The struggle is real

 Life is a struggle.  The past few days, I have not been feeling great physically.  It is amazing to me how much I still let physical struggles make me lazy about what goes into my mind.  It takes too much effort to think only on things that are pure, right, excellent, praiseworthy, lovely, admirable, noble, and true (Philippians 4:8) so I just make excuses and let my mind go.  It is never a good thing.  Then I deal with guilt for thinking unkind, bitter, just plain wrong things, not to mention watching them on tv or reading about them.  This is not the life the Holy Spirit wants for us.  But the struggle is real.  We have to listen to His warnings, no matter how we feel physically, no matter how much stress is going on around us or in us.  That is tough.  That's why we have the Holy Spirit in the first place.  We CANNOT do it on our own.  Even submitted to God, we often have trouble hearing the Holy Spirit over our flesh.  We have to practice listening and obeying.  And when we fail, we get up and practice some more.  We have to persevere, no matter how hard it is (Galatians 5:1).  Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12).  And remember, guilt is from Satan.  The Holy Spirit brings us conviction and then, with repentance, comes forgiveness.  Then we move on in faith that we are forgiven and the past is dealt with.  

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