Are you listening to your flesh or the spirit?

Deuteronomy 28:1-3
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

This question is for me as much as it is for you. Do we follow the spirit when it’s just about big things that might give us an audience or are we following the spirit even when no one is looking? God wants us to follow Him each and every second not when it suits us. I’ve heard so many times it’s hard to live right. I’m learning that it’s really not hard to live with morals.

This past Friday I went to the store and purchased a few things. I noticed the cashier didn’t ring up the recycled bag I was getting. Hey:) I figure it’s just a dollar it’s not going to hurt the store. It’s a recession and I need every dollar. As soon as I walked out that store the Spirit was on me, nudging me to go back. I ignored the nudged and went home; that quick my flesh had won. When I arrived home, I wasn't feeling right. I had an attitude about every little thing... I was feeling funky.

After a couple of hours of snapping at everyone around me, I decided I had to take that dollar to the store. I'd had enough! Immediately after returning the money, my spirit was at peace... The little things do count.

It’s Saturday and I’m heading to the mall for ONE THING. I get there and I see my store... Bath and Body Works. I tell the girls, "I’m just going to go in and look around." They are having this HUGE sale!! Automatically, I start doing the numbers in my head. Okay... If I give up my morning muffin for a week, I can get me a couple of bottles of lotion and bath gel. I have so many bottles in my hands the lady gives me a bag. My daughters are laughing at me because we were at the mall to get "One thing." I’m on the line with a huge grin when the SPIRIT starts in on my flesh. Now I’m starting to have doubts about my purchases. I put one bottle back trying to bargain with the Spirit. The next thing I know I’m walking out empty handed. I was obedient and looked at the big picture. “I didn’t need that stuff”

I’m going to skip ahead to Monday. I get to work and I notice on my manager's desk she has a Bath and Body Works bag. My flesh feels a little sad because I couldn’t get any goodies Saturday. I settle in and my manager calls my coworker and I over where she proceeds to pull out her Bath and Body Works goodies. She gives us each at least 7 brand new bottles of lotions and they are the scents that I love!

God wants us to be lead by the Spirit even when there’s no audience. God rewards us even with the small things. I challenge you to listen to your spirit for the next seven days. You will see it’s really not that hard to listen and do right. After a while it will become 2nd nature.

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