Some of you may or may not know that I'm a huge fan of Pastor Steve Hadley at Harvest Family Fellowship church in Reno, NV. His messages are filled with explanations about prophecy, yet he also spends a lot of time helping us Christians understand how to walk with God. Watching his videos are always entertaining and rewarding, but also challenging. He offers the perfect mix of light-hearted jokes... actual Scripture... verbal explanation and even some slideshows and diagrams. I've got an icon over on the right-hand side where you can click and be taken to his church's website.

This Sunday's message was eerily relevant to the past few weeks of my life. It's titled, "Who is Driving?" Pastor Steve talks about how one can still be saved and be a true Christian, yet struggle in life because he/she didn't hand over the wheel to Jesus and let him drive/take control. He also talked about being "in the spirit" and "in the flesh." I won't reiterate his message here in this entry -- I simply recommend that you watch it. It's one of my favorites so far (that doesn't have to do with prophecy). To watch the video for yourself, click on this link: "Who Is Driving?"

But the thing that really struck a chord with me was the part that he described as "our walk with Christ." He talked about it as always fluid, moving and changing based on whether we are leaning towards "the Spirit" or leaning towards "the Flesh."

So think of it this way: Imagine a one-mile stretch of open road. On one end of it is Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit. On the other end of it, stands Satan along with sin. The goal in life is to keep your car down at the end of the road by Jesus. While you're down there, you can enjoy and experience life to the fullest. Also while you're down there, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Conversely, if your "car" is drifting down towards the other end where Satan and sin are hanging out, guess what? Your life is going to be apart from God. Now remember, if you are saved, you cannot actually be taken from God's grasp. Romans 8:38-39 states: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But, if your life is down at the other end where Satan and sin resides, you are going to feel it. You'll know it. How? Well, for starters, you won't feel connected to Christ who is far down at the other end, waiting patiently for you as the importance of God and His word begins to fade. The seriousness of your connection with Christ will dissipate, and slowly... a little at a time... sin will take over again. And while it might be okay (or actually feel good) for a while there, ultimately it will end up causing you pain. And trust me... even if you think you don't know that you're drifting down in that direction, you can read the words right from the Bible:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Now on the other hand, if you sit back and let Christ take over the wheel, your life will be in balance. Truly! I mean this with all of my heart. The longer you stay at that end of the road, the more clearly you can see God and feel the Holy Spirit. Also, since you're down at the other end, you'll begin to forget about sin. Good habits, thoughts and actions will become normal every day life. Strife, stress, anger, jealousy, worry -- all of those will have been given to Christ to handle. You'll be so protected and so at peace that you won't give a second thought to those ugly things like rage, envy, discord, idolatry, etc. That particular end of the road (with Christ driving your car to keep you there) is called "living in the Spirit" (or being filled with the Holy Spirit). How will you know that your car is at the right end of the road? Easy. The Bible tells us that as well:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

So obviously the next question is, "So how do I make sure that I'm always letting Jesus take the wheel, keeping my car at the right end of the road and living in the Holy Spirit?"

Pastor Steve gives us the answers to that one beautifully in his message: Prayer, Scripture, Worship and Fellowship.

1) Pray, and pray often. Now that doesn't mean offer some lengthy Latin prayer every morning, or read Scripture aloud to God. It doesn't mean come up with some eloquent speech or a fancy rhyme. Prayer is a conversation with God. Talk to Him. Give it all to Him. Tell Him about your highs and your lows. Give Him your troubles and your puzzling questions. Talk out the conflicts in your life, or simply ask for guidance and wisdom. He WILL come through.

2) Stay in His word and read Scripture daily. Pastor Steve challenged his congregation to read the Beatitudes (Matthew 5, 6, 7) every morning for a week. Daily Scripture reading and/or devotionals will help keep the lines of communication open. Like I said above -- the "prayer" portion of these instructions is not a formal, memorized prayer. When you talk to God and ask for things, the next step is to sit back and listen to what He has to say to you. No... you won't hear a big, booming voice sounding like Darth Vader coming out of the sky. Nor will you have secret dreams with hidden messages. God will speak to you and reply back to you with passages of the Bible that are relevant to your prayer. He will illuminate specific verses so that you understand what you must do, say or think in response to your situation. I can't tell you how many times something was troubling me, and after prayer I was able to find a solution or the answer to my question within the Bible. The Bible is God's Word. If you don't read it, you simply will not hear what He is trying to tell you.

