DO YOU LACK A BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE?  Each day can be as good as you want it to be.  There may be days when a disaster will hit but with a balanced life you can make it through successfully.

We are born with a self-centered and carnal nature.  Our bodies influence many of the decisions we make.  We often do whatever makes our mind and bodies feel pleasurable.  We can also be influenced by spirits controlled by Satan.  Therefore, we have two negatives continually guiding our lives.  We are told that some have sold their souls to Satan to obtain what Satan tempted Christ with, such as: power, fame, wealth or great achievements.  We must be careful that we do not allow these people who have obtained success with Satan’s help to influence us.  Unless you are aware of the possibility, how can you know if you are being influenced by Satan?

God provided that we could have an inner power to balance out the two negative influences.  He made available His Spirit through Jesus Christ that would help us realize what is right and what is wrong.  In addition, He provided the Bible that we could understand how to live with these bodies He created for us and the influences that Satan offers.  Without the balance provided by the Holy Spirit, many have little control over these two negative influences.

I spent four years in the Navy and came out with a number of bad habits.  The two negatives controlled my thinking and behavior.  Life was all about what was best for me!   I had little if any balance as to what was right or wrong.  Nothing was wrong unless you got caught.  I was not accountable or responsible to anyone.

I started attending church and accepted Christ and received the Holy Spirit into my life.  The power and balance allowed me to stop doing the things I shouldn’t be doing.  I had a balance to offset those two negative influences that had partly controlled my life for so many years.  It seemed I was now accountable to a God who had created me.  My life felt clean and worthy.  When I had an urge to do things I previously did, I would be checked and felt that wasn’t what was best for my life.

Not everyone who receives the Holy Spirit is filled with the Spirit.  I should write a book about the difference between receiving and being filled.  However, there are Christians who Jesus talks about in His parable of seeds being planted.  Some are planted on hard soil, some on rocky soil, some fell among thorns and only those who fell into fertile soil produced a crop.  The Apostles asked what Jesus meant and He gave the following Scripture:

Matthew 13:11 – 12 – “He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.’”

You may accept Christ as your Savior in your head but fail to receive in your heart.  Once you receive Him in your heart, because you have made a commitment to deny yourself and live for Him you will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Before you were conceived God foreknew how you would live your life.  If you never planned to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life to assist you in overcoming the two negative influences you may never understand what God requires of you.  If most times your sinful flesh or earthy nature sends urges that you know are wrong to do and the Holy Spirit checks you, yet you deny His help; the chances are you have never allowed the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence.  We each have a moral choice.  Will we allow the two negative influences to direct our life or ignore the positive encouragement coming from God’s Spirit?  God will never force you to do His Will.  Everyone has a choice as to whom they will follow.  Who do you allow to direct your life and how you will behave?

Remember when Satan offered Christ the world if He would follow him? If Satan could offer the world could he offer America to a president? If you were offered the same would you accept?  How about maybe a city, or wealth, maybe adultery?  You may have received the Holy Spirit but if you are filled with the Holy Spirit there is little chance you would yield to these temptations.  If you are not filled, you may not have the balance or the power to offset certain urges, in fact you are probably unwilling to commit and live according to God’s Will.

If you are not willing to heed the council of the Holy Spirit how do you think Christ will judge you?  Wouldn’t it be better to be filled with the Holy Spirit and never have a question as to how you will be judged at the end of time?  Don’t you want God’s Spirit blocking the two negative influences?  You will not have the peace and joy described by Scripture if you are constantly yielding to negative temptations that create a guilty conscience.

Matthew 13:14 & 16 – “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.   For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.’”

Being filled with the Spirit is becoming sanctified.  Sanctification means being separated from the world and consecrated to God.  You belong to God and are progressing to become more Christ-like.  You are totally sold out to God.