“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org/
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht
“Homily Grits Devotional” http://www.homilygrits.com/
1 Peter 4:1-2… Therefore, since Christsuffered for us in the flesh, armyourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that heno longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. (NKJV)
All Christians in God’s eyes are given the Holy Spirit by God, at the time God graces them with salvation…John 14:26… And Christians are given the mind of Christ at the same moment in time…1 Corinthians 2:16… For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (NKJV)
The opening scripture tells us to “armyourselves also with the same mind”… Spiritual maturity is something that grows at different rates for different Christians… Some Christians seem to start living their lives for the Lord on a continuous basis, sooner than others… Some don’t seem to be maturing past the milk stage, like the believers in the church of Corinth, which the Apostle Paul wrote about, in…1 Corinthians 3:1-4…
I relate the journey to reach a point in the Christians life, where they are “Walking in the Spirit” on a mostly full time basis…as an up hill struggle between their flesh, Satan’s temptations, and the Holy Spirit, until they reach the peak of their mountain…where it becomes a much easier down hill journey from there…
The Apostle Paul pens this, in…Galatians 5:16… I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall notfulfill the lust of the flesh. (NKJV)
For me personally, it took over 7 years to reach that mountain top, where I finally “Got It”…as my desiring to be a Spirit filled Christian changed into becoming a Christian who is walking in sweet fellowship with the Lord most of the time… This spiritual maturing process in my life came about after spending years of reading God’s Word…putting on the “Whole Armor of God” that the Apostle Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:10-20…(Here is the link… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV;KJV )…and finally hitting bottom…when in desperation I cried out to the Lord to give me back my God given supernatural peace (Philippians 4:6-7), and the joy I once had on the day God graced me with salvation… You see, somehow I had slowly taken back control of my life from the Holy Spirit…
It is so easy for the believer, at any stage of spiritual growth in their up-hill struggle, to fall prey to their own flesh, and the temptations Satan places in our path to distract us from fulfilling God’s will in our lives… There are those Christians who remain in this struggle between their flesh and Satan’s temptations, and the Holy Spirit their whole lives… They may possibly experience glimpses of what “Walking in the Spirit” is like…but without God’s full set of Spiritual armor firmly in place…Satan always manages to find a chink or completely missing pieces in God’s armor, and knocks the Christian back down the mountain…
I started a book that (God willing), I will eventually get back to writing, which I have titled…“God’s Armor or Satan’s Chains”… I cannot continue this book, until I spend more time researching and speaking to Christians in all stages of their up-hill struggle, to reach their own personal mountain top as a Christian…
It appears that many Christians that were saved in their younger years, go through a time in their lives where God goes onto the back burner, so to speak…while they fall back into the ways of the world, living in constant, or near constant sin…
Today I write about my own struggle to reach my mountain peak, in hope of alerting all Christians who are making the same mistakes I made, in their own lives… “Walking in the Spirit” on a more or less continuous basis, with the Holy Spirit guiding and protecting me, is an experience that is just too unbelievable to keep to myself… God’s richest blessings, that I believe God reserves for His obedient children, really do help us in ways that go beyond our wildest imagination…
The Apostle Paul speaks about this fullness of God that the Spirit filled Christian will experience, in the following scripture that I post all the time… This love of Christ, which passes our mortal knowledge, is part of this amazing experience I pray all Christians will be able to achieve in their own lives…
Ephesians 3:16-20… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through HisSpirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 toknow the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedinglyabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (NKJV)
Once we as Christians understand that God is sovereign…and that everything God puts the Christian through in the way of trials in their lives…is always God’s way of helping us grow in our spiritual maturity…Romans 8:28…we will hopefully stop struggling to do things in own strength, and let the Holy Spirit take full charge of our lives…
I must finish this most important writing tomorrow (God willing), about how Christians might be able to reach their own mountain peak, by following the good steps I have made in my own life…and bypassing the mistakes I have made…
Heavenly Father, I thank You and praise You for who You are… Lord, I pray that Your Word will open the eyes of all of those in need of beginning their personal climb as one of Your children…and that those Christians in their up-hill struggle, will find an easier and quicker path than the one I struggled with, to reach Spiritual freedom from Satan’s attacks… I pray for this fullness of Christ in all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
Blessings in Christ, bruce r mills
God's group 
Bruce, thank you for your transparency. We are all on a journey. I do believe it helps others including myself see the struggle we all face from time to time. I encourage you to write your book as i would live to read it. You are obviously on fire for the lord. It is amazing the way the lord has brought my neighbor back into my life to encourage both frank and me. May god richly bless you and your family. Sherry
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You are so right! This is what I’ve been experiencing. Lately, I’ve been struggling with my flesh more than ever… and it’s because of a mistake I made. But I know God has been with me through it all. And He showed himself so clearly to me yesterday I know it’s time to just make a choice. And I’m ready to do that:) Thanks for this post!
~Jay
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