How Can We Be a Free People and Not Be Free?

Fifteen years ago, Erwin McManus began putting together the material to write his book "Uprising".  How amazing it is that there are so many people who live in a free world but who are not free.  Their decisions in life have bound them and they have kept them from living the life that they dreamed of living.  These decisions have also kept them from living life to the fullest as God desires for all of us.

"Uprising" is not about people rising up in a traditional sense.  It's about an internal uprising.  Jesus was born a slave to the Roman empire and He grew up walking among a people who knew nothing except bondage because of their generational history.  We seem to forget that Jesus was not born into a world of freedom.  When Jesus begin to work and speak of freedom, His disciples heard His words in the context of a group who had never known freedom.  Jesus would offer them words like, "He who the Son sets free is free indeed."

Many knew about the coming Messiah and many thought that Jesus would show up, rally the people and and lead an army to free them from slavery.  They yearned for this to happen.  They wanted a practical revolution.  They wanted Him to declare with a clarion call a revolt against an evil empire and to bring an end to Caesar's rule and all of his gods.  They didn't realized that the only blood Jesus intended to shed was His own!!

Psalm 119:32 says, "For I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free."

Some words are just not supposed to live together such as "jumbo shrimp",  "government efficiency" or "Lakers and playoffs" (jokes Erwin).  Two words in the passage above that do not mix are "command and freedom".  We know the meanings of both of these words.  We run away from "commands" right?  Why would we "run in the path of His commands"?  We have long thought of God as the eternal killjoy of our freedom.  We often think He is trying to control and contain us.  But what He wants is to give us a freedom we cannot imagine.  Jesus knows something about freedom that we often don't realize.

True freedom is an internal experience, not an external one.

Have you ever felt you were a prisoner in your own world?  So many people live in a world of unimaginable bondage because of their choices.  Only when it's too late do they realize bad choices steal from us our freedom.  Ironically, the choices we make IN our freedom are exactly the choices which COST us our freedom!  Have you ever wondered why you are where you are?  Someone recently said to Erwin, "I never thought I would be that guy!"  How did this happen to me?  How did I get here?  Erwin can tell all of us without uncertainty that our life is the reflection of our character.  So often we try to achieve greatness through our talents.  But talent is so often elusive.  In a room full of highly talented people, we become just average, right?



That innate talent you have is a gift to you, not a gift from you.  Those high cheek bones, that dimpled chin and those swimming blue eyes are from your parents!  The future that may be elusive to you; the life that your soul longs for is not built on your talent, your intelligence or your looks.  It's built on your character.  You have control over the person you choose to become.  "Over the next three months, we are going to talk about how to build your future based on your character."  Erwin is going to teach how to make the choices to set our hearts free!

Jesus gives us a path and an outline, but it is not an easy one.  What we are talking about is a move from a self-centered life to a Christ-centered life; from a self indulgence life to a life where we choose honor and nobility. But this journey comes at a cost and a sacrifice.  If we choose this journey, we will discover what it means to live.  Jesus models this for us, as is referenced in Philippians 2:3,4;

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others.

This is a revolution of the soul where we turn all the values we've come to know upside down.  Treat others of greater value.  Have the same mindset of Christ Jesus.  He made Himself nothing by making Himself obedient to death, even to death on a cross!  This is a revolution that began 2000 years ago and was started by the most amazing person ever to live.  If Jesus chose to serve, who among us is greater than He, sent from heaven, who chose to wash our feet?

In 6th grade, Erwin loved mythology.  One particular story he was drawn to was that of Narcissus, who was  a hunter and the most beautiful creature ever to live.  Because of his inherent sense of loveliness, no one could match his beauty.  Jealous of anyone more attractive than she, the god Nemesis' retaliated against Narcissus by taking him out to a pond and showed him his own reflection.  When Narcissus saw his own reflection, he fell in love.  Never had he seen such beauty and he was drawn so intensely to it that he dove into the water and drowned.  There is another version to the ending that describes how he stared at himself for so long that he turned into a flower out of pity from the gods.


How many mirrors do we have in our homes?  Have you ever been to a gym and seen all the mirrors there?  Ho many times do you see a mirror and feel an obligation to stop and pause?   There is a little bit of narcissism in all of us.  But when we move to a life of service, it moves us away from ourselves and moves us to the model-life of Jesus and it is there where we find freedom.

Twenty years ago today, Erwin became the pastor of his church.  Interestingly, he never intended to become a pastor.  He was volunteering in a church in East L.A. and the church's pastor approached him and suggested he pursue becoming that church's pastor.  Erwin turned it down, but the question kept coming back again and again.  At one point, he asked his wife about it and she said "No!"  Erwin was confused.  Finally, after endless conversations for a year or so, 150 people unanimously voted Erwin to take the position.  The ministry is a unique way of moving from a self-centered life to a service-centered life because it is so tangible.  It is a deliberate move and there is an obligation involved.  But we can all make clear and deliberate choices to be in active service of others.

Soon later Erwin accepted the pastoral position, a group from his church went whitewater rafting on some 3 and 4 rated whitewater.  Many people bonded and went through the experience together.  They all jumped in the raft and, although it started out very peaceful, the roaring of the river soon came upon them.  All of the sudden, the river was moving violently and aggressively.  "Row, row, row!" the guide was shouting.  Although they had been given instructions, they were all just frantically flailing their oars.  The raft ahead of them hit a gigantic boulder and flipped everyone out.  Then the second raft ahead of them hit the same boulder and it flipped too!  Erwin's raft then seemed to accelerate towards this same boulder.  Just before they hit, a gigantic guy in their raft screamed that he couldn't swim.  Erwin grabbed the ropes as tight as he could to brace himself.  The raft hit the rock and the giant guy landed on Erwin, squashing him.  Erwin sunk deep into the river and when he came up for air, found himself lost in the violent rapids.  Desperate, he was able to cling to some rocks and claw his way back to dry ground.  As he looked around, he then realized that only the men had been thrown from the raft!  All the ladies were still floating down inside.  It was only after his harrowing ordeal that Erwin began listening to the guide's instructions about the safety guidelines (which had previously been explained when Erwin wasn't listening).  Fortunately, Erwin did hear enough to know to lift his legs in front of him which allowed him to float safely down river.

We cannot go on the quest for a life like Jesus' until we expressly want to truly live.  If we surrender to the ordinary, mundane, common life, we might as well keep our heads down and wait until we die.  But if there is a thread within us; a tiny desire that suggests we were NEVER CREATED TO ACCEPT AN AVERAGE AND ORDINARY LIFE, THEN THIS QUEST IS THE JOURNEY FOR US!!!  Jesus promised us a life of abundance but we must choose to pursue it with Him.  We were not meant to conform or to be the backdrop of someone else's story . We all want to be heroes, don't we?  "I want to live!"

"I choose freedom!" declares Erwin.  Within our freedom, we can make freedom-taking choices. Galations 5:13 says "you...were called to be free."   Your soul longs to be free.  "Do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another humbly in love."

There is a freedom only Jesus can bring us through service.  There is freedom when we empty ourselves and allow God free reign over us.  Jesus tells us about true power in Him.  He tells the Jewish people that when a roman soldier comes and smacks them, looking for justification to kill them, turn the other cheek.  When the roman soldier comes in the cold of the night and demands their coat while mocking them, give the soldier a coat AND a shirt.  Let them know that their greed can never over power our generosity.  When the soldiers show up at the place of work and turns them into "their donkey or their horse" to carry a horse's pack to carry for a mile (this was the maximum legal distance a soldier could demand someone carry a pack), Jesus told them to "carry it for two".  Don't ever let a human being turn you into a slave.  Hate is never more powerful than love.

Erwin used to be a lumberjack.  "I used to be a lot of things...It's the gift of not being able to do anything well."  He and his friends were going into the mountains in Virginia because the state had set aside some acreage that they needed to be cleared.  The friends went up to earn some money.  They took the three hour drive there and worked from sunrise to sunset cutting and loading trees, thinking they would make a killing.  They felt they were going to be rich.  For some reason, though, none of the other lumberjacks even showed up.  But, as the boys were leaving, they couldn't get the trucks out of the mud.  Their tires sunk in the ground because it had rained recently and the ground had grown soft.  Ohhhhh, "so that's why the other lumberjacks didn't show!"  The other lumberjacks knew not to go after a rain.  Erwin and his friends learned the hard way.  It took them forever to completely unload the timber.  And, it was only then that they could move their trucks.  Essentially, at the end of the day, they had nothing to show for all their work.

Jesus humbled Himself so that, in His emptiness, God would raise Him to be the name above all names.  This is miraculously what He longs to do in us.  We have to unload all of the timber of our lives, so that we can get out of being stuck in the mud.  We have to unpack all that we have packed into our soul.  All of this stuff that's been replacing biblical truth has gotten us stuck in our lives!  You've got to be willing to unload it all and leave it all behind.  Otherwise, we will remain in the same place.  If you have been wondering on a faith journey and you seem to keep coming back to the same place, IT IS TIME TO BREAK THE CHAINS AND BE FREE.  It is serious, intense and deliberate!

How Can I Lead My Family to Pursue Righteousness?

In the first part of his series, "Bless This Home", Craig Groeschel (www.lifechurch.tv) opens with the theme, "Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness".  How many of you want your homes to be blessed?  We ALL want our families to be blessed, but in most cases when we look at other families, the word that comes to mind is NOT "blessed".  There are so many financial problems, infidelities, children problems, blended families, health issues etc.  Life at home can be overwhelming!   There are a lot more temptations and the world today is so complicating as well.

We are are going to use the teachings of Jesus, specifically from the book of Matthew, to help families to create environments where a home can be "blessed".   Matthew lays out the Beattitudes, which is the baseline for Craig's series.  "We are going to use a number of these principles to bless our homes.  Next week, we are going to look at 'Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God'...Most of our homes would not be characterized by purity but rather by impurity.   In week 3, we will cover 'Blessed are the peacemakers'...Often we have homes where there are 'peace takers'.   In week 4, we will look at 'Blessed are those who are persecuted for (Christ's) sake'....We need to stand out in this world."

Much of the series, for Craig, is going to require him to be largely transparent.  He will commit to share what happens in his own home.  "But we are sooo far from perfect", he admits.  It sometimes surprises people when the pastor's family isn't perfect!  One day his daughter was in class and all the kids were talking about how their parents were always yelling at them. His daughter said, "my daddy doesn't yell at us" and the teacher thought, "well there you go. Of course the pastor doesn't yell at his kids". But then Craig's daughter continued, "they yell at each other every day, but they don't really yell at us" (!!)

None of us are perfect, but we are being perfected by the power of God.  In Matthew 5:6, we read, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be filled".  So many homes are not filled with that that matters most.  Rather, homes fill themselves with other things in an attempt to be fulfilled. In your home, what do you hunger for?  What are you pursuing?  What matters most to you?  Some of us might say, "we are here to please God", but then what would our kids say if we asked them?  Some people might say they are trying to relax, to have fun or to be liked.  "Image management" is a priority for some families.  For others, it could be just the wind; more money, a bigger house, the smartest kids, the most athletic kids...

If you're like most people and if you're really honest, you might admit that you are not hungering for righteousness. So, what do we do when we realize that we don't have an appetite for righteousness?  We change our appetite!!  How many people love pizza? It's hugely popular but not very good for us on a regular basis.  At one point, Craig, changed his diet from too much pizza to fish, chicken, vegetables and fruits. After a couple of months eating like this, he decided one night to eat pizza and it made him sick. Why? because his appetite had changed!  Pizza no longer satisfied him.   This is what it's like when we pursue God! After we begin to feed our minds with the purity of God, we have not appetite for what is impure.

However, even if we change our appetite by pursuing God, we should first be aware of what DOES NOT work with our faith; legalism and lukewarm Christianity!

Legalism doesn't work because this is when we change Christianity to a bunch of rules that are way too many for us to keep.  Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.  This is why some pastors have rebellious kids.  The kids know about the life style but early on, lack the relationship and become rebellious.  

