Led by the Spirit of God

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Being LED by the Spirit of God.
Being a son of God.

How can we be led by the Spirit of God?

We want to be sons and daughters of God, don't we? If this is what we desire then we must be led by the Spirit of God.

Once more this is putting GOD first in all things.
Putting GOD'S WAYS first in all things.
We are not ignorant of God's way- it is the way of LOVE. 
The way of LOVE is God's way- SELFLESSNESS, putting others and GOD first in ALL things, not just in things we choose.  We cannot be picky about love. We have to love equally, not picking and choosing when we should be loving and when we shouldn't. 

When we fail to love we NEED to ask for forgiveness.

Remember this verse--

Jas_4:17  To him therefore who knoweth to do good and doth it not, to him it is sin.

This is in ALL things, not just being exceptionally good.  This is knowing we should let a person older than us go ahead of us when we simultaneously come to a check out line. This is knowing we should stop and let the person trying to get out into traffic, out. This is holding the door for someone. This is getting a drink of water for someone. This is picking up a piece of trash even if you haven't a clue who put it there. This is holding your tongue when you want to lash out. This is being exhausted and still fixing dinner. This is so much more than doing good by the grand gestures of giving money to a worthy cause, helping a homeless person, working in a soup kitchen. ALL things matter.  And we are to do good IN ALL THINGS because if we don't we are accountable for not doing good, for not loving and living as the SPIRIT would lead us to in Jesus Christ our LORD.

Being led by the SPIRIT of God is NOT waiting around for an apparition of sorts to appear and tell you what to do. Being led by the SPIRIT of God is NOT haphazardly flipping to a Bible verse and allowing that to guide us. Being led by the SPIRIT of God is NOT feeling happy and attributing that to the Spirit. If we allow ourselves to get caught up in gauging our being led by the SPIRIT by our emotions then we are going to feel completely lost when we aren't feeling overwhelming happy, but perhaps really sad. Feelings, emotions have their place but they cannot take the place of our ability to reason, our ability to let our FAITH work knowing that regardless of what we feel that GOD is LOVE in all things!

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Spirit of bondage.

The spirit of slavery.

We do NOT receive the spirit of slavery which causes fear- fear of eternal death. We do NOT receive the spirit of slavery to sin, bound by sin to die unforgiven, unredeemed, without any hope at all. We RECEIVE the SPIRIT of ADOPTION!  Through our SAVIOR we are given HOPE! That HOPE is the hope of forgiveness and through that forgiveness a pardon for all our sins, a cleansing from our unrighteousness by HIS righteousness, and through HIM eternal LIFE. 

We can cry out ABBA - FATHER! Adoring our Heavenly Father because He has given us this hope, this amazing LOVE surpassing all other love we might think we know.

Our HOPE is in CHRIST!

We must live in this HOPE, this ETERNAL HOPE. We are ADOPTED by a LOVING GOD, a LOVING FATHER who welcomes us with open arms.

Being led by the SPIRIT we are the sons of GOD, receiving the SPIRIT of ADOPTION! 

Our God does not want us enslaved! Our God wants us adopted!

How amazing is the love of our Heavenly Father! How truly amazing, beyond anything we can imagine!

We must hope, we must choose, we must yield all through the power of the Holy Spirit!

All through LOVE HIS LOVE!

Spiritual Choice

Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

We are debtors- we are in debt but NOT to the flesh. We owe our flesh self NOTHING. If we live for our flesh then we will die eternally. The only way we have life is by living through the Spirit, and in living through the Spirit MORTIFYING the deeds of our flesh.

Mortify  - Strong's: From G2288; to kill (literally or figuratively): - become dead (cause to be) put to death kill mortify.

Living through the Spirit we KILL the deeds of our flesh, the works of our flesh.

We cannot do a single thing in the flesh to earn eternal life, not one thing.

We must THROUGH the Spirit choose to have faith in Jesus Christ and the promises He gave to us.

Do YOU live in the SPIRIT?

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

To the glory of God.

Not to the glory of ourselves.

We aren't to do the things we do to glorify ourselves, but to glorify God.

Do the things we do glorify God?

Are our lives focused on the things of God?

Do we find God in all we do?

