Have you ever bought a car then suddenly start seeing that same car model everywhere?energy gains access

It’s not like someone started putting more of those cars on the road – it’s just that your vision changed.

Now that the car model is relevant to you, your vision changed to pay attention to it.

I’ve started paying more attention to the differences between walking in the Spirit vs walking the flesh lately because it’s an issue that is highly relevant to us as disciples of Christ.

Although we Christians are designed to walk in the Spirit, too often the enemy deceives us so that we continue to walk in the flesh as we don’t know the Lord’s power.

How can he get away with that?

Just this past week after meditating on Romans 6:11-13, I drew a picture of how the enemy gains access to us.

I hope this picture will change your vision forever so that you see his strategy.

With that revelation knowledge, you can shut him down.

Below is the “polished” version of the picture. Take a moment to study it and note the difference between the supernatural and the natural.

I’ll explain each perspective in more detail in a moment.

Supernatural (Spirit-Led)

God speaks through our Spirit, which communicates to our soul (mind, will, and emotions).

We can perceive Spiritual things only through a mind renewed to the Word of God.

Think of it this way: Television and radio signals are transmitted over the air all around us. But we can’t see these signals with our natural eyes, can we?

The only way we can know what they are transmitting is to get a television set or radio that can translate the over-the-air signals into a picture or sound that we can perceive with our senses.

In a similar way, studying and meditating on God’s word transforms us Spiritually so that we can perceive what the Lord is transmitting to us.

As our minds are renewed, we choose to submit our will and emotions to the Lord’s purpose.

Our souls can then ensure that our bodies remain under subjection to Spiritual direction so that we use them to glorify God.

This is how a Christian is designed to operate.

Natural (Flesh-driven)

Here is how the enemy gets access to us – through the back door.

His strategy is to bypass our Spirit and go straight for our soul (mind, will, and emotions).

Because He knows that emotions often drive us, he wants to get us “all up in our feelings.”

He wants us to act quickly, impulsively.

When he directs our attention towards that which tempts us, our desire for it increases.

Driven by emotion, we choose to submit our will to that which our heart desires.

Being flesh-driven means using our bodies merely to please ourselves, not to please God.

That is why it is possible for a Believer in Christ to be in just as much bondage as an unbeliever.

If their minds remain un-renewed to God’s word, then they have the same old mind as they did when they were unsaved.

As a result, they are unable to perceive God’s voice when He tries to direct them to act wisely.

Living Spirit-Led

God’s grace gives us the ability to overcome all power of the enemy!

James 4:7 says,

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Here is how you can put this scripture into practice:

1.Submit to God

One way of looking at submission is  “under the mission.” Like a soldier puts their personal desires under the mission to protect their country, so we put our personal desires under the mission of advancing God’s kingdom!

You have been called for such a time as this. What an honor to have the opportunity to glorify our Lord and Savior!

The more you focus your thoughts daily on glorifying God in your choices, maintaining a thankful heart, and renewing your mind to God’s word, the more you can enlarge your vision to see God’s handiwork in your life and hear His voice!

2. Resist the devil

The dictionary defines resistance as “the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.”

Since the devil tries to gain access to you through the backdoor of your soul (mind, will and emotions), you need to shut that opening to him.

How?

Pay keen attention to the direction of your thoughts and emotions.

Your thoughts are like little steam-powered engines. The more you direct energy into a particular train of thought, the more you’ll want to go in that direction.

Through deliberate attention, you can direct the steam into what you want to do and re-direct it away from what you don’t want to do.

While this takes work, you can set up your environment to make this easier.

So question yourself: What is your will leading your body to do?

Will that action steal from you, kill or destroy? Like any criminal, that is the enemy’s fingerprint!

If you still find it hard to discern the difference between Spirit-led or flesh-driven, then seek the Lord’s help in prayer. He will honor your desire to follow Him.

One of the ways to tell if a decision is from God is if the outcome will be consistent with the fruit of His Spirit.

Is it one that is working in you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control ultimately?

Or does it lead to unrest, guilt, shame, condemnation, or wanting to hide?

Here are 2 scriptures I recommend you mediate on to further renew your mind and enlarge your vision:

Romans 6:11-13:

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

I also recommend meditating on Galatians 5:19-25, which describes the works of the flesh verses walking in the Spirit in detail.

Ask God in prayer to open up your understanding as to how his word applies to your daily decisions.

