G.P.S.

So I have this GPS in my car. Steph and I call it Amelia because the voice is a woman and Amelia Earhart was a famous world explorer. Well, it's kind of ironic to have a GPS named Amelia for being lost and the brand is Magellum, who was lost in his travels...Anyway! The one thing I love about my GPS is that I can set the address and boom, it already has directions in a few seconds. If you take a wrong turn, it immediately calculates on how to back to the corrected path or it has you take another one. All the time it has gotten to my destinations safely!

I was reading a book by Stephen Arterburn called "Every Young Man, God's Man." This book comes from "The Every Man series" which includes "Every Man's Battle," "Every Man's Marriage," so on and so forth. Here he briefly talks about having a GPS in a rental car after a long and tiring day travelling from southern California to Charlotte, NC. In the book, he calls the GPS "God's Powerful Spirit."

Just like a GPS, the Holy Spirit has an awesome power to help us where we need to go and giving us the directions. It takes patience, trust, and discernment to know where the Holy Spirit is taking us. When you let the Holy Spirit take over, you will experience a whole new meaning of God's power. Galatians 5:16-17 says,

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions."

So how do we know when we the Holy Spirit is within us? It's simply; saying no consistently to the sinful desires and saying yes to God's desires. It is saying,

yes to prayer over temptation
no to skipping Sunday school
yes to accountability with one another
no to impressing your peers and others
yes to memorize the Word of God
no to your own agenda
yes to confession
no to doing drugs and alcohol
yes to standing up for the weak

So make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position because are you ready for the real GPS? Are you ready for the journey that He has set out for you? Are you ready to say yes to God?

This is a prayer that was in the book and I would encourage you to pray this,

"Holy Spirit, thank you for living in me so that You can be my guide. I need to rely on You more. I want You to control my life, not me. I want You to show me the choices I need to make, not me. I am sorry for taking over control when I shouldn't. Take control of me right now. Lead me, guide me, speak to me, and fill me with Your presence. Open my eyes to God's plan and give me the power to choose it quickly. Thank You for Your continued presence in my life. Thank You for takin control. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen."