Saturday, April 29, 2017

Please, Let Your Mind Be In Us, Jesus!


How did Jesus walk?  Did He walk after the Spirit or after the Flesh?

Of course the answer is that Jesus walked only after the Spirit and not the flesh.

And we know this--

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

The mind that Christ possessed upon earth is the SAME mind we are to possess.

'The FORM of a SERVANT' or as other translations render it- 'The FORM of a SLAVE' 

Jesus could save us because He loved us more than He loved His own life.  Jesus spent His entire ministry serving others.  Do we imagine Him as One who spread a magic dust all around healing people? No, He didn't heal and help offhandedly. Jesus helped on a personal level! Jesus didn't step into a city and say magic words that healed the entire town of disease and demon possessions. Jesus did NOT stand on a hillside and wave His arms healing the entire multitude at once. Jesus went into cities and healed very few.

Mat 13:54  And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? 
Mat 13:55  Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 
Mat 13:56  And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? 
Mat 13:57  And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. 
Mat 13:58  And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. 

Jesus forced His healing on no one. There wasn't a single person healed that didn't desire that healing in some manner.  There were people healed on behalf of other's believing in Jesus and seeking healing the their behalf. Jesus healed on a very personal level.  A woman touch the hem of his clothing and He felt her belief taking healing from Him. Yet how many people touch Him and received no healing because they didn't believe? There had to be some, He walked through crowds of people. And not everyone clamoring about Him did so because they believed in Him but rather because they doubted Him and despised Him and sought ways to make trouble for Him. 

No matter how AWFUL people treated Jesus, He did NOT in turn treat them badly.  Jesus' heart broke because the people chose not to believe in Him. He wasn't indifferent to their unbelief, it pained Him.

We are to LOVE others NOT BECAUSE THEY LOVE US!
We are to have the mind of Jesus in us, a mind that is a servant, a slave-  one intent on others being before ourselves! We are NOT supposed to be first and foremost, God is to be first in our lives and then others, but NOT ourselves.

We cling to the comfortable us we know rather than seek true spirituality in Christ, because that calls for self-denial and we do NOT want to deny ourselves, we just don't.

God help us! Save us please, from ourselves!

Jesus GAVE of Himself when He healed-

Mar_5:30  And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

Jesus gave of Himself for others in so many, many ways.

We have to GIVE of ourselves, any and all that we have we need to give.

Please, Lord, help us deny self and serve others! Please, we just don't know how to do this, we don't know how to make ourselves be Yours, we need You to heal us with Your virtue and give us You so that Your mind may be in us! Please, Lord, we know we are evil, fleshy, selfish beings, save us from ourselves! Please, all by YOUR GRACE and MERCY, Your LOVE, Your FORGIVENESS!

*******

'To walk after the spirit means to have the mind set on the things of the spirit; it also means to have the spirit rule the mind. Those who act according to the spirit are none other than those who are occupied with the things of the inner man and whose mind is therefore spiritual. Walking by the spirit simply denotes that a mind under the control of the spirit sets itself on the things of the spirit. This implies that our mentality has been renewed and has become spirit-controlled and thus qualified to detect every movement and silence of the spirit.

Here we see once more the relationship between these two component parts—“they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit.” Man’s head is able to mind the flesh as well as the spirit. Our mental faculty (soul) stands between the spirit and the flesh (specifically here, the body).

Whatever the mind sets itself on is what the man walks after. If it occupies itself with the flesh, we walk after that; conversely, if it sets itself upon the spirit, we follow after it. It is therefore unnecessary to ask whether or not we are walking after the spirit. We need only inquire if we are minding the spirit, that is, noticing the movement or silence therein.

Never can it be that we set ourselves on the things of the flesh and yet walk after the spirit. On whatever the mind sets itself, that do we follow. This is an unchangeable law.

What does our mind think and notice in our daily experience?

What do we obey?

Are we heeding the inner man or do we obey the flesh?

Being occupied with the affairs of the spirit will make us spiritual men, whereas occupying ourselves with the affairs of the flesh will turn us into fleshly people. If our mind is not governed by the spirit,
it must be governed by the flesh; if not guided by heaven, it must be guided by earth; if not regulated from above, it must be regulated from beneath.

Following the spirit produces life and peace, while following the flesh results in death. From God’s point of view, nothing arising from the flesh contains any spiritual value. A believer is capable of living in “death” though he still possesses life.  (Excerpt - The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee)

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