He Has You

In our natural life, all of us are painfully aware of the mistakes we have made along the way. We are most blessed if we have learned some lessons and have become wiser and more discerning along the way.

Admit your mistakes, be willing to change, and ask the Lord to help you. “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance” (Proverbs 28:13 TLB).

The failure in our natural life is not if we make a mistake, for we most certainly will, rather the failure is if we do not learn from the mistake and do better next time. Give yourself grace, for God most certainly does.

Don’t mistake falling *into* grace as falling *from* grace. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV).

We have the wrong idea that our spiritual life will be different than our natural life and we won’t have all mistakes that are made along the way. If the Holy Spirit is helping us and we let Him, then we cannot fail. The problem is always that we don’t let Him help us.

The Holy Spirit can only work through you when you’re not in the way. “Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19 AMP).

The spiritual life is marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is your natural life which is now being led by the Holy Spirit into a spiritual life. It is the rare man or woman who lives such a life; it is reserved for only the willing.

The question isn’t “Can the Holy Spirit lead you?” but “Will you let Him?” “For all who are allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14 AMP).

You may have the Holy Spirit indwelling in you, but have you given up the right to yourself so that the Holy Spirit can work through you? Is your spiritual life contagious, or is it merely contained? Be honest with your assessment.

Sanctification is the process whereby the right to your life is surrendered over to Christ, parcel by parcel. The process is only complete when there remains no ground in your life upon which you can stand and say, “Mine.” “Or do you not know that…you are not your own? For you were bought at a price…” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV).

Sometimes, I wish that I could write about how my life has been a spiritual success all the way through and how spiritual maturity came to me with nothing more than a lesson or two. But that is a false story for any of us and would have no value as a lesson for others.

If you only speak of your successes then nobody will learn from your failures. “…For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. I will be patient as the Lord punishes me, for I have sinned against him…The Lord will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness” (Micah 7:8-9 NLT).

Your spiritual life will be filled with as many or more failures as your natural life. This is meant to grow you and not destroy you. Just as with your natural life, we all have to live and to learn. The only question is, will you be humble enough to learn?

We all make mistakes, but only some of us learn from them. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV).

The Lord will give you a spiritual gift, and it will puff up your pride, and you will try to take some percentage of the glory. There will be something that the Lord helps you to do that lifts you before others, and you will start to think of yourself as quite special. No wonder the Lord is so frugal in how He dispenses spiritual gifts to His children.

The Lord will give you a revelation on a truth and you will think yourself so wise for having gained the understanding. But the only reason you gained the revelation was because of how foolish you were to begin with and how reliant you are on the Lord to teach you everything. It will be your pride that restricts revelations more than anything else.

The Lord will give you an anointing of the Holy Spirit meant to separate you from the world, but the world will lure you back and cause you to turn your back on God. There will be times with the war between your flesh and the Spirit where you succumb to your flesh and then grieve the Holy Spirit with your decision. Your choices hurt the Holy Spirit.

Every failure is an opportunity to learn. “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand” (Psalm 37:23-24 NLT).

There will be times when you will be jealous and covet the spiritual prowess you see in others. You realize how low you are and desire to be as high and popular as some of those that you know. However, your desire to go higher is fueled by your pride, which is actually the anchor that is dragging you down even further.

There are a thousand mistakes you can make, but one thing you must know about every one of them is that the Lord has enough grace for them all. Don’t let your failures get the best of you; let God have that part. In your every mistake, simply take it to the Lord and ask Him to help you going forward. His mercy is more than enough for you.

There will be people who continue to look down on you because of the mistakes in your past. Don’t worry about them, for it is God’s view of you now that matters. But make it the determination of your will to show grace to others who you saw in spiritual error in the past. God is working on them just like He is on you.

Show grace to other people, knowing we are all in this together. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12 CJB).

Don’t ever give up, child of God, for the Lord loves you more than you can ever know. He knows you are going to fail, but He also knows He can help you if you will let Him. Every morning, ask the Holy Spirit to help on that day. There is not one area of your life beyond the power of what the Holy Spirit can help you to accomplish.

The worst loss is when you give up. “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7 NIV).

Blessings to you always,

Paul Balius