Lukewarm Christianity is when we believe in God, but don't have a real passion that brings glory to Him.  How do we know if we're a lukewarm family of faith?  "The way I know the temperature of my family's faith is when I think of the last time we prayed as a family".  If we haven't talked about faith at the dinner table, chances are we are lukewarm.  If I am not leading my family out of circumstances that are not consistent with our faith, like inappropriate music, inappropriate television shows or events, chances are we are lukewarm.  If the family is not reaching out in the community to help others, chances are we are lukewarm.


What DOES work to change our appetite when pursing God?  As a family, we should not just be a christian family.  Instead, we should think of ourselves as more of a Christ-centered home.  Unfortunately, many people can call themselves christian families, but they are often NOT Christ-centered homes.  Right?  We can all say we are ducks, but that doesn't make us ducks.

David explains this Psalms 63:1, "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water...David does not look for God when it is just  convenient for him.  If we were to edit this verse and apply to our families it might sound like this;

You God are our God. Earnestly we seek You. We thirst for You.  Our whole family longs for you.

What else is there to pursue, truly?  Popularity?  "Oh popularity, you are my God!"  Or, "Oh championship of the soccer league...!   Oohh new car..., my rump longs for your car seat warmers and a good ride."  This sounds ridiculous, but this is the way many families live and we wonder why they are so empty.

As a leader, teach your home to see God as loving, approachable and involved.

This past week Craig had to travel and beforehand, his daughter Mandy came in to his bedroom.  She wanted to talk, but he was busy.  Working on this sermon, Craig asked her what she would give as advice to another family to have a Christ -centered home.  Mandy replied, "You should create an environment where you kids want to have discussions about God so it's not something they feel they have to do but something they want to do."   It was no surprise, when later that night, Mandy came back in and asked Craig to pray for her future!  But the Groeschel's had long ago committed to a Christ-centered home.  So, if this isn't the culture in our own homes, how do we do this especially now when our kids are older?

1. Involve God in daily conversations.  This may start out by just seeing a beautiful sunrise.  If we comment on it, glorify God in our comment.  If there is a conflict, remind yourself and everyone that God is the resolver of conflict.  Remind our family daily of their godly blessings.  Craig's 12-year-old son, Sam, was talking to his friend recently and pointed out to his friend how God had blessed him with various things in his life.  Craig realized that pointing this out to his own family was spilling out into the community through his kids.  

2. Make church a non-negotiable.  faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.  Surround your family with the fellowship of believers.  It then becomes something that they want to pursue and something they want to be a part of.

3. Show how seeking and serving God is FUN.  Craig's family has "popcorn prayer time".  They sit together in a room, eat popcorn and pray for people and things that need prayer.  In the mornings, when Craig gets up, he will see his kids studying the Word and it is a blessing to him.  How did they start doing this?  They saw their parents do it and now they do it!

We don't have to tell our kids how to be good if we are pursuing the one who is good.  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

These things may sound very rough to do and totally counter intuitive because of all the problems in your home.  But if we commit, we can do it!  Can you make seeking God Fun?  Yes!!  Can you make church non-negotiable?  Yes!!  Can you involve God in conversations?  Yess!!

Joshua 24:!5 says, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

You choose this DAY.  You choose THIS day.  You choose THIS DAY.  Then your home will be blessed.

How Is It Our Bodies are "Holy Temples"?

In the fifth and last sermon of his series, "Spirit", Erwin McManus talks about diving into this space where most of us only spend small amounts of time exploring. So many times, when we are moving through life, we become absorbed in the material world, but then something will happen in our lives that turns us to the spiritual realm; the invisible world versus our visible world.  If we don't have a language for these experiences, we put together our own glossary of terms saying it is an "energy" or it is a "force" or some impersonal power.  We think of it as a "life force".

Sometimes, when we are working through a life crisis, we start looking for ways to be empowered; ways that might help us make it.  Other times, we need a competitive type of power to self actualize.  We start looking for an outside source that will elevate us to a "higher level", but the challenge is always the same; making this "life force" personal.

