Feed Me

Scripture:
When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who knows my way (Psalm 142:3)

In the evening, just before my wife and I go to sleep, we both like to lay in bed and hold each other while we watch re-runs of the old sitcom, "Get Smart". Now it is not so much about the sitcom so much as it is about being together. The warmth of being together mixed with the joy that comes from the humor of this sitcom, I believe "feeds" our souls, because we are sharing two things we enjoy very much, each other and a good laugh.

Yet, about every 10 minutes or so, we get bombarded with the interruption of commercials that tell us to get up and go get a big fat juicy double cheeseburger and eat it or a brand new shiny fast luxurious new SUV and buy it. Both trying to "feed" us with the ideas when we are most vulnerable, relaxing in bed.

I always wondered why they expected me to get up out of bed and go buy a big cheeseburger or find a car dealer. Then I realized, they did not necessary want me to do it right away, they wanted to "plant" the "hunger" in me by getting me to visualize their product in my mind over and over again so that the next time I passed their establishment, I would see the images and go and get one. Realizing that the big time marketers know how to motivate us to do what they want, shouldn't we be able to make ourselves do what we really want to do?

Paul tells us in Romans 7:15 how hard it is for him to do the things he wants to do and how he is always doing the things he does not want to do. Even back then, in Paul's time, in any time as a matter of fact, the world and the flesh "market" their sinful products and we are continually at "war" with these things. Yes, we have the victory in Jesus, but many times we lay down our "sword", the Word of God, and have weak "shields", our little faith, and then we wonder why we "seem" to be losing the battle.

In my continuing studies about faith in the scriptures, I am learning that I also need to "feed" my faith. Many times I have asked the Lord to give me more "thirst" or "hunger" thinking that will drive me to read the Word more or pray more or worship more. Should I really be passing the responsibility of "feeding"my spirit onto the Lord?

The Word of God tells us that we have the victory, but we don't feel like we have the victory, so what do we believe? We believe what we feel. The Word of God tells us if we have repented of sin and received the salvation of Jesus we are his children and saved. But we don't think children of God should have the problems we have so what do we believe? We believe what our mind tells us. And though we may not actually say that we don't believe what the Bible says, we believe what we feel and think and we doubt and indirectly don't believe what God is telling us.

When I have a headache my body tells me my head hurts, my mind tells me to take a pain pill. When the headache goes away, my mind records the results and I end up believing that the thing to do when I get a headache is to take a pain pill.

The scriptures tell us we are Christ's heirs, we reign with Him, we have his authority and will do greater things then he did. But I can't move that mountain, and why is that? Because I have spent years "feeding" my body, my soul and my mind and letting "them" draw the conclusions, and I have "barely" fed my spirit with what it needs to "overpower" the other three. I have hardly included my spirit in the decision making process not realizing it, even though my spirit is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and I have the ability to be "filled" and "empowered" with the Holy Spirit of God.

There is an old indian proverb that asks the question, if a black dog and and a white dog are fighting which one will win? The answer is, the one that you feed. The same is true with our body, minds, soul and spirit. Our flesh has its own desires, our minds think about what we put in it, our feelings learn from our experiences and souls listen to the other three and make decisions and the spirit grows so little and just waits for us to pay attention to it. So why is my faith so little? I don't feed my spirit enough!

With this knowledge, assuming the desire is truly there, this leads us, part, to simple time management. If we want something to eat, we find a way to go get something to eat. If we want to learn about something, we find the time and resources to read and learn, if we want to feel good, we do those things that give us good feelings but if we want to have victory over all the weaknesses these three are filled with and we have to make time, and let the Holy Spirit lead us so that we feed our spirit, and then do what it says!

Request:
That we would increase the amount of time and effort we currently spend on feeding our spirits.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us your Word to teach us how to walk in your Holy Spirit. Thank you for giving us this gift. Teach us Holy Spirit how to surrender all of our lives and to grow in God's Word. Remind us and direct us to spend more time and effort with you. Amen.