He will show you the truth because He loves you and wants His best for you!

I hope my picture shows you how the enemy gains access to you clearly – through un-captured thoughts and un-managed emotions.

When you learn to manage your thoughts and emotions under control of the Spirit, you can protect yourself against the enemy’s influence in your life!

Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness,

Kimberly Taylor

Creator of the Take Back Your Temple program

P.S. When it comes to weight loss, do you often know what you should do but have a hard time doing it?

I struggled with this issue on my own weight loss journey, but I discovered that “Nothing is different until you think differently.” – Pastor James MacDonald

The value of the Take Back Your Temple program is that you will learn how to think differently through using Biblical keys to overcome obstacles. You’ll discover how to win the Spiritual and mental battle that often causes us to become inconsistent and get off-track on our weight loss journey.

Join a community of other Christians losing weight and keep it off.

Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple program

About the author 

Kimberly Taylor

Kimberly Taylor is a certified Christian life coach and has a heart to help others struggling with emotional eating and weight loss. Once 240 pounds and a size 22, she can testify of God’s goodness and healing power to overcome. She lost 85 pounds as a result of implementing techniques to overcome emotional eating and binge eating disorder.

Kim is the author of "The Take Back Your Temple Program," which teaches Christians how to take control of their weight God's way and the books "The Weight Loss Scriptures" and "The Weight Loss Prayers."

Kim has been featured in Prevention Magazine, Charisma Magazine and on CBN’s 'The 700 Club' television program.

  • Thank you Kimberly for a very timely message. I have been struggling with exactly this topic and your example gives me something visual and understandable to relate to and work on. I am so appreciative and grateful that I found your program. God truly speaks through you. Your words and insight have been such a blessing. Thank you!

  • Thank you for sharing truth! I am so convicted. I wish I could afford to pay for your program. I’m thankful that I can have assess to what you share for free.

  • Thank you for the analogy given I am a visual person and it really gave me insight on how to gauge if I am in the spirit or not lately I have been experiencing being very emotional which I believe to be transferred emotion I am generally not someone who is emotionally unsound
    Please pray that Yah will restore me double of what I have forfeited

  • So well written, taking time to learn to walk in Christ is so beautiful,as you let go of things ,focus on what is righteous, you walk in the fruit of the sprit more and more,thank you Kimberly to explaining this in simple details,I’m going to keep renewing my mind in all things, my health, with the foods that God has put here for us,with portions He tells me to eat, to be free from someone else’s diet, God’s ways are the only way,walking in the sprit is what I need to do more and more. Blessings Karen

  • Love ,Love ,Love this so good.
    Sharing this.” I am still meditating on it so that I can recognize immediately if I am being tempted to go to a wrong direction. With practice, I know we’ll get better and better at this!”

  • I believe god had me look at this ; because I seem to allow my emotions, to make some really stupid choices that still hurt my self esteem and I’m willing to submit to Jesus now so that he will give me a clear mind and controller my emotions that are being used against me to basically take advantage and be basically used in a round about way dear Jesus please help me stop doing this

    • Hi Norma – I am praying for all of us because the enemy is very subtle. But the word says in 1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Keeping our focus on the Lord and renewing our minds to His word is the best way to keep ourselves on the right track.

  • Kim, WOW! God has been speaking to me lately about being sanctified to Him. Your post was a word rightly spoken in fit circumstances. Thank you for sharing this illustration. I will be studying it and praying God will help me embrace it!

    • Glad it was helpful to you, Rick. I am still meditating on it so that I can recognize immediately if I am being tempted to go to a wrong direction. With practice, I know we’ll get better and better at this!

  • light bulb! so when there is no spirit, there is no power, so failure is inevitable. But, spirit led, power filled, wisdom filled we walk wisely and in victory. And God is magnified as we yield to Him.

  • Wow! This is why you need to be in the Word to hear His voice; or the old man just takes over where it left off. And the enemy gains ground. Ugh! No more! Tricks exposed. Thanks Kim,
    Lord bless and keep you.

    • You are welcome, Debra! I am so grateful to God for His revelation knowledge. This is not a “one and done” thing either. We need to renew our minds in the word daily to sharpen our discernment and ability to hear God’s voice. It’s the most important thing we can do daily, otherwise it is too easy to get complacent in our faith, which we can’t afford to do.

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