Scriptures tell us that this "force" is far more profound than what we, ourselves, could imagine.  The Creator of the universe works in our lives and He is personal, creative and has a purpose for all of us.  But in order to establish a relationship with this Creator, we have to change the way we think about reality.  If we approach the Holy Spirit with the scientific view, we are approaching Him incorrectly.  Science says everything comes from nothing.  Scripture says that the Spirit is the intention of God and it was from this Spirit that the earth was created.

Long before Erwin came to Christ, he had spiritual experiences.  As a young boy in El Salvador, Erwin regularly would sleep walk.  The houses in his neighborhood were interconnected with high walls, barb wire and locks, so there was virtually no way for people to get in, but when he would sleep walk, he would wonder out of the house!  The police would find him walking in the streets.  He would have no memory and no one could figure out how he was getting out.  During these times, Erwin was always dreaming that he was flying.  He imagined he was going to other places in the world and sometimes he would dream he was going to other parts of the universe.  Years later, in Raleigh NC when he was 16, he found himself still wandering around in the night.  What's more, he often found himself drawn to the guest room in his house.  In this room, he felt comfortable even though he says he actually felt an invisible presence there.  At one point, his aunt from El Salvador came to stay with his family and she was to sleep in the guest room.  But that night, she knocked on Erwin's door and said she couldn't sleep because she felt there was a presence in her room.  Erwin immediately knew what she was talking about and told her that "they won't hurt you".  This was too much for his aunt, who then screamed and refused to sleep in the room!  Yet Erwin continued to be drawn to the room and continued to feel connected to whatever was present.  He knew, by this experience, that he had a connection to the invisible world.

As humans, there is something in us that connects us to the spiritual realm.  We are not the same as buffalo and orangutans.   Despite so many commonalities to every creature, man (and woman) has a soul.  Yet every creation here is a manifestation of the spiritual world.  In 1 Corinthians 6, we read, "¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.



What Paul is talking about is the essence being human.  It is our spirit that distinguishes us from animals.  We are a temple of the Living God.with this unique intention of being inhabited by Him.  Because we have all this evidence of the material world, we lose the reality that we are the spiritual essence of His image.  We think of our modern spirituality more as being associated with a building, a temple, a mosque or a church.  As incredible as Erwin thinks their church building is, he doesn't like that it helps contribute to the misread of this sacred space.  Our bodies are the temple, not the building and we have been bought at a price.  God purchased our sacred space so that He could live in us.  The Creator of the universe occupies us!  

However, because we were designed to live in the Spirit, we also have a design flaw which Jesus alludes to in Matthew 12:43-45,  ⁴³ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

The imagery He is giving us is that, although we were created to live in the image of God, there are also other spirits that exist in this intersection of the visible and invisible world.   These spirits can come and go in "houses" that are "unoccupied".  If these problem spirits come and our bodies are unoccupied by the Holy Spirit via our faith, we are an exposed space subject to them.  We are then in danger of being influenced by them as well.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you didn't connect with God, but you desperately tried to just be a better person?  You might have even tried religious things to do and hoped it was a enough.  We have all gone through all kinds of religious interventions to deal with the brokenness of our soul.   This is a house "swept clean" .  Notice that when Jesus speaks of the Spirit of God, He refers to Him as "He", but when Jesus talks about the of other spirits, He uses the word "it".  Nonetheless, Jesus is clear that these other spirits will, when given the chance, take over .  This is unbelievably disturbing!!   Erwin speaks from experience, "I see people all the time who try to get there house in order, but do nothing to bring God in to rule over their lives".  It's tragic and, on top of that, the human soul longs to be reconciled with God!

An interesting side note here.  This idea of other spirits coming and going explains the concept of reincarnation.  The scriptures make clear that we all live only one life.  We are born, we live and then we die.  But the spirits live in many lives and when they come to inhabit a human space, they bring with them the memories and experiences of past lives.  So, when people have "visions" of past lives or feel they have spiritual evidence of out of body experiences, it is actually not inconsistent with scripture.  These are real memories....!