Living after the Spirit is finding God in all things, and where we cannot find God we know we shouldn't be.

Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Life and death.

We choose.

If we live…

We choose how we live in a lot of ways.  Sure some circumstances are beyond our control but the spiritual choice is ALWAYS under our control.

Some people might be forced into their beliefs- we hear about  that a lot in the Middle East- and then we also hear about those who defy that stricture and then are punished even to the point of death for choosing to belief in Jesus Christ the Son of God.   This is a reality.  Our making a choice is a reality.

Why is it that in some places the Spiritual aspect of life is so important that to believe differently means killing someone.  And then in other places, a lot of other places the Spiritual side of life means absolutely nothing. Having no religion- having no spiritual side to your life is perfectly normal.  Here in America we laud our ability to have freedom of religion and have taken that to the point of making religion seem senseless. There are more people today in the USA that do not have any spiritual faith at all than ever before.

Choices are being made.  

We all have to make choices, everyone of us without fail.

We are the result of the choices we make throughout life and by the GRACE of GOD may we make the most important choice ever, choosing HIM.

May we choose to live spiritually focused, not physically, fleshy, carnally focused-  please LORD help us to CHOOSE YOU now and forever, and ever!

In YOUR LOVE!

If Christ be in you...

Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The body is dead.

If we have Christ in us, the body is dead.

Yet, the body being dead isn't in a literal sense, right? The flesh nature, the carnal nature, the sinful nature, our bodies are dead in this way if Christ is in us. To say we are dead if we have Christ would leave Christ with no living followers and that's not possible. We live IN CHRIST and when we live in Christ our selfishness must die completely. The part of us that must live is the SPIRIT because it is our SPIRIT that joins with CHRIST'S SPIRIT and in doing so we become a part of CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. We have no righteousness of our own in our own carnal, flesh bodies, it doesn't exist. There is NOTHING we can do to give ourselves righteousness.

The SPIRIT of our GOD raised JESUS from the DEAD, this is the SAME SPIRIT MUST LIVE IN US.  IF the SPIRIT of our GOD who raised JESUS from the dead LIVES in us then we will also LIVE. Our bodies that are subject to death will one day be filled with life all by HIS SPIRIT that lives in US.

LIVING in the SPIRIT is everything! Because only then are we LIVING in our SAVIOR.

We MUST live in the SPIRIT, not in the flesh. 

Think about that. 

We are NOT to live for our flesh!

We are to LIVE for GOD!

We are to LIVE in the SPIRIT!

Is it easy? No. Surrendering self isn't easy. Killing a part of us so that another lives, it seems all but impossible, right?  And it has to be this way because we cannot lay claim to any credit for any righteousness of our own, including surrendering our selves.  We must cling to CHRIST and it is through HIM and only through HIM that we will live and be able to surrender ourselves to HIM fully.  We choose and HE does all the rest!  PRAISE GOD!

IN HIS LOVE! ONLY in HIS LOVE! By HIS GRACE!

More tomorrow by HIS MERCY!

If any man have NOT the SPIRIT of CHRIST he is none of HIS

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

The carnal mind.
The mind that is focused on self.
The mind that is concerned only with things of this world, things seen.
The mind that is in all of us and will dominate us if we do not surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ.
The carnal mind is ENMITY against God.

'Enmity- The state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.'

The carnal mind is ACTIVELY OPPOSED to God, is ACTIVELY HOSTILE to GOD.

Our minds if left UNREGENERATED, UNRENEWED by our SAVIOR are opposed to things spiritual, opposed to God and all things to do with God.

Our carnal minds are NOT subject to the law of God.

Our carnal minds CANNOT be subject to the law of God because the law of God is SPIRITUAL!

How can a law be spiritual? We think of things as being spiritual and not truly real.  Yet God's laws are spiritual and very real.

We have a lot of laws, don't we, books and books of laws.  We know the laws of our lands as a general rule. We know it's against our laws to steal, to murder, to assault others, etc. God's laws also require us not to steal, murder, or assault others.   Yet man's law does NOT require us to add love to the law. Man's law does not tell us not to steal out of love for our fellowman, it just tells us it is wrong and not to do it, nothing to do with love.  God's law requires love from us and this is the spiritual aspect that we must have, the aspect the carnal mind in us cannot have.  The carnal mind is selfish and loving others is something it CANNOT do because it is fully self centered. 

