This is a repost from my granddaughter’s blog. I hope you enjoy it.
“If you find any encouragement from being in the Anointed, if His love brings you some encouragements, if you experience true companionship with the spirit, if His tenderness and mercy fill your heart; then brothers and sisters, here is one thing that would complete my joy—come together as one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love. Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others. Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors interests first. In other words, adopt the mindset of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember: though he was in the form of God, He chose not to cling to equality with God; but he poured Himself out to fill a vessel brand new; a servant in form and a man indeed. The very likeness of Humanity, He humbled himself, obedient to death—a merciless death on the cross!” Philippians 2:1-8 (Voice).
While there are several prominent themes that jump out at you in this verse, I will focus only on obedience to the Holy Spirit. My dear readers and friends, do you find any comfort in Jesus? If so, there is a call upon your life. It looks heavy and burdensome, but it is the lightest burden you will ever have to bear. I speak of the burden and call of obedience to the Holy Spirit. I know, obedience is a scary word. A word that most people fear, hate, and even loathe. However, you can have confidence in the fact that obedience to God is never the wrong thing to do. His ways are higher than our ways and his plans are much better than our own plans.
I feel that there are several reasons that people do not like this word, obedience. Most prominently is a sense of entitlement that most people have today. When I say most people I mean most people. I do not just mean millennials. I mean most people of every generation. Specifically though, I feel that most people feel they are entitled to live their lives the way that they want to with no input or direction from any other person. Because of this, we hate to be told what to do. It immediately creates a rift in our minds between us and the person who is ordering us around. If they were once our friends, they aren’t any longer. They are our enemy because they think they are better than me. “Who do they think they are ordering me around?!?! They can’t do that to me!”
Unfortunately, this also happens with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit instructs them to do something, they brush the instruction or feeling off and tell themselves that it wasn’t really the Holy Spirit so that they do not have to feel responsible for anything that happens after that. Jesus was in sync with the Holy Spirit every step of his life. Even when the Holy Spirit called him to die a sinner’s death on the cross, he never for a moment tried to run away from the call. We know that he cried out to his Father to find another way, but when no other way was presented, he went to his death willingly and obediently. Because of that, we owe him a life debt. We belong to Him. H
e is our Lord and Master. So, when start to feel entitled to live our lives the way we want to and not the way He wants us to, we are not being obedient to the Holy Spirit. When we learn to differentiate between the whispers of our enemy that put wood on the fire of entitlement, and the whispers of the Holy Spirit we are able to push off thoughts of entitlement and win a spiritual victory. After enough of those victories, you might find that you cease to hear the whispers of the enemy at all and that you hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit more and more.
I struggle myself with being obedient to the Holy Spirit daily. It is not
easy. I want to encourage you to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit in your life. Blessing will follow obedience and I promise that The Anointed’s way are higher than our ways and his plans are better than our plans. Things don’t always turn out the way you might expect them to, but they will turn out for the best if you head the Holy Spirit.
Until next time
-Courtney Neville
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