City Life Starter

Written by Aisha Darwesh

The Word

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:14 (ESV)

Aisha’s Analysis

There is an ongoing battle within every believer: two competing desires that determine the course of our lives.  It’s a life-or-death situation.  Following one leads to death.  However, following the other leads to real and genuine life! (See Romans 8:6).

It seems like a no-brainer to choose life, but if you don’t know how to dispel the other desire, then you’ll become its slave.  You’ll mindlessly follow the dictates of your flesh, and you’ll become imprisoned in your own mind.  You’ll end up doing things you know are wrong, but are simply unable to do what you know is right.  It’s a life of frustration and defeat.

This is where free will comes in.  The enemy tries to deceive us to think that there’s no way out of our sinful desires, that we don’t have a choice: we’re trapped.  But the truth is we can make a decision at any point to follow the prompting and leadership of the Holy Spirit.  And it’s the best decision we’ll ever make!

Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.  They live in true freedom and total peace.  There’s no guilt or shame, no confusion or worry.  You won’t be constantly wondering if you’re on the right track; you’ll just trust God and know that with Him in the driver’s seat, you’re headed in the right direction!

God is full of Grace, mercy, and compassion, and He’s much too kind to show us the destination without also sending our own personal Guide to help us get there.  There’s simply no reason we can’t live a victorious, overcoming life while we’re in transit to our true home in Heaven.  We have a legal right to win every time.  Even when it looks like we’ve lost, in God’s playbook, He’ll work all things out for our good.

So how can we live this victorious, God-kind of life?

First things first, we must realize that we have no obligation whatsoever to do what our carnal nature urges us to do (Romans 8:12).  If you are on the road and someone cuts you off, your carnal nature might urge you to yell out a cuss word or make a rude gesture, but you’ve got to understand that’s not who you are anymore.  You are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Carnal Christians are slaves to their circumstances.  They live in reaction to what they see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. But a Spirit-filled believer who is operating from his new divine nature as a son of God follows whatever the Spirit of God prompts him to do.

In the previous example, the Holy Spirit might urge you to pray for that person who cut you off or just let it go and move on.  When you begin to see yourself the way God sees you: as a child of God, an extension of God Himself, then all that is inconsistent with God’s nature becomes irrelevant and erroneous.  No matter what happens, no matter what situation you may find yourself in, you know who you are and you know whose you are.  You are a child of the Most High God and you’ve got His cosmic back-up!

It’s the richest kind of life.  You don’t have to live life riddled with fear and guilt, or drown in an endless stream of baseless questions.  You can be satisfied and whole, pure and blameless.  If you trust God, if you know that He’ll never ask you to do something that will violate your conscience or cause you ultimate harm, then it becomes quite reasonable to obey Him.  And, oh, how the blessings will flow!

The biggest and best blessing of all is knowing that you have a solid relationship with Love Himself.  He becomes your source for everything, your reason for being.  There’s not a single idle or dull moment in a life with God in the lead.

We serve a God who is worthy of our total trust.  He gave His All for us, so we could have the chance to give our all to Him.  He gives us beauty for our brokenness and rivers of joy for our tears of hopelessness.        

A Spirit-led life gets brighter and brighter.  And it all starts with a quality decision. Say no to the flesh, and say yes to Jesus.  Don’t worry about tomorrow and never look back!

Application

Saying yes to Jesus is a step-by-step, moment-by-moment, process. Obedience is simply saying yes to God over and over, and yielding to the Holy Spirit to empower you to obey as opposed to trying to obey God in your own strength. Both obedience and discipleship are rooted in our relationship with God. You simply cannot obey or follow God without Him. Step 1 to discipleship is realizing that. 

From there, once you realize it’s not all on your shoulders, that takes the pressure off. All you have to do is follow your Guide. Look for His direction in every situation. Begin to include the Holy Spirit in your daily life–when you’re washing the dishes, going grocery shopping, or whatever, let Him in and let Him guide you. 

Prayer

Holy Spirit, thank You for entering my life in a deep and powerful way. I want to look for You and follow You. It’s not enough to just look for You on Sunday morning or mid-week bible study. I want to be with You everywhere. Thank You that I can seek You while You may be found and call upon You while You are near according to Isaiah 55:6. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.