The mind that is not spiritual cannot love as love is truly meant to be- as God would have love be.

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Those centered on self cannot please God because they have no ability to love selflessly.

We get the ability to love selflessly from GOD, who is love.

God will give us the ability to love selflessly, to live spiritually.  This is the promise of God, the gift He will give to us when we make the choice to accept all He has to give to us, and in that acceptance choose to believe by faith in His promises.  We choose to believe in the GIFT of His SON JESUS CHRIST. In choosing to believe in this gift we believe in that selfless sacrifice He made to save us.

We must believe. We must have faith.

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

We MUST have the SPIRIT of GOD in us! 
If we do not have the SPIRIT of CHRIST in us then we are NOT HIS.

We cannot live to our flesh.
We must live to the SPIRIT of God.

Spiritual living, love.

Satan will constantly turn our minds to things of the flesh, to carnal things, demanding that we do not live spiritually. Satan will make it seem impossible for us to live Spiritual lives. Satan will use his every means to keep us from the LOVE of God.

The law of God is spiritual, we must be spiritual as God is spiritual, through HIS power, HIS SPIRIT power alone is this accomplished, and we must submit to HIS power and allow Him to work in us. 

Please LORD live in us.

All by YOUR grace, YOUR mercy, all in YOU.

Please LORD live in us by the sacrifice of Your Only Son, Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR.

ALL IN YOU, ALWAYS IN YOU.

Pray for us, Lord.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

2Co 4:18  ... for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The carnally minded are only concerned with the HERE and NOW, with all the things that will pass away, with all the things they cannot take with them in death. 

The spiritually minded are concerned with the things which are NOT seen here and now, with the things that are eternal, with thing they will take with them in death and wake with when Christ returns for them.

To be carnally minded is to embrace eternal death.
To be spiritually minded is to embrace eternal life and peace in Christ Jesus.

How many people are embrace eternal death every single day as their focus forever seems to remain upon this that are seen, things that are only temporary?

We do know this…

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

The number of wicked, the number of carnally minded will be with Satan at the very end and their number is…

AS THE SAND OF THE SEA.

And we also know this…

Mat_7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

FEW THERE BE THAT FIND IT.

We do have HOPE that we will NOT be numbered among those who will be as the sand of the sea, and that HOPE is found solely in our SAVIOR, our SAVIOR who came to show us, to teach us to live our lives SPIRITUALLY in HIM, through HIM, by HIM.

Don't you see how important it is to live SPIRITUALLY?  It's so much more important than our living physically, and I know even as I write that how incredibly strange it must sound, but it's truth!

What do we gain by being alive if we are not spiritual?  And if we are spiritual we know that the physical world we live in right now is only temporal and not eternal.

You can have your physical life but you will take that physical life to that great day when Satan gathers all those that are his to fight against God, who has already won.  That great day will end in fire and all the wicked will be burned to extinction. The carnal, the physical life they've cherished will mean absolutely nothing because it will not exist any more.

Where should our focus be?

On things ETERNAL.

God will take care of the rest.

Easy to say, right? But truthfully when we obsess about the 'rest of things' the things not eternal does that obsession do any good? It gets us all caught up in the cares of this life and takes our minds off where?  Eternal things. 

The worst of the worst can happen to us physically in this world, the absolute worst and it can't keep us from things ETERNAL unless all that horrible, awful, terrible worst of the worst stuff takes our minds off things eternal- off our SAVIOR and all HIS PROMISES that are focused on the eternal.

Please LORD help us keep our minds focused on things ETERNAL, not on things that are temporal! Please LORD.

Please!

Satan would have us, Lord! SAVE US!

Please Lord, Pray for US!

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Pray that our FAITH- our looking for things unseen- will NOT FAIL.  Help us LORD to strengthen those around us as YOU convert us to do so!

Please LORD, bless us!

PLEASE LORD, have mercy on us, we don't deserve it, we will never deserve it, never! All by YOUR GRACE! YOUR LOVE!

PRAISE YOU GOD!

Walk after the Spirit

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Walk not after the flesh.
Walk after the Spirit.

