Life & Peace

Often I meander through life not really knowing what I'm doing. This is another one of those instances. Here's what I want: I want to write daily snippets that I find encouraging, with the goal of encouraging others. God has a bigger purpose than reckless meandering, and I find that if I write and share my thoughts, I am more prone to really own them and believe them for myself.

Hopefully this blog will be a collection of Bible verses, stories, and quotes to encourage people. I don't want to post essays--just quick bits of what I'm learning in life. I think that this will force me to really dig deeper in my faith, and hopefully will inspire someone else along the way.

All that said, Day One:

I'm currently reading through Romans, and I have come to my favorite chapter in all the Bible--Romans 8. I don't even want to keep reading, because I will be sad when this chapter is over. While I really love the end of Romans 8, the verse that really caught me up the other night is verse 5-6, which says,

...those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. 

Did you hear that? When we live in accordance with the Spirit, we have life and peace. I'm not sure about you, but sometimes I feel like those are two things I'm really lacking. My life gets so busy and stressful and weighed down that I forget to live. I find myself just going through the motions. And peace?! Yeah, right, like there's time or energy for that! Sometimes it's easier to get swallowed by circumstances, and start to wallow. I forget to breathe in the Spirit of God. And how silly is that? God has given us the Holy Spirit--we just need to pay attention by setting our minds on what the Spirit desires.

The first step is to replace the things of our minds with the thoughts of God. By reading the Word, by prayer, by reading, or by whatever else. And ultimately, the easiest way to be living in the Spirit of God--ask Him. Ask Him to help guard your mind and your heart and to direct your thoughts toward Him. He's already promised that to you; just ask.