Week
1 Abide and Rest
Day 7
Change
of Heart
When we bring our
flesh into submission to the Holy Spirit, we begin to participate now in the
great blessing of those final days when God will bring all earthly things to an
end and usher His children into the glory and peace of eternity with Him. We
may be surprised by struggle and discomfort along the way, but for solace we
have the overwhelming sweetness of being at peace in His presence. Freed from
the power of sin, our souls find rest in Him.
~~
W
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hen I began my own walk toward freedom, I had a vivid dream
in which I matter-of-factly removed my head from my body and set it
aside. I soon became miserably sick from eating too many high fiber foods,
and realized that the dream's imagery of separation of mind from body
accurately illustrated the way I was making health decisions. I had ignored
what I knew about my unique physical body in order to follow my version of the
righteous requirements of the law. Worse, I called this self-imposed law
"walking by the Spirit."
Walking according to the Spirit
doesn’t mean we are to ignore our physical bodies, but that the Holy Spirit led
mind should have the final say over the flesh. If we follow our own ideas of
what is righteous, we will find
ourselves under the law. The Lord doesn’t want us to follow a plan; He wants us
to abide in Him.
Along my own path I faced several
physical challenges. For a period of several months I had such uncomfortable
lower back pain that I was forced to abandon the walking program that had
enabled me to lose my first ten pounds. I journaled many pages detailing my
upset over trying so hard to do everything right and then having roadblocks
rise up in front of me.
When I finally sought the Lord’s
guidance, I was reminded of Jesus’ response to a perfectly nice looking fig
tree that had no fruit (Mark 11). The fully leafed-out tree looked just
fine, but Jesus cursed it as a symbol of those who cared more for outward
appearances than they did for bearing fruit for the Lord. The lack of
fruit on a tree that ought to have spent its energy growing figs rather than
leaves angered our Lord.
I was well on my way to following a
set of self-imposed rules toward a lower number on the scale. If I'd been
allowed to continue on this path, I might have—just like the fig tree—looked
fine on the outside, but no actual change would have happened in my heart. God
calls us to true freedom; He doesn't want us to exchange one sort of bondage
for another. This sort of slavery to self-imposed rules prevents us from
entering into the Lord’s rest.
God does not want us to rejoice in
self-control or cling to it as though it was our salvation. He wants us to
rejoice in Him. We need to stop looking for self-control and look for our
Savior.
Pray: Lord, I want my heart’s
number one priority to be a desire for You. Please do what is necessary to
remake me into one who loves the Heavenly Father best of all. I freely give You
access to every hidden corner of my heart. Help me give You first priority and
trust You more. Amen.
~~
Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
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