I am doing a YouVersion devotional plan on the writings of Paul, and this morning the devotional stated, “When we turn back to who we used to be, we are declaring with our actions that what Jesus did wasn’t enough. The answer isn’t to give up or try harder, but to let the Spirit lead us.” 

 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law…
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, 
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; 
against such things there is no law”
~~Galatians 5:18-23~~  

This is a hard truth for me — if I choose to be who I used to be, walking according to the flesh, then my actions are declaring, “What Jesus did wasn’t enough”.  That is not what my heart consciously believes, but my actions often tell a different story and that truly hurts my heart.  

To explain walking in step with the Spirit, an analogy of two people walking together under an umbrella was used.  When the two are walking “in step” with one another, they are warm and dry, but when one of them chooses to follow an impulse and veer out from under the umbrella, then that person will get wet and cold.  When I walk in step with the Spirit, I am spiritually warm and dry; but when I choose to follow my impulses and move out from under the umbrella, I become spiritually cold and wet.  

As I journaled about this, I was drawn back to the word “impulses”.  That word brought to mind the memory of when I had my dog, Munchie in puppy classes.  We were working on “heeling”.  We walked across the training arena, over and over, while she got the heel process down.  Whether I walked in a straight line or zig-zagged across the arena, she heeled.  I thought, “You go, little dog!  You’re getting this “heeling thing”!  But then, the trainer introduced a distraction – a stuffless squirrel thrown into Munchie’s field of vision – to see if she had truly gotten “heeling”.  Uhhh, sad to say, she had not.  Her “fail” had revealed that her focus on me was not strong enough.   She’d lost her focus, left my side, and chased a lot of fake squirrels that day.  

Training a dog to heel allows it to enjoy walking in freedom from the leash without the threat of danger from cars, other dogs, wild animals, etc.  It’s much the same spiritually.  “Heeling” to the Spirit allows us to enjoy walking in freedom from the threat of danger.  But isn’t it just like the enemy of our souls to taunt us with “squirrels” that appeal to the natural impulses of our flesh.  How easy it is for him to use distractions to draw our focus from our Master, just like the distractions of the squirrels broke Munchie’s focus from me.  

And… don’t even get me started on the fact that the squirrels that broke Munch’s focus from me were FAKE!  The things that Satan throws at us or taunts us with will never provide the soul satisfaction that keeping our eyes fixed on our Master and “heeling” to His Spirit will provide.

Oh Lord, help me to keep my eyes trained on You and You alone.