We are flesh, but not flesh only.  If all we were was flesh then we wouldn't have the power of reason within us. We wouldn't have things such as feelings. Seriously. If you take away the emotions, if you take away the ability to reason- what's left?

We have names for people who seem void of all emotion- psychopaths is one of those names. We most definitely call it unnatural when a person seems void of all emotion. When a person has no ability to reason for themselves we call them mentally handicapped, because reasoning is all a part of being what we call a 'normal' human being, or even and 'average' human being, a human being in the general sense of the word.

When you think of a person as being a person we do not normally envision those who are severely mentally or emotionally challenged.  If I told you to imagine a person your first idea would be to imagine  someone probably like yourself- someone who has the ability to reason to the point you can read this with understanding.  True, you could be a very intelligent person void of emotion, but that isn't what people imagine each other to be on the scale of being the average human being.

We are NOT just flesh or else we would be just thoughtless flesh creatures. 

When people by one means or another lose the ability to think- when they become brain dead, do we consider them to be normal? No. They've been altered from the state of normalcy. 

The point being here is we HAVE to admit that we are more than flesh and blood, we are SPIRIT beings. And yes, I keep harping on this, but I have to. I, like so many people; I, like  MOST people have become a person who pays very little attention to my SPIRIT side, especially on a day to day basis. Considering myself a spiritual being isn't something that comes naturally to me.

We are told NOT to walk after the flesh, but to WALK after the SPIRIT.

Don't we have to be in touch with our own spirit self in order to walk after the SPIRIT?

Walking after the Spirit is seeking God in all things, in all aspects of our lives. 


Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

The law of the Spirit of life - in CHRIST JESUS makes us FREE-  Free from the law of SIN and DEATH.

Does this mean we will not die?  No. 
Living in Christ Jesus, walking in the Spirit, takes away the condemnation that is given to all who sin.  We have HOPE. Without Christ we have NO hope of eternal life, no hope at all. 

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The ceremonial law did not have the power to save, it all pointed to the LAMB of GOD who alone could save. You could keep the ceremonial law forever but it could NOT save anyone. It was shadow of things to come. 

Our Savior came in OUR likeness, not as a Spirit only being, but as a FLESH being as well. In the LIKENESS of SINFUL FLESH, and for SIN, HE condemned sin while in that FLESH.  He led a PERFECT MORAL LIFE adhering to every single one of God's moral commandments! He failed in no aspect of the moral law, NONE.  He did NOT sin and what is sin?

 1Jn_3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

HE DID NOT TRANSGRESS THE LAW!  This made our Savior SINLESS.

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The righteousness of the law IS likewise fulfilled in us when we WALK after the SPIRIT, because then and only then are we walking after our SAVIOR. 

We choose to walk after the Spirit, we choose to walk after Christ Jesus our Savior.  This is a very conscious choice, not something half-hearted, not a fleeting thought of a choice, but a very real choice to LIVE for CHRIST and NOT for our selves, not for our flesh!

Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

If we live to please our flesh then we are NOT walking in the Spirit, we are NOT walking in Christ. If we live for the here and now, not mindful at all of our Savior who came to preach the gospel, the kingdom of heaven, then we are living after the flesh, the very temporary flesh.

We have to LEARN to mind the things of the SPIRIT!  In all aspects of our lives! This as to be paramount, minding the things of the SPIRIT, not of the flesh.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Don't you see, we have to be SPIRITUALLY MINDED!

Being SPIRITUALLY MINDED is LIFE and PEACE!

When our minds are focused on the flesh and not focused on the Spiritual we are in fact focusing on death, not life in Christ.

This world has a lot of pain. 
Around every corner there is a new experience of pain- emotional, mental, physical agony.
Satan wants us to focus on the here and now and live solely for here and now and not for life with our SAVIOR after HIS RETURN.

This life is TEMPORARY to ETERNITY. 

Is it any wonder we are to LOVE.  Love is the only thing that will follow us to eternity.  All else on this earth is temporary.  LOVE and only LOVE will live on.  And it's no surprise really, is it? GOD IS LOVE! 

We are promised a future, a PAINLESS eternity, not a painless here and now. We will suffer horrifically in many ways in our lives, and even if that suffering seems to be lasting forever, it is truly, truly TEMPORARY to eternity!

