Daily Devotional: 5/22/2018 - WOLVES

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Galatians 6:7-8

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is evil, which is anger, envy, jealously, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good, which is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

This Cherokee parable speaks on the constant and daily battle between flesh and the Spirit. We have to be careful on who we feed and what we do. If we feed our flesh, we will fall for and to the darkness of the world. Galatians 5:19-21, lists all the acts of the flesh that we should be on the look out for. We have to be mindful of our surroundings, who we talk to, and who and what we associate ourselves with. My favorite rapper, Logic, on his album Everybody talks from many different perspectives of people in the America. One of the songs, Killing Spree, talks about the state of America and all that we as people are doing. I would quote the lines, but they are not the most Christian-like (Logic "Killing Spree" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified - WARNING VULGOR LANGUAGE). But to sum it up is that as Americans we idolize sex, money, drugs, and technology and that it is everywhere, it is around every corner, it is on TV, it is on the billboards, we cannot escape it. We allow all this to take over our lives, and we block out and forget what is important to life, we do not care about the poor or other people in the world, we lose sight of what Jesus wants us to do and we feed the flesh and the desires of the world. The acts of the flesh are sin, and when we sin we are on the path to death. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:13 says, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." If we  feed the Spirit, we will be filled with righteousness. We will prosper in the Kingdom, sometimes if we feed the flesh we will prosper on this earth; but that prosperity is only temporary, that happiness is temporary, you cannot take that success to the Kingdom, it stays with your body on this earth. Galatians 5:22-26, lists all the fruits of the Spirit. When we feed the Spirit, it is pleasing to God and we will get the gift of eternal life. Romans 8:3-4 says, "For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." God gave his people the law and told them how to live, but they did not follow it; they fell for the worldly desire of the flesh and sinned against God. They went away from God, they separated themselves from God and built a wall between them (Berlin Wall - 5/16/2018 - Isaiah 59:1-3). Before Jesus there was only one wolf. God sent Jesus in order for us to have the Spirit, he sent him to be the sledgehammer to the wall that we build between us. God sent Jesus to be the example to live by, sent him to show us how to defeat the flesh. God sent him in the flesh, he could have sent him in any form; but he sent him as a human (flesh) in order to be tempted like the flesh and he defeated the flesh. Romans 8:6-8 says, "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, not can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God." These wolves are constantly battling for control of our body. The Spirit is stronger than the flesh, in the end the Spirit will always win. But it is our choice, we can choose to believe and follow God; in the same way we choose who to feed. All the devil needs is a little crack in the door to our heart to walk in, he just needs the slightest of footholds to grab on to. Life is a constant struggle, it is not easy and it will not be easy. We will struggle, we will fall, we will stumble; but it is not how many times you fall or how hard you fall, it is about the way you get back up, it is about the way you counteract the falls. We are not perfect, the only one that is perfect is Jesus; Jesus came, saw and conquered. We have to follow his example. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." We have to try our best, that is all that matter to God. We have to repent and pray daily, we have to talk with God. God is like any other parent, he wants us to try our best and he wants to hear from us, he wants to hear about our success and about our struggles. God is there to love us, and to give us the best advice in the world. Go at every situation with the intent to feed the Spirit. We have to be mindful and careful, we have to look at everything we do. Make sure you are feeding the right wolf, or it will bite you in the end.

Lord, you are an amazing God and I am truly grateful for all you do for us. Thank you for being the perfect example for us to live by. I pray you give of the wisdom and food to feed the Spirit, help us defeat the flesh and all it's desires. Help us be the light to the world, help us find the meaning of life in you and not a cellphone screen. I pray all this in your son's glorious awesome name, Amen.

#LetsBeAMovement