3) Worship regularly. Again, Pastor Steve said that this isn't just a form of respect and love toward our Lord. It's also a way to pause and take the focus off of ourselves. If you're having one of those days where everyone is bugging you and you're frustrated at work and you think that you deserve better, then worship is a great way for you to stop and realize that it's just not about you. It isn't. If you're a true Christian, there isn't any way that you can start singing (or sing along to music) in worship to the Lord and still feel that you deserve better. Or that you have a right to hate someone. Or that you should give in and get drunk at the party that you just got invited to. It's a way to ground you and remind you that not only is there a just, fair and merciful God who loves you, but also that He is in control of everything and we just have to trust.

4) Seek out fellowship. Often, Christians miss out on this part. We still struggle with it. It's so easy to fall into the trap of going to Church, reading Scripture, praying... and that's it. By not having true friendship and fellowship with other Christians, you are missing out on a huge support system. There is nothing better than having someone by your side saying, "Yeah... I understand that. That's a hard thing to beat -- I struggle with that myself sometimes." (Versus your non-Christian friends who may be more apt to say, "C'mon man! What's it going to hurt? Just live a little!") My hubby and I recognized the need for more Christian fellowship, especially around the time of the election. So many of our "old" friends and family are liberal Democrats, and we often came away feeling frustrated, defeated and belittled. Increased fellowship with other members of our Church or with other Christians gave us more strength and better support for our beliefs. This is true regarding many aspects of life.

So, to make a long story short, why was Pastor Steve's message especially relevant to me now? Well, I seem to be having one of those months where the sins of the flesh have taken over. I found myself feeling frustrated with my looks and wishing that I had been able to lose a few pounds before my big work trip to San Diego. I thought to myself several times, "I'm tired of frugal, plain clothing. What's the harm in indulging in a few name brand clothes or snazzy fashion pieces? And really, if I go tanning and get a personal trainer, I'll not only look great but I'll also feel really good about myself." In reality, that didn't sound so bad. But as I thought about it more and more, it began to drift. "Why can't people look at me and see beauty? Why can't I turn men's heads? Why did my sisters get all the good genes?" And after all of those thoughts, I felt ugly, frustrated, jealous and cheated.

And it wasn't just that. I have been so amazingly frustrated at the fact that we are still living in this condo. I want a house so badly it aches. I have seen so many Christmas photos from friends, colleagues and family who have beautiful homes and fireplaces with mantles. I see Facebook status updates about "cleaning out basements" or "organizing pantries" and I admit I feel jealousy.

One thought after another after another filled my head, and eventually overflowed into my heart. And garbage in spews garbage out. I began to say things that revealed my annoyance and self-pity. I started feeling sorry for myself, and became consumed with little bouts of true envy.

And weeks went by without a blog entry or any type of Scripture reading. We even missed church a few times.

It wasn't too long before I realized that I had taken over the wheel of my car because I thought I knew best how to drive. And because I knew where I wanted to go. Jesus stepped back, and let me take it. Suddenly I found myself driving back down the road to where the house of sin stood tall and firm. No longer could I see the other end of the road, where peace, contentment, fullness and hope overflowed out of the house of God.

So one day -- like literally a week ago -- I sat quietly in my chair and I thought to myself, "How???? How could I get like this so quickly? Why is it so hard to stay on track? What on earth made me stray so far from what I know is truly important in life? Why is it that every day I prayed for guidance and wisdom, yet I drifted so far off course?"

And thanks to dear Pastor Steve, he opened my eyes. The Lord truly works in so many wonderful ways. Fellowship can even include watching church sermons from across the country. Because what Pastor Steve said to me was, "Hey! I know it's hard. You thought you were doing the right thing. But you left out the other three components that will keep you grounded. And you booted Christ out so that you could drive."

He's right. Those four things are like stakes that you pound into the ground to keep a tent in place. If you only use one stake and let the other three corners go, then it won't be long before your tent pulls up and blows away. All four things listed above are necessary to keep you filled in the Holy Spirit.

And, my friends, THAT is why my last entry about "Small is the Gate, and Narrow the Road" was so meaningful. It takes discipline and effort to remain in the Holy Spirit. Many give up easily, walking away from Christ and turning to sin.

Thank the Lord for a truly astounding personal message to my heart. May God bless you in this way as well.