If you are a believer in Jesus Christ then you are in fight for your life. You are in a fight for the better of yourself and your life. You are in a constant war with the enemy, your feelings, your flesh, and your mind. Because we have a new spirit within us that wants to do what is right and best in every situation we have to choose to listen to it instead of our old nature, our flesh, and the enemy that tries to sway us to stay the way that we were before we received our new spirit. But because our new spirit has authority over all things we can be successful at living by our new nature. The only way that we do not change for the better and have the peace, joy, love, and success that is available to us, is if we allow ourselves to stay unchanged. It is going to take work and effort on our part but we have the grace of God to lean on and to help us grow into our new being. It is a forever learning and changing process that continues until we die. But thank God that we have the opportunity to be peaceful, happy, loving, compassionate, giving, caring, fulfilled, and free.
We have to get determined that we are going to do whatever it is that we need to do to make a positive change in our lives, to have the peace, joy, love, contentment, success, and freedom that we desire. We have to be patient with ourselves and know that change is not going to happen over night. We have to pay attention to ourselves and make a conscious decision to stop a thing and start a new thing. We have to be willing to fight against what our soul (our mind, will, and emotions) wants and what is best for us. We have to stop being selfish so we will not give into ourselves. And we have to read our bible so that we can gain the wisdom that we need to live our best life.
All changes start with a change of thought. We have to change the way that we think about a thing in order to change the thing. For example, if you want to stop smoking, while you are smoking that cigarette think, “I do not want to smoke anymore, I do not like to smoke, I hate the taste of smoke”. When you want to smoke, say that you do not want to smoke. It helps with the process of quitting once you get to the point that you are ready to quit. I hope that is a good enough example for you to understand what I mean by changing our thoughts.
We have to have a certain amount of determination if we are going to be successful at any change in our lives. We have to be willing to fight against our wants and our habits. If I want to work out but I am not feeling up to it, I am going to have to make myself push through the feelings and do it anyways. I am going to have to want the results of me working out more than I want to sit around. I am going to have to be determined to better myself no matter if I feel like doing it or not.
We have the ability to do what we need to do through Christ, but we do have to put forth the effort. We have to do what Jesus puts on our heart to do. Are you sensing that you need to make a change in your life? Do you struggle with the war between your flesh and your spirit? Get determined today that you are going to fight for the better of you and have the life that you have available to you because of Jesus!!! Your possibilities are endless.
The Abundant Life 
Thanks, Mandie. It really it a hassle. And costly as well. The Landlord was really great the last time I lost them. But the cost was too much. I actually cannot explain what happened the last time. It was completely bizarre. I keep my keys on a chain and they were tied up and securely on the chain. One day in my apt they suddenly all fell right off. That should not have been possible. Not the way I had them secured. They fell on the floor and disappeared right before my eyes. I spent 2 hours searching everyone. Even under the rug several times. I finally gave up and called the landlord and they sent someone with new keys. They also changed my lock for security reasons. The minute the locksmith said goodbye I went back into my apt and looked down on the rug and right there right where they fell on the floor there were my keys! I was astonished! I can’t explain what happened. It was totally weird. 😦
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That is what we could call a God thing lol. He was protecting you for some reason.
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Thank you and amen, Mandie! You are so right. The things we put ourselves through in the flesh is unreal sometimes. But when we do what God calls us to do and walk obediently in Him we feel so fulfilled. I pray for you always now.
Btw, praise God. I am very thankful today. I left my keys in my mailbox and almost lost them. Not to gossip, but I am aware they were spotted by a tenant that steals everything in sight and we all had our locks changed recently because of them and another tenant who were breaking into apts in my building. Miraculously, she did not steal my keys. Another neighbor saw them and saved them for me and just returned them to me. Praise God! It’s a ginormous hassle to replace them and I was locked out of my apt. They cost money to replace as well. I am just thankful I have them back! 🙂
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I am glad that you got your keys back. It is a hassle and mostly to replace keys
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Amen, it’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Great post, Mandie. 🙂
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It is, at times, the hardest thing to do, denying our flesh, but it so very much worth it. We can truly have a great life if we can come to an end to our own selfish desires. It still amazes me the stuff that we can put ourselves through because we do not want to tell ourselves no. The human nature is a demanding one but we can deny it. We have the power to say no to ourselves through the spirit that dwells within us so that we can have the peace and joy that we crave. Thank you Jayden for your interaction with my post. It encourages me to keep them coming. Blessings my friend!!
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