RaVae Erickson“Practically Speaking…
Be impractical.
Structure stifles spirit. Caution curbs creativity. Fear fosters faithlessness.
Don’t be afraid of word vomit. It won’t always be life-changing. And most of the times you might mess up or say something pretty simple or mundane. But sometimes, every once in a while, when we leave enough space…
our words are not our own.
sometimes there are moments of brilliance
sometimes there are angels
and sometimes the Holy Spirit says something we would never think to say…
sometimes He says something perfect through us.
Today, I am grateful for that. That God knows what to say when I don’t.”
-Jenny from Addison Road in her blog: http://www.jennysimmons.com
Think about that for a moment before you read on.
I don’t have anything inspirational to say today, except that I too, am thankful God knows what to say when I don’t. There have been many times throughout my life when I know I was not the one coming up with the words escaping from my mouth. It is such an odd feeling, knowing you have no clue what you are about to say. Yet, it is a good feeling, a freeing feeling.
This is what it is to live by the Spirit. And oh, how hard it is to not allow mundane, legalistic rules and regulations to take over instead of following the Spirit’s leading. How difficult it is to live life in the here and now instead of the “already has beens” and “yet to comes.” How tough to lay down your life and your plans every moment of every day to our Maker. To cast our fears and anxieties and worries into the hands of a mighty God who is really in control anyway.
How many of the plans you have in the morning have actually happened by the time you go to bed that night? It doesn’t matter how well-laid out the plans are nothing ever goes exactly as planned. Yet, the Maker knows all the plans He has for you, not plans to harm you, but plans to give you hope and a future. His plans always come to pass. We may thwart them a little, but He already knows that and has planned ahead for it. He uses our “mess ups” for our own good.
Living by the Spirit is impractical by our culture’s standards, crazy even. Yet that is what we are asked to do…
John 4:24 (New American Standard Bible)
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Our lives should be lives of worship. Everything we do to bring glory and honor to our King, the King of Kings. If we are worshiping in spirit all the time we should be impractical at all times…always taking the road less traveled, always striving to follow the promptings of the Spirit on a moment by moment basis.
This is what it is to live by the Spirit. Its not a lifestyle reserved for those serving as missionaries in Africa or South America. Its not a lifestyle that is unattainable in our lifetime. It is a lifestyle of choice. Choosing every day-moment by moment-to live for our King, to listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, to step out in faith, to believe with everything we have that He knows the plans he has for us and that they will come to pass. It doesn’t matter if our lives look impractical to others, in the race to the Lord anything is possible!