about at the end of Romans 7, remember that Jesus is working in you to free you from the mindset that you can do it on your own. Let God do His work in your life. Give the Holy Spirit control. Then remember that there is no condemnation for you. There will always be a struggle with your flesh as long as you live in it, but God’s Spirit is in you, working to give you the power to live a life that pleases Him.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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June 7, 2017 · 5:31 AM

Trusting Grace


My six year old son has been asking me a lot of questions about sin lately. He asked me if I sin. When I told him that I do, he wanted to know why. I explained that I don’t want to, but sometimes I do. It’s just part of being human and having sin live inside us. Then he wanted to know if it upsets God when I sin. I told him that it does, but God is faithful to forgive us of our sins when we confess them to Him and are sorry for doing them. Then he wanted to know if he sins and the circle continued. 

I love that he’s already concerning himself with wanting to live a life that pleases God. I also want him to understand that sin is an ongoing problem in all of our lives. There is no one who is perfect and can keep from sinning. This problem is outlined perfectly in Romans 7. Verses 17-20 say, “I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; i decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway” (MSG). It’s the struggle we all face.

No matter how much anyone of us want to live a sinless life, we eventually fall short and sin. Paul is very clear in this chapter that the problem is not us, but the sin that is inside of us. We are all dependent on God’s grace instead of our ability to live sinless lives. I love how Romans 8:4 puts it. “The law always ended up being a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it.” Trying to live a sinless life doesn’t fix the problem; it only covers it up. Living a perfect life is not our goal. Learning to trust God’s grace is.

God’s grace and the Holy Spirit working in us is the remedy to our sin problem. When we try to put a Band-Aid on our sin and do things on our own, pride comes in. The answer is to quit trying to live a sinless life out of sheer will power because we can’t. God’s Spirit is living in us and working in us. We must learn to live Spirit led lives, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide us in the life that He wants us to live. The Spirit wants to lead us into a life of freedom instead of constant condemnation because we fail constantly. Rip off the Band-Aid and let God heal you from the inside out.

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