Daily writing prompt

What’s a word or phrase that annoys you?

View all responses

Life is like riding a bicycle. Which bike are you riding? The rickety bike of tormenting thoughts, desires, and feelings that strive to steal, to kill, and destroy your soul? (John 10:1) Or the grace-filled bike of Spirit-led discipleship and direct revelation from God? (1 Corinthians 2:10)

In external silence there is internal presence. In physical stillness there is spiritual realness. In outer quite you can notice the inner diet of voices good and bad that are continually feeding your thoughts, feelings, and desires from inside of you. Then you can begin to improve your mental and emotional diet. You can start to monitor your mind and decide to dine on purity of heart, instead of on the insecurity and disruption of the corruption seducing you from within.

Humanity is continually confronted with inner voices, yet most people prefer to ignore and deny them instead of observing and learning from them. The voices within us human beings don’t just speak with words. Their vocabulary includes both good and bad feelings, desires, cravings, preferences, images, insights, sensations, promptings, leadings, and urgings. The bad voices strive to mislead us, deceive us, tempt us, seduce us, torment us, accuse us, abuse us, and excuse us. The good voices that we call conscience do the opposite. They seek to guide us, correct us, protect us, heal us, reveal truth to us, purify us, encourage us, strengthen us, empower us, comfort us, and inspire us.

Both sets of inner voices are always active within us. They constantly compete for our attention and try to get us to listen to and obey them. Corrupt voices call us to sin. Pure voices show us how to win the inner battle against sin. Yet as humans we become accustomed to allowing outward distractions, and the inner voices of obstruction and disruption to override and drown out the voice of our conscience. So, our spirit wallows in despair as we push aside the inner voice that genuinely cares about our wellbeing — the still, small voice of our Creator.

“For all who are led by the Spirit are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14) Allow the forgiveness, humility, and honesty purchased by the blood of Jesus, to light up your heart with the love and presence of God the Father and radiate in all that you say and do. Jesus puts it this way: “This was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) Continually listen to and consistently obey the voice of Christ in you. (John 10:27) Let the risen Jesus living and working within you be your hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Bring every thought captive to Jesus! (2 Corinthians 10:5)