Scripture: Romans 8:5-6 (NLT) 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Observation:  Being dominated by sin or allowing it to control our minds as a Christian usually happens when we have allowed the things of this world to ensnare us. In reality, we are not exempt or void from the temptations of this world for we are surrounded by it.  The scripture encourages us to allow God's Holy Spirit to lead us to "life and peace".

Application:    I once heard a sermon by Francis Chan in which he illustrated some of  the temptations we have all around us.  He illustrated it by wearing a hat which had about half a dozen objects hanging from its rim at the end of a string. Some of those objects included paper money, a small toy car, a girl doll, etc. These objects pointed to greed of money, material things, lust, etc.  His point was these things will always tempt us in this world but it is our focus on Jesus that will help us overcome these things.  We must look past all of these temptations and set our eyes on Jesus in prayer, reading of the word, fellowshiping with other believers, meditating and storing things up in heaven instead of earth.  Is it easy? No...but we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus and as vs 26 tells us: "And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness"

Prayer:  Lord help me to be led by your Holy Spirit in Jesus name...Amen.