…I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:27 NIV

“Living without God is like trying to dribble a football.” This quote was posted on the marque of a nearby church. I laughed when I saw it, for the football is such a strange shape that it doesn’t really roll but moves in random directions. I can’t even imagine trying to dribble it. I’d be chasing it all over the place as it lands on the ends and haphazardly bounces about.

While the quote is humorous, it is profound, too.

God designed us for a purpose, to follow God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to bring Him glory. He empowers us to fulfill that purpose with the indwelling Holy Spirit. When we try to live without God, we do not have the power to live life according to His standards. Like that dribbled football, we go in various directions and not where God intends for us.

I have found that when I neglect to pray and do things in my own power, I mess up. I may say something I shouldn’t, or commit to something that, if I had prayed about it, I would have realized that it was not something God wanted me to do at the time. For example, I once committed to join a music group. I didn’t ask God about it. Fortunately, God directed a friend to talk to me and pointed out how overly committed I already was and that if I were to take on this new role it would be to the detriment of my relationships with others. It also would have distracted me from reading the Bible and from time in prayer.

There are so many distractions and ideas that can take us away from following God. How can we recognize what is true according to the One who made all things? We can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to us, and know that He will do it as Jesus said He would.

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-14 NKJV

The Holy Spirit directs us in the way of godliness. Consider what the Lord directed the priest Ezekiel to say in Ezekiel, chapter 36.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:26 – 27 NIV

The Holy Spirit teaches and guides us, as Jesus promised. The Holy Spirit helps us to remember what Jesus taught (John 14:26). As we follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand Scripture and to apply it to our lives. He helps us to obey God’s decrees and laws.

Instead of following God haphazardly, we can follow Him faithfully. How? I’m going to consider the following steps. I hope you will, too:

• Examine my life with God.
• Commit to seek His guidance in regards to decisions I need to make. Pray about it daily.
• Study Scripture to see what it says about the decision. Is the decision in line with God’s Word?

Let’s not dribble a football. Let’s keep the goal in mind and live our lives with God!

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Top photo of football by Jean-Daniel Francoeor on Pexels.com

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan.

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION (NKJV): Scripture taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION®. Copyright© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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