Walking west...

Gal 5:16,18, 22, 23 | This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ...if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. ...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Rom 8:1, 2, 4 | There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Thoughts: My focus should be to walk after, follow, pursue the Spirit. For if I do that I will not be walking after, following, pursuing the flesh. Trying to chase down my sinful habits and weaknesses, to bring them under submission, will never bring me success. Only as I pursue Christ Jesus, forsaking my flesh entirely and walk after, follow, pursue the Spirit, will I be changed, not by my efforts, working, striving, but by natural consequence. Just as, if I am walking west, I can no longer be walking east. Trying to chase east and make it go west will never work. Just go west, and east will be left behind.

Ask!

Jeremiah 33:3 | Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Thoughts: Why do I not see great and mighty things happening in my life? I always seem to be getting myself in more trouble… fretting about decisions, burdened by deadlines, failing my trials.

John 16:24 | Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Thoughts: The condition of the promise is that I must ask. I must call upon Him and He will show; I must ask and I will receive. You can hear the tender urgency and excitement He has for us to ask so that our “joy might be full”. It is a reoccurring theme in Jesus words to His disciples. Over and over He urged them to ask in His name that they may receive. (Mat 7:7,11; Mat 21:22; John 14:13,14; John 15:7; John 16:23,24). He waits and longs for the chance to wrap His arms around us and pour out upon us a blessing so prodigious that we will not have room enough to receive (Malachi 3:10).

    The disciples eventually got the picture because we see this theme surfacing in some of their writings. It is said in as plain and simple a way as Jesus told it to them…ask! (1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14,15; James 1:5,6; James 4:2).

    It is not a hard thing He asks me to do. But it is vital that I fulfill the simple condition upon which the promise is given. It is the key that unlocks the treasure chest. It is the scissors that cut the ribbon from around the package. It is like removing the cap so that the sweet perfume of God’s love is free to anoint my life.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”