I don't just hear Holy Spirit for what to preach, but in every detail of my life.

Is that something you want?

You can have it. It's not reserved for pastors and prophets. Being led by the Spirit is readily available to every believer.

So why don't you hear?

Probably because you are hearing too many other things.

Holy Spirit doesn't yell over the noise. You have to quiet yourself to hear Him.

Just think of how much noise is in your life. From text messages to TV shows to social media... all day long, you are listening to things that likely don't draw you closer to God.

If you want to hear Holy Spirit, you must turn it all off. Hearing Him must become more important than all the other noise.

The devil uses a specific strategy to paralyze Christians.

It starts with fear, which comes in all shapes and sizes. Afraid to die. Afraid of what people think. Afraid of running out of money. On and on it goes.

Once you overcome fear, the enemy doesn't stop. He has a well-rehearsed backup plan:

Discouragement.

Both have the same effect. Whether afraid or discouraged, you are stalled out when you are supposed to be going from glory to glory.

As he was entering the promised land, God told Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Notice it's a command, not a suggestion. That means that God has already equipped us to stand up to the enemies called fear and discouragement and say, "No. Not here."

The next time you are tempted to be afraid or discouraged, all you have to do is say out loud, "I will not be afraid or discouraged. Absolutely not."

Jesus was poor. That's what I used to believe.

Then one day, instead of trying to fit Him into my ideals, I searched the scriptures and was surprised.

It all started when He was a baby. Men traveled from afar to bring Him ultra-valuable gifts.

Then, He comes straight out of the wilderness, finds twelve men, and has them leave their good-paying jobs to follow Him into a ministry that hadn't even started yet.

You might think that they all struggled after that. But we never read of them being hungry. Instead, we read of them caring for the poor along the way.

Apparently, they always had more than enough because one of the disciples was stealing the whole time, and Jesus didn't even address it until the end.

Even when it was time to pay taxes, Jesus just had one of the disciples go grab a gold coin out of a fish's mouth. No big deal.

How about His robe that the soldiers argued over because, even blood-stained, it was of great value?

Turns out, Jesus was the wealthiest man around. It was just hard to see because He invested it all in Kingdom business.

How do you know if money is ruling your life?

Before you do anything, you ask it for permission.

Is it worth the money? Do I already have the money? Do I want to use my savings on that?

Interestingly, Jesus instructs us not to even consider money as we live this life.

He promises that if instead we set our focus on His kingdom and righteousness, the earthly resources will come automatically.

If money is a part of our decision-making, we are not led by the Spirit.

A shocking, yet true statement. Because you can only have one master.

Who's yours?

Hiding your sin never pays off.

It's the equivalent of finding a thief and hiding him away in your home rather than turning him in.

That thief called sin will keep stealing from you as long as you keep it in hiding.

God can do nothing to help you until you stop covering it up. Guilt and shame will eat away at your soul until you finally confess it to your heavenly Father.

As hard as it is to admit that you've sinned, it's absolutely amazing how quickly relief comes.

God takes your sin, wads it up, and throws it into the fire. Never to be seen again.

But don't forget, the only way He can help you is if you bring it out of hiding and hand it over.

If you knew this about obeying God, it would make it a whole lot easier.

There are two sides to this conversation.

One side thinks obedience is irrelevant because our salvation depends solely on the perfection of Jesus.

The other side is so uptight about obedience that they disregard God's mercy.

This tension can be resolved by understanding this:

Obedience to God is not an obligation; it's an opportunity.

The Bible is full of promises, and a condition is always attached. If you do this, God will do this.

The condition is not how we earn the promise, it's how we access the promise. Think of the conditions like a roadmap to the blessings of God.

So, obedience is simply an opportunity to live life more abundantly.

But if you don't obey, you won't have access to the promises. Plain and simple.