Ephesians 2:21-22 says,  ²¹ In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

The scriptures are telling us right away that God sent Jesus to give His Spirit so we might be reunited to God,  Through Jesus, we have access to God and, consequently, In Him, your "building...becomes a holy temple".

Our ultimate design is that we would have the living space filled by the presence and the purpose of the Living God.  You may not know this, but you are a spiritual creature and what makes you different from other animals is you have a soul.  "Dogs may be smarter than you," jokes Erwin, "but they have no souls...we all know cats have no souls!"  We live in two kingdoms; the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. Both of these kingdoms were framed and are empowered by two very different types of spirits.

"I can tell you that I have stepped into experiences with other people where I saw spirits of darkness and I never want to see it again... I have seen the worst sides of them ... It explains why humans do the worst kind of things....we describe them as being 'out of (their) mind(s)' or 'not (themselves)'".  We sometimes try to deny that there are other forces outside of ourselves, but rest assured, they do exist.

The kingdom of darkness and kingdom of God have hugely different evidences of their existence.  1 Corinthians 13 directly describes the fruits of the Holy Spirit; the evidence of Him occupying our spiritual houses.  

 13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Paul tells us not to be surprised when God shows up in our lives.  When He manifests Himself in unexplained ways, we shouldn't be be overcome by it or lost in what the Spirit is doing.  Erwin has had moments where he has laid hands on the sick and he has watched them be healed.  He has seen rains stop suddenly and snow begin falling due to prayer.  He has stood on a platform speaking many times and he has watched many people coming to Christ.  He has correctly discerned the struggles and hurts of others, knowing it wasn't his own capabilities but those of the Holy Spirit.  But even with his experiences, Erwin doesn't have clear communication to do what the Spirit is doing all the time.  Yet he cannot deny the power and presence of God.

We are weird when it comes to Jesus and this is no different than the way it was with the first century church.   It was filled with neurotic, psychotic, broken and shattered people.  But this was God's people and He made Himself manifested through them.  Sometimes it isn't Jesus that makes us bizarre!  It's us who makes us bizarre.  Jesus is not the cause of neurosis, but He can still reflect himself through the neurosis.  If we but allow Him, He will work through us.

Galatians 5:22-26 Paul again gives evidence of the fruits of the Spirit; ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited,provoking and envying each other. 


So, we see there are fruits of the Holy Spirit, and likewise, there is evidence in the lives of those who have allowed other spirits of darkness to occupy their space.  These traits are bitterness, greed, selfishness, conceit ...etc.  But none of these characteristics can stand when the Holy Spirit enters in and conquers hatred with love, bitterness with forgiveness and arrogance with humility.  Paul encourages us to keep in mind the rewards of following God; 1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit,especially prophecy.

You will never know what it means to live in the presence of God until you choose the way of love; fully becoming alive with the love of God.  Once you begin to, you will begin to learn what it means to love more and more.  There are amazing things God does in our lives, but there is nothing like Him filling us with His love

Years ago, Erwin would perform with a guitar on the streets at Marti Gras where he experienced some strangely, spiritual and sensual people.  During that time, he met this girl who looked so empty and hollow. Erwin started talking to her about Jesus and God .  Her response to his words has always haunted him.  She said, "I can't give my life to Him".  Erwin paused, "Sure you can!"  The girl then said, "No, I can't because my soul doesn't belong to me".  Shocked, Erwin asked, "What do you mean?"  The girl explained that she had gotten involved in Egyptian mysticism and that her soul belonged to a woman who she pointed out in the crowd.  At that point, Erwin looked up to see a woman rushing towards them.  This other woman jumped in Erwin's face screaming out that her soul did, in fact, belong to her.   "I remembered trying to stand her down and to tell her that Jesus could free her, but it was to no avail... The woman commanded her to come and they left".

You were designed to be inhabited by a spirit.  You are a living soul; the intersection of the visible and the invisible, between the spiritual and material world.  Your soul is trying to let you know who you are. You were designed for love.  You are designed for a relationship with the living God and the Spirit of God will always drive us towards love.