Inviting Victory

Priscilla Shirer once spoke of a friend’s pond where she would take her sons out on a small boat. The boat was kept up on the bank, flipped upside down to prevent it from filling with rain water. Every time they would turn it over, bugs and snakes would scatter. She remarked how interesting it was that she did not have to try to attract the little creatures underneath that boat. The atmosphere underneath was moist and warm, and the darkness was exactly what they desired. Everything about it was their ideal habitat. She made this powerful observation: “The environment was the invitation.”

Our Pastor reminded us on Sunday that in this war between flesh and spirit, victory is decided by which we are feeding. Which one we are making comfortable. Which one we are cultivating the environment for.

Environment is everything. Flesh and spirit are drawn to opposite things. What causes one to thrive, makes the other shrivel. What one craves, the other flees. The difference in a carnal person and a spiritual person is the atmosphere they have created. The growing tendency towards carnal or spiritual things is the natural result of the environment they have allowed to form around them.

The world around us is evil. But that is not the environment we are responsible for. No, it’s the environment in our thoughts and on our phone that are entirely up to us. It’s the conversations and relationships we choose to engage in or walk away from.

The environment around us may be out of our control, but the atmosphere of our personal lives is our choice.

We live in victory by cultivating an environment where the Holy Ghost loves to dwell.

Scripture lays out for us the environment that attracts God’s Spirit. He is drawn to holiness (1 Peter 1:15), humility (James 4:6), worship (John 4:23), unity (Ephesians 4:3), truth (Psalm 51:6), obedience (1 Samuel 15:22), and gratitude (Psalm 100:4) to name just a few.

Let’s run our lives, and especially today, through these filters. What areas of our conduct or our conversations could we create a better atmosphere? If we do our best to cultivate the environment, He will come. And in a world that’s evil… He is our victory.