we do some of the silliest things as Christian’s. We go around the same mountains 100 times enduring unnecessary consequences or hardships. We know what we should be doing but we continue to try to do things in our own way. We think that we can do the same things but get a different result and it just doesn’t work that way. Now I do believe that at times we need to go around the same mountain a time or two because there is a great lesson to be learned. But continuing to do the same thing that is not working over and over again is just senseless. We cause ourselves to endure unpleasant things over and over, and for what? Most of the time it boils down to we want to do things our own way instead of doing what God is telling us to do.

I can’t tell you how many times in my life that I have chose to keep doing the things that I knew were not working in my favor. I let myself be miserable and mad at myself because I knew what I was doing was not working but yet I kept doing them. God had instructed me on what I should do the first time that I did it wrong but I chose to not listen. Then one day God asked me how many times did I have to go around the same mountain, enduring unpleasant things before I will give up on myself and into Him. I thought about it for a minute and all I could say was “I don’t know God. I don’t know why I keep doing these things and I know they are not good for me.”

I have been reading the book of romans and I think that I am getting some clarity in some situations of going around the same mountain. In some cases we repeat bad actions, continue to put ourselves in bad situations, or continue to make the same exact mistakes over and over because we are still controlled by our natural sinful nature, the soul. We have been giving into these desires for so long that they are a natural response for us. If we have the thought to do something we do it without any other thought. If we have certain emotions arise in us we take action off of that emotion instantly. If we want something we get it without putting any other thought to it. But our Spirit within us is now alive and well and we have to train our soul to do things differently. It is a process and it takes effort and time.

When we accepted Jesus his spirit joined our spirit. We are given a refreshed brand new part of our being. We have spent our lives being directed by our soul but now we have a new way. We have the opportunity to do life differently and better. We now have a compass within our heart to direct our steps into a better way of life. But it is not going to just happen. We have to train our soul and our body to do life differently. We are given the new desires and we have to train our soul to follow the new desires instead of what it has been doing.

Sometimes we need to endure a bad outcome a few times before we get fed up and make the choice to do differently. God knows we have a stubborn soul so he is not surprised when we go around the same stupid mountains a hundred times. He is not disappointed that you can’t get it right. He just wants you to keep trying and not give up. He wants you to realize the power that you have over your soul and that you don’t have to give into it’s desires anymore. He has placed the new want to in you, now you have to teach yourself to live by them. He will never give up on you so never give up on yourself.

We get to make the choice that we are going to stop traveling the same road that we’ve been traveling and are going to learn to do different. And just like it is learning to do anything else it may take you doing it wrong a few times to learn to do it right. We no longer have to do what our soul wants to do. We have a power in us to put to death the deeds of the soul and bring to life the spiritwithin us.