Living a Spirit-Filled Life

Today is a new day! A new year is underway, and it is filled with potential as each new day brings a fresh start….a reset…a time to pause and allow the Creator of all things, God, our heavenly Father, to transform our lives one morning at a time. I’m talking 365 days a year.

A day becomes a week, becomes a month, becomes an entire year of seeking God and experiencing the transforming power of His presence 24/7…365. Can you imagine the possibilities? Every time I begin to imagine the possibilities of what God can do in my life, I am reminded of what it says in Ephesians 3:20.     

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

Where do you need to see the power of God displayed in your life? What would happen in your broken relationships? Do you need a plan for your finances? Where are you struggling? Are you just going through the motions lost without purpose? Do you want to change, but just don’t know where or how to start? 

The great news is that you aren’t alone! God is able to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine. That is an incredible promise straight from God’s word. As a child of God, His power (the Holy Spirit) is at work within you. If that doesn’t fill you with hope, I don’t know what will.  

Too many times we live a defeated life because we simply refuse to unleash the power of the Holy Spirit in our every day lives. We look to God and call on Him for the really BIG things, but when it comes to our everyday lives, we approach it with an "I’ve got this" attitude. I don’t know why we do this, but, before you know it our prideful, self-sufficient attitude gets in the way and keeps us from experiencing immeasurably more that we could ask or imagine. 

It’s time we set our pride aside…no, it’s time we hand our pride over to the Holy Spirit and exchange it for humility. We need to come humbled before God, and ask Him to take not just the big things but our moment-by-moment everyday lives also. Here are some passages of scripture I’ve incorporated into my time with God to help me become less self-sufficient and more God dependent.

• Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Psalm 143:8
• Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. Psalm 143:10
• Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2
• I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
• Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8
• Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24

Each day is filled with possibilities. Where we end up this year is determined greatly by how we begin each day. Will we set our hearts and minds on God, surrendering to His Holy Spirit, or will we let pride and self-sufficiency continue to reign over our lives? My prayer is that this year will be a year yielded to the Holy Spirit fulfilling the purposes of God in my life. What about you?

Victory Is Yours!

Everybody loves it when their team wins. When you’re a real fan of a team and your team has the lead, you watch the game in peace and confidence and generally find yourself in a fairly good mood. But when the other team starts coming back, that mood begins to change, and that peace you felt now becomes tension. You find yourself no longer enjoying the comfort of confidence in having the lead! If by chance, your team loses that lead, then suddenly you are ill, frustrated, and fearful the worst is going to happen…you might get defeated!  

How many times have you felt this scenario? I felt it just last week and the week before that, as I watched some of my favorite football teams lose sizable leads and ultimately lose the game. Not everyone is the same, but for me, I get ill, frustrated, and bummed out…I even get down and defeated! My wife asks me, “Why do you watch it if it's going to affect you like that?” 😳

Now the beauty of the sports scenario is that it's temporary! I mean, after all, it's just football! It's just a game! But how many times has that same scenario of defeat hit our lives spiritually? I know it has affected me. At times, I believed I was doing well spiritually. I felt strong and even confident, only to notice that my peace and confidence started slipping away and turned into discouragement and sometimes even into a feeling of full blown defeat.

I love reading the book of Psalms. The writer, David, often shares that same experience. David writes in Psalm 108:11, “God, why have you rejected us?” He wrote in other Psalms, “Where are you Lord,?” “Why am I downcast?” He knew what it was like to experience the feeling of defeat.

In Psalm 108, David prays, “Give us aid against the foe for human help is worthless. With God we will perform valiantly, he will trample our foes!” (vs.12-13) Our Enemy is the one who is defeated! He is not going to start coming back toward victory. The score has already been set. Jesus took care of that when He walked out of the tomb! There is no need to hang our heads in defeat, be bummed, or feel ill, frustrated, or fearful because Jesus is victorious and has given that victory to us!  

We can live and walk and breathe in victory, not in defeat! Too many Christians live a life of defeat and do not live as conquerors, when actually we are MORE than conquerors through Jesus (Rom. 8:37). Sometimes we live as if we cannot win because we forget the truth. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4). The truth is that you are in an ongoing spiritual battle. There will be some wins and some losses, but you need to always remind yourself of the truth that Victory IS Yours! Enjoy the win!

Want to read more from Mike Keaton?

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To Love One Another - NOT just because “Tis the Season”

“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16. Through the Holy Spirit, loving others should be easy, right? For me, it depends on the day. Ha!  That sounds crazy, but it’s true.

There are days when loving others comes easy, and then there are days when loving others is more challenging than running. If you know me, you know running is no easy task! I’ve found the most challenging time for me to love others is during a time of pain or struggle. 1 Peter 1 tells us to rejoice in times of trials. If we have the Lord in our heart, we will have everlasting peace in Heaven.   

Loving others is a little easier through the power of the Holy Spirit than trying on our own. I am not saying loving one another will be easy...living life is not easy especially disconnected from the Lord. What does it mean to LOVE? 1 Corinthians 13 paints a picture of how we should love others. Love is described as patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not dishonoring, not self-seeking, not keeping record of wrongs, not delighting in evil but REJOICING in the Truth. Love protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. We are then reminded that love never fails.  

God actually explains love as a selfless act. To be able to love another is to put others before yourself. Think on this: Would you be willing to lay down your life for a friend? How about an enemy? God loved us, He gave us - undeserving and sinful - a model, Jesus, in the flesh without sin to be our Savior. Jesus died and rose from the grave to save us, you and me, not himself.  

So, how are you doing loving others? Not just because it is the Christmas season, and most of us are joyful during this time. There is something about Christmas that brings JOY. But, we must remember that we are created to love in all seasons. We are created to love others during their pain and trials. We are created to love others even in our own pain and suffering. We are created in the image of Christ which is perfection. I am not saying we are created to be perfect; we are created through perfection from Christ.  

We must remember that we are created to love in ALL seasons

Loving others has always been somewhat of an easy task for me…well, for the most part. Not too long ago, there was a point in my life, where loving others was not easy at all. You see, during that valley I was hurting, the pain and struggle during that time was real. To be honest, I wondered if I would ever be back to my “old self.” Guess what...I am not. The Lord allowed me to grow to a deeper spiritual place that I would never have obtained without pain.

Depending on your journey at the moment, you may not want to hear this...but, the Lord takes the bad and creates something good. From my valley, I experienced pain, sadness, and guilt. As the Lord held me through that valley, He showed me a love I never knew before. He showed me how to face the pain and begin walking out of the valley not on my own but with His strength.  

Even in our trials and pain, the Lord loves us. He is willing to walk beside us to guide us out of the valley. Are we willing to do that for others? Are we willing to love others during all of the seasons? Are we willing to love others during the bad to witness the good that the Lord has in store?  

I will leave you with this: To be able to love the way Christ loves, you surrender yourself and walk by the Holy Spirit. This is a daily task, and is nothing that can be obtained on your own. Through Christ we can love others, even when we believe they are undeserving...because guess what, so are we! I encourage you to love one another more often.

The greatest commandments Jesus gives us in Matthew 22:37-38 are to

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

When you love the Lord, you walk with the Spirit. Walking with the Spirit allows loving your neighbor as yourself to be much easier.