July 2, 2020 RULING OUR SPIRIT
Proverbs 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”
Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit.”
If there is a pressing need today, it is that believers heed the admonition to rule their spirit. There is a definite tendency to let the circumstances rule over us-to ‘just go with the flow.’ Instead of just being responders to situations and circumstances, we must set the course we will take as we process the situations at hand, and rather than letting our emotions dictate our response, we are to determine our response by our spirit. Our emotions and our spirit are not the same; we have emotions, but they are to be ruled and led by our spirit. This is a message that our culture desperately needs to hear, and not only hear, but embrace. When we are not ruling our spirit, we are actually out of control, subject to our emotions-whatever they be at the moment. (Road rage is a good example of being led by the emotions; a perfectly normal person can become angry and vindictive in an instant when someone cuts in front of them in traffic; there have even been cases when road rage has led to murder.) We think of ourselves as a body with a spirit, but we should see ourselves as a spirit with a body; the spirit should not be subject to our ‘body’ (emotions and impulses) but our body is to be subject to our spirit. Ruling our spirit is better than ‘capturing a city’-wow! You could say that our spirit is neutral-our spirit will go where we direct it to go. There is one proviso; we can have a ‘right’ spirit, or we can have a ‘bad’ spirit. Our spirit will be what it should be only when the Holy Spirit of God is having His way in us; the work of the Holy Spirit is to guide us, and correct us when we err, and to empower us to live in a way that pleases our heavenly Father, and we have a part to play in this process. 2 Corinthians 7:1 tells us to “cleanse ourselves from defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Blessings come when we rule our spirit under the direction of the Holy Spirit; wisdom, love, patience, confidence, peace, joy, kindness, and gentleness are the norm when we rule our spirit in accordance to the ways of God. Indeed, the one who rules and controls his spirit is mighty. No matter our plight in life, we can rule our spirit and experience the blessings of God. As part of our design, we have emotions and emotions are good as long as our emotions, as well as our spirit, spring from God’s rule in our lives. May each of us, this day, rule our spirit in such a way that leads to life, both for us and those around us.
Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Blessings, Buddy
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