"Our Choices are Never Free from this Conflict"

God blessed me this weekend with some really sweet and really rich personal Bible study. I have never really been trained to study scripture on my own. Alot of my bible study has been hit and miss by thumbing through commentaries and reading what other people believe and have written.

Recently, I began a new Bible study from Priscilla Shirer, Can We Talk? Priscilla and LifeWay, the publisher, have marketed the Bible study as an "un-Bible study" which always made me think "hmmmm...what does that mean?" Well, after 3 weeks of it, I am figuring it out. Priscilla uses a bible study method called the 5 P's of Bible Study:

1. Position yourself to hear from God.
2. Pore over the passage and paraphrase the major points.Look for the who, what, when, where, and why of the verse
3. Pull out the spiritual principles.What is God teaching? What is He revealing about Himself?
4. Pose the question.Form a personally directed question from each of the spiritual principles.
5. Plan obedience and pin down a date.

In this season of my life, my Bible study has been revolutionized by this method. God has revealed so many riches to me through this method. Thus, leading me to the title of this entry. I was studying a familiar passage of Galations 5. This is the passage that talks about the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the actions of the flesh. I think I have every translations of the Bible from NIV, NLT, HCSB, KJV, and so on. On this particular day, I was reading out on my backporch with my small Bible, NLT. Now, like I said, this passage was very familiar to me but the way the NLT phrased it, a new revelation jumped off the pages at me. And here is what my Bible read:

Galatians 5:17 (New Living Translation)
17 The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.

My choices are NEVER free from this conflict (of the Holy Spirit and the flesh). Why did it jump out at me in a different way? I think because of the word choices. I make choices daily. Even if I am living in freedom and victory over an area in my life, I am still making deliberate choices CONSTANTLY to remain in victory and freedom. And even the opposite is true. Even if the flesh is having the victory, my next choice concerning that area can be one of the Spirit. I don't have to wait until tomorrow to get a do over. My next choice is my "do over."

As I pondered this thought, I thought about the battles that must be happening in the heavenlies over my decisions. It made me tired to even think about it. My own mind wears me out sometimes, let alone to know that the battle is raging in the unseen world over every single choice I make concerning each and every area of my life.

As my friend Michelle reminded me today, we are living sacrifices to God. We continually lay ourselves, our actions, our decisions and our choices on the alter. It's active and fluid. We can get up off that alter or we continually choose to lay there!

I hope this meant something to someone today. Maybe it was just something I needed! But it certainly made me look at my life differently and help me to realize that life is exciting and my choices have eternal consequences.