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WHISPERS TO AND FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT

IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT

Where ever and whenever you
look for me I will be there.
For you to be true with me
the flesh must come under
your control. If you are constantly
doing as the flesh wills than how
can you follow my will?
Yes it is the difference between
physical and spiritual dimensions.
With me, however, you cannot
be spiritual a little bit.
Doing as the flesh leads sometimes
and as I lead other times causes
 sin and sadness in your life.
With me, you must be totally
spiritual and that means you
are in the world but not of it.
It means controlling the flesh
not for discipline’s sake but
for the sake of living a
spiritual life in its totality
and making God #1

Dr. Don’s Reflections

This Whisper is what following Christ is all about.  I am not on earth to please my body and all my appetites but to build myself spiritually. Now I did not realize this earlier in my life in fact it was deep into my walk before I really got this message and the Holy Spirit made it clear.

For years I thought good food, good booze, good times, and good living was what my goal should be in life. Thank God I got the message.  The essence of who I am is spiritual. I am a spirit with a body, not a body with a spirit. Think about that.

I finally realized through the counsel of the Holy Spirit that the purpose of living a life unto death is to shed our body, our humanity, and to become totally a spiritual being, thereby, to live in everlasting life in eternity with my maker God.

I was born to have a life’s journey on earth to develop spiritually. That is why this Whisper is warning me not to cater to the flesh but build up the spirit. I have found that the call of the flesh often leads to sin particularly when I was living without the Holy Spirit.

Now I am not saying when you walk with the Holy Spirit you do not dress well or eat well or have a nice home, no, not at all. What I am saying is that with the Holy Spirit you need not these things of the world and you are willing to sacrifice them for spiritual development and the love of God. This takes discipline, hence the word disciple.

In taking control of my flesh, I found that I did not have the personal and physical strength in a sufficient amount to put God first. So I turned to the Holy Spirit whom I always knew indwelled in me.  It was the renewal of the Holy Spirit in my life that is leading me toward the goal of dying to self so I may be totally in Christ. I have a long way to go but there is less of my “self” in me than there was yesterday.

Dr. Don’s  Comments

Can you relate to being in the world and not of it?  It is a hard thing to understand. But as you walk with Christ, you should get a better understanding of what it means. If you do not then your walk is not real or you are walking down the wrong path.

As you become more mature in the Lord and develop a true intimacy and love you will notice things that were important to you before are not as important to you anymore. That is because as you do become more mature, more intimate, and more in love with the Lord the pleasantries of humanity become less desired and the yearning for being with the Lord in divinity takes over your thinking, desires, and behaviors. 

In a book entitled My Daily Bread by Anthony J. Paone, S.J. there is a daily meditation that reads like this.

“Beg often for the grace to find your joy in me above of all things created above health and beauty; above glory and honor; above power and dignity; above all knowledge and cleverness; above all praise and adoration; above all comforts and wealth; above all hopes and promises; above all human consolation and appreciation. Treasure me more than the gifts and rewards which I bestow on men. In me, you will find more than in everything else.”

Just stop for a minute and look back to when you first accepted Christ. Most likely you were caught up in a bunch of worldly desires.  But your walk with Christ means the worldly stuff becomes less and he becomes more until you are totally in him and he in you.

The Lord does not want to share his relationship with you in second place or below the things he has created for you and the gifts he has given you.  He wants to be first in your life and to most Christians; no effort is being made to make Christ first in their life. But for those who are trying to make this happen there will be many falls in doings so. But if it is your genuine intent to put God first he will give you the grace to do so no matter how many falls or how deep they are.  The Lord wants to be first in your life and the question is are you trying to make that happen?