We must walk after the SPIRIT, all by the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! ALL in HIS AMAZING LOVE!

Blessed be the name of the LORD!

All Glory to GOD!

All praise! All honor! All thanksgiving to GOD on high!

In His LOVE!

Oh, wretched man that I am

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

This is the plight of an APOSTLE!
Why do we ever try to imagine we would have a different experience?! 

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Jesus spoke directly to Paul in a vision. Paul was left blind by the encounter and then given back his sight by another man sent by God to him. 

And Paul struggled with SIN!

Paul was fighting the good fight that we ALL must fight.

Paul was recognizing the SPIRITUAL side of His life and knew that the moral law was spiritual. He also knew that he was powerless to keep from sinning … on HIS OWN!

He fought against the fiery darts of Satan and recognized the source of the spiritual warfare.

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

'It is NO MORE I that do it------- but SIN that dwelleth in me.'

He's warring! The spiritual desire to be sinless and following all of God's spiritual moral laws was paramount to Paul. He didn't want the sin in HIM. He didn't want the fiery darts to get through the armor and pierce him. He recognized his forever weakness, but did NOT use that as an excuse to give in to sin.  He did not say he is a being that can't help but sin so why bother even trying to keep from sin. 

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

DELIGHTS in the LAW of GOD AFTER THE INWARD MAN.

Do you delight in the moral law of God? Is keeping the moral law of God something that delights you? All too often we fear or abhor the law of God because it becomes something of a great impossible weight to bear.  Or it keeps us from delving into pleasurable sin and do not for one moment even try to believe that sin holds no pleasure.  If sin held no pleasure it'd be very easy to keep from succumbing to it, right?

Do you delight in the moral law of God? 

Paul states here that he delights in the law of God AFTER THE INWARD MAN.

Spiritually HE delights in the law of God.  Spiritually he recognizes the love of God in every single moral law that exists. When you see the beauty of the law of God, when you recognize the LOVE of God in the law you can't help but delight in such amazing, overwhelming love that is directed right at us.

Yet the flesh side of us that wars against the spiritual side does not DELIGHT in the law of God!

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

There is a law in Paul's MEMBERS that wars against the law of his MIND!   Yet, our hands and feet, and any other part of our body does NOT act independently to our mind, does it?  Barring cases of demon possession, it is our own mind consenting to the sin of the flesh, right?  The war is between the flesh and the spirit!   The flesh desiring things SELFISHLY, the mind knowing that we should be SELF-LESS.  There is a war, a constant war between the selfish and selfless part of us.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

We are truly condemned if left on our own because we CANNOT be selfless on our own, the idea of being selfless or trying to created a selflessness inside of ourselves can stem from a SELFISH desire! We are POWERLESS to save ourselves!  We need to recognize this powerlessness and do so NOT in order to soothe our conscience with we sin, but so that we recognize our NEED of a SAVIOR and when we sin, we CONFESS, we REPENT, we SEEK FORGIVENESS knowing we've done wrong. 

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

NEVER did Paul ever ONCE intend these verses of his to be used to endorse sinfulness, NEVER!

He was recognizing his NEED of a SAVIOR who SAVES to the uttermost!

We need this recognition!

We need this acknowledgment that while we delight in God's law and our sinful nature wars against that, we have to surrender to our SAVIOR who can live in us and save us from all sin! He does what we absolutely CANNOT do, but HE never gave us the endorsement to sin. He told those he encountered and healed to ' GO AND SIN NO MORE' ! Would our Savior tell them to do something that was impossible?! No, He would not!

Is it any wonder we must constantly pray? Praying always, in all prayer and supplication?!  It isn't truly any wonder, it fosters hope in a constant connection to our SAVIOR!

Go and sin no more.

Thank GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

With our mind we MUST serve the law of God, not make excuses as to why we don't have to, or shouldn't, or that something is wrong with the law of God. Our SPIRITUAL self must SERVE the LAW of GOD.

The flesh, OUR flesh may serve the law of sin- the sin that makes us weak to temptation, that makes us desire sin. 

We must learn to surrender to our God and live in Christ, wholly in Christ.

All by HIS will!
IN HIS LOVE!