Coffee With The Lord

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires… When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God! But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! And those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives!” (From Galatians 5:16–25 NLT)

Whose voice are you going to listen and respond to anyway? This morning, in all the din of the past week I recommitted myself to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit – to God’s voice at work deep within my heart. Not the clamoring voice of my old “sinful nature!” His voice is often quiet and persistent – it “nudges” us to do and say the things that would please God… that’s why I call this way of life “living by the nudge.” With God’s help I’ve determined to “lower my voice,” listen closely to the Holy Spirit deep within, and “live by His nudge!”

“One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be his apostles…” (Luke 6:12-13 NLT) And then what follows in the names of those he chose for his apostolic band.

But here’s an important related lesson… Even after prayer – sustained and intense prayer – you may experience a periodic disappointment! Notice that the last name on the list of those Jesus chose was “Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).” (vs. 16) But please don’t let that stop you from praying for guidance in big decisions!