Friday Fight 118: Spiritual Divergence to Spiritual Convergence
Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF118.
How often has something relatively minor turned our world completely sideways? We are suddenly questioning many things in our lives. Maybe it's a failed attempt to master something or a painful relational change. We suddenly find ourselves dissecting our character, abilities, and even the flow of chaos in our lives. Somewhere in our conflict, we start asking questions that we need help to answer due to our current state of mind. Where does this negative mindset take us, and what can we do to stop our spiritual shifting?
Spiritual Divergence to Spiritual Convergence
As we refer to the diagram of questions above, let's look at how they can progress and how to fight against these thoughts and submit to the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:17, the Apostle Paul writes about how the flesh contradicts the Holy Spirit's leading in our lives. "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." As Christians, when we need reminding of who we are, we like to say, "I am a child of God," or "I'm a Christian." That's a big statement that brings all kinds of thoughts, perceived ideas, and high expectations from others. What about our expectations of being a child of the Most High?
Do we see a child of God if we look at ourselves, our life choices, and our day-to-day decisions? It may be a multi-part answer. Can we pinpoint the areas that clearly show God's character and those that do not? We can flip out in a second like a volcano erupting, but once it explodes and the pressure releases, the aftermath slowly reveals these questions: what are we doing, and why did we overreact to whatever it was? Our anger separates us from God. Maybe we believe "peace" is found in gossiping, constantly talking about ourselves as a martyr, finding faults in everyone around us, or thriving when creating chaos. Whatever the case, it is not of God, and our desire to be filled by it will never be satisfied. Paul writes about the freedom found in Christ, not the freedom to do anything we desire.
We should always be aware of how easily we can become spiritually divergent and the confusion when we display those differences to others. Following and seeking God one minute and then seeking and following our worldly desires the next is a tiring conflict. Sunday morning, we argue and yell at our kids, but as soon as we arrive at church, we are suddenly Godly people, seeking Him while smiling at others. This is Satan weaving his way into our lives with his subtle schemes.
God did not intend for us to live this way! As Christians, our peace is found only in Him, so living this way means our lives lack joy in all things. Glancing at the illustration again will help us better understand how to combat the conflict. We should now ask ourselves who or what we are worshiping. What are we placing before our relationship with God?
Maybe we reflect more by looking at areas where we have replaced God to attain what we believe will fill us. If all of our struggles and anxiety are worldly (school, work, finances), perhaps our focus and fight are for the wrong things. Let our battle be in remembrance of what Christ did to maintain that freedom in our lives. Let's focus on keeping God in the front of our lives and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us into who God created us to be. Instead of being spiritually divergent, which to others looks contradictory to who we say we are, let's pray about converging our lives with the life God intended for us.
Sherri Gagnon & Pastor Shannon
New Life Calvert