When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5 ). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!

There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.

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A Journal Entry for Today

May 20, 2010

Today I am not sure if I agree with Oswald Cambers, about how we should and can pull ourselves up by the neck and grow our spiritual courage and strength; because that has never seemed to work for me. After failure after failure I seem to give up; believing that everyone else is capable but me. So I then assumed that I was not able to do what my spiritual teachers have outlined. So if it could not work for me I simply gave up….

And God says…”and this is where I was able to do my work in you…when you stopped relying on your own discipline and courage. Apart from me you can do nothing of substance. Apart from me if you do something good, you become prideful, apart from me when you fail, you become sorrowful. However, when you are connected with me, you know you can do all things, and you know the things you do, regardless of the outcome, are in my will. You no longer define the “goodness” of your accomplishments by the outcome, (there is broken theology that says you define my will by the outcome of your effort) you define them by simply knowing it was my will and the strength of my Spirit that worked through you. Remember I asked the apostles to wait for the Spirit. You too should always wait for the Spirit. He is always with you, so your waiting is not waiting for Him to come, your waiting is waiting for the knowledge that He is in control of you. How long do you wait? When you are connected, you will always know.