Are You a Landing Strip or a Resting Place? Part 4
By Greg Sanders

Welcome to part 4 of our series on hosting the presence of the Holy Spirit. Today we continue to discuss the importance of living a life that continually welcomes the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Todays lesson: Make decisions based on His Word.

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Right after the Holy Spirit rested on Jesus, Satan came to attack Him. If Satan attempted to thwart the plan of God for Jesus by compromise then you can be assured he will come after you as well. Satan offered what Jesus desired. He came to save the world- Satan offered the world. He was hungry – Satan offered bread. Jesus came to live a life that brought praise to His Father – Satan tempted Jesus to worship him. Satan custom tailors temptation in an attempt to marginalize your life. Jesus met these temptations head on by making His choices according to the Word and not what just seemed pleasing in the moment. None of us would choose sin if in that moment it did not appeal to our mind. But it does often seem pleasing, easy, or the best course of action. Therefore, we must make choices based on His Word and not our feelings.

I heard a story of a guy who had lost a lot of weight and gained a lot of weight several times for years. Finally one day He got into the shape of his life and kept it off. They interviewed him and asked him how he finally kept it off. He said that when he started he got a picture of himself when he was at his heaviest and put it on his mirror. Every morning he would wake up and say, “This is what I don’t want to be.” It would motivate him to occasionally lose a lot of weight, but it never motivated him to keep it off. One day, He changed the picture. He got a picture of how he looked at his thinnest. He put it up and every morning said, “This is what I want to be.”

Too many people believe that living for Jesus is about all these things we don’t want to be and what we should not do. That list could go on and on. But I want to challenge you and simplify your life. Change the picture from what you don’t want to be to what you do want to be.
I want to be like Jesus.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Don’t be deceived into believing that hearing the Word and doing the Word are the same thing. Jesus was a doer of the Word. Not just a hearer. The Holy Spirit does not lead us to know the Word only. He leads us to obey the Word. The Holy Spirit keeps that picture in front of us that says, “This is the mark. This is what you need to do to become what I want you to become.”

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

The Holy Spirit leads us into transformation, as we are obedient to His word.
Today’s Lesson: Pray and ask the Lord to give you the strength and confidence to make decisions based on what His Word says and not just what you feel. Bathe the choices of your life in prayer and your decisions according to God’s word. By doing so, you will be welcoming the Holy Spirit in a growing capacity in your life.

Blessings,
Greg