God’s Drawing Power!
By Alexandra Copeland
Galatians 5:16(NLT) tells us,
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing
what your sinful nature craves.” We all have a sinful
nature. Romans 5:12 informs us that because of Adam’s
disobedience in the Garden of Eden, sin entered the world,
and sin is in the makeup of all humans born after Adam.
Galatians 5:16 tells us that this sinful nature craves. To
crave is to have a powerful desire for something. It’s where
we see the development of things like addictions and
obsessions. Once these habits become rooted in the psyche of
a person, they can have a stronghold and bring tremendous
misery, but all is not lost. God has the answer! He tells us
that we if we let the Holy Spirit guide our lives, we will
have the power to squash the cravings of the sinful behavior
that harms us. This is good news indeed!
We need to be clear that it
isn’t our power that gives us the strength to make it from
day to day. God has given it to us through Jesus Christ.
God’s Spirit lives within us because of Christ, and he helps us
on the inside, where we need it most. Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
tells us, “For God is
working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do
what pleases him.” You and I are not capable of doing
the work that needs to be done in our lives. We’ve got too
many wires and many of them are crossed in ways we’ve yet to
know, but God knows every nook and cranny of our being. He
knows where we need the most help. Our greatest
responsibility as believers is to get out of our own way and
let the Spirit be at work.
In John 12:32, Jesus Christ
said, “If I am lifted
up from the earth, I’ll draw all people to myself.” He
let us know that there’s something baked in our makeup,
something God created within us, that causes us to be
attracted to Him. A huge problem for many of us is
that we sense the missing piece, and it causes all sorts of problems and frustration. This missing piece is the space where the love of God should
be, but instead of filling up on Him and all the extraordinary
blessings He wants to lavish on our lives, many of us look to fill
up on other things—sometimes very harmful things.
God’s love is the greatest
power there is. 1John 4:8 tells us that anyone who doesn’t
love doesn’t know God, because God is love. Verse 16 of this
same chapter says that all who live in love live in God and
God lives in them. This is an amazing reality! Yes, many of
us have complex challenges in life, and some people have
been dealing with them for years. We have entrenched issues
that have progressed over time, and time is what it will
take to work through them. God wants us to let Him take the
lead, and He will guide us. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus Christ
invites us to come to him with our heavy burdens. He can
handle them and will give us rest for our souls.
No matter what we’re dealing
with in life, God is drawing us. He wants us close to Him.
He doesn’t want us tripping out in condemnation, trying to
fix things ourselves, because we can’t do it. Heavenly
Father knows what you’re dealing with, and He cares about
you and wants the opportunity to come into your heart.
Jesus Christ knew that his
death would plant a seed of love so incredibly tremendous
that it would be like a magnet. It’s been over two thousand
years since he walked the earth and we’re still being drawn
to his love. Don’t continue to look for answers by trying to
make your flesh perfect. It’s your soul that God is after.
He wants you to experience the liberty that Christ has
purchased for you. We can’t get it from the things we’re
doing to intoxicate the flesh. We are spiritual beings, and
we are created to feast on God’s love and thrive from His
Spirit within. Let the Spirit guide your life, and you will
grow to crave his presence and a deeper connection to God more than anything this world can
offer.■
Scripture quotations
marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living
Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights
reserved.
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