DO YOU WANT TO BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT? (Part 2)

There are a lot of cravings among believers in the days which we live. There are cravings for food, drink, love, popularity, riches, fame, attention, pleasure, and power. I cry every time I see a believer overcome by these cravings and walk away from the Lord. 

Many times the cravings and lust in the heart for the world, the things of the world, and personal satisfaction exceeds thirst for the things of God and for His truth. Those who give in to the lust of the heart use justification and every possible excuse outside of themselves for why they are where they are emotionally, relationally, spiritually, financially, socially, and mentally. We live in a day of excuses and the victim mentality.

I have seen believers ask God for the right thing morality, socially, and spiritually and then when they receive it they use that very thing which was an answered prayer, as an excuse to be a victim to it. We are called to walk in the Spirit without excuses. My spouse, my children, my job, my church and my health cannot be used as an excuse for us walking in the flesh and making decisions outside of the will of God.

It states in the book of James that all lust starts in the heart of man.

James 1:13-15 ESV Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. (14) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

When we are not in the Spirit we are in the flesh and fulfilling the lust of the flesh. This is the root of wars and fighting among believers.

James 4:1-3 ESV What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (2) You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. (3) You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

When we walk in the spirit we are pleasing the Father and doing His will. When we are walking in the flesh we are fulfilling the lustful desires of the flesh. These fleshly lusts war against our soul, which is the way we think (our thoughts), the way we feel (our emotions) and the way we choose (our will).

1 Peter 2:11 ESV Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

1 John 2:15-17 ESV Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (17) And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

How I long to see the Body of Christ to thirst after God and make the hard decisions to deny self. I cry out for the command of our Lord in Revelation to be a reality within the lives of many believers before it is to late.

Revelation 3:17-18 ESV For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (18) I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.