What Do You Operate Out Of?

People today are very "emotionally" led people. If you can get someone to be emotionally connected to something then you can get them to be into it. Companies learned this a long time ago and began to market to our emotions. TV ads, ads on the internet, billboards and ads in a magazine try to connect with us emotionally all the time. In fact, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to do just that. So why do you think the enemy would not want you to fall into the same trap when it comes to God. The enemy wants to play off of the very emotions that God gave us to get to to desire sin...but also use our emotions in our churches. Yes, the enemy would love for us to create emotional experiences inside of our churches because He knows when that happens there is no depth. What we connect in in the moment will be just that...in the moment. And when leave that place and walk back out into the world and the emotions are no longer with us (because we are not in that moment) then we will get sucked right back into the world.

We can operate out of 2 places as a Christian, out of our emotions, or out of the spirit. God designed us to operate out of the spirit when it comes to relating to Him. In fact in John 4:23-24 Jesus says "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth". God wants to connect with our spirit because of the pureness of our spirit. Our flesh (our human side) is carnal, it always has been and it always will be. There for our emotions can be carnal to. This is why we can be made to desire something if we emotionally connect to that thing. Our emotions desire it, therefor out flesh desires it. But our spirit is separate from that. And when we allow ourselves to have a spiritual connection to God and not just an emotional one, then our spirit (with the help of the Holy Spirit) can guide us in God's ways. Galatians 5:16-17 makes it very clear by saying "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish". Our flesh and spirit fight against each other all the time, especially when it comes to surrendering to God. But when you truly do surrender, the spirit will win that struggle again and again. Because of the things we do in the spirit with God...soak in His word, worship and praise Him, spend time in our secret place with Him and operating in the spiritual gifts He has given us....it will make our spirit stronger. And this (through the strength God supplies) will allow the spirit to defeat the flesh. And when this happens it is known as "walking in God's will". We can only walk in God's will by operating out of our spirit. When our spirit submits to God it can be led by Him. God's love will have a whole new meaning. God's grace will be felt in a whole new way. And God's mercy will be so appreciated that your desire to "test it" will be less and less. Meaning the good that comes out of you, the good you begin to operate in on a daily basis, will come from a love back to Him. It will not come from a temporary emotional connection that may have helped you make one good decision, but instead will come from a desire to please Him just because you love Him all the time. 

God created our emotions and He created our spirit. He also had a perfect plan in mind when He created us on how the two would work together. But sin came into this world and sin came into us, and when it did our emotions began to be controlled by our flesh and our flesh began to be controlled by our emotions.....and the enemy began to toy with both. But God stayed with us and God still was able to connect with us spiritually. And He knew the despite all the sin in the world, if we can operate out of our spirit and connect with His love on a spiritual level, then we can still be led by Him. So ask yourself today...Is my connection to God more of an emotional one that really doesn't have a lot of depth to it and therefore I keep dealing with the same sinful things in my life all the time?...Or is it a spirit connection where I feel God within me and I allow the Holy Spirit to guide me in all things? God desires to guide us in all things....on a deep spiritual level. 1 John 4:12-13 says "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit". He has given us His spirit, but it is up to us to be led by it. Don't let the enemy play on your emotions one more day! Connect with God spiritually and see what a difference in makes in your life.

God, Thank You so much that You gave us emotions and a spirit. Help us to know the difference between the two and connect with You in the way that You designed us to...and desire us to. Holy Spirit fill us up so that the fruit that comes from our lives is OF YOU....and not a product of our emotions. Please allow us to be able to show others what life is like when Your Spirit is alive in us. In Jesus name, Amen