How do we mind things of 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.

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.

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.

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.

Minding things of the flesh.

How do we mind things of the flesh?

We place our treasures on earth, that's one way. We do not seek repentance and forgiveness. We do not pick up our cross daily. We do not war against the flesh. We do not mortify the deeds of the body. We do not go and sin no more. We do not love our fellow man. We do not love God. We are selfish.

How do we mind things of the spirit?

We believe in our Savior. We have faith. We seek forgiveness and repentance. We war against the flesh that would rule us and by warring we seek the power of GOD, not any power we have of our own that leads to self exaltation. We go and sin no more. We love our fellow man, we love God. We are self-less.

So while we are consumed with our flesh -with our MINDS we MUST SERVE GOD. The understanding that we MUST choose the spiritual over the flesh is surrendering to God with our mind, not succumbing to the despair of the flesh. Not letting the flesh destroy our spirit all through CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!

Amen.

Forever Serving God in Our MInds

Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Recognizing the law of God as good is comprehending the spiritual. To love God is to love the Spiritual.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

SPIRITUAL.  The law is spiritual

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual

The law is good. It is us who break the law.

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Sin dwells in us, sin that we all know too well. We can't comprehend the sin in us. If we could choose wouldn't we rather be without sin?

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 truth. We know what it's like to feel this way. All of us who believe in the Lord desire to obey Him and when He tells us to sin no more we want to obey Him but we are in this war of the flesh and spirit. We know there isn't anything good in us, we want there to be good, but we haven't a clue how to manage it.  That's exactly what this is saying and it's truth.

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

Sad but TRUTH!

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.

The war between the spirit and the flesh is alive and real in each of us.  We cannot use this verse to excuse ourselves from the sins we commit. We cannot claim it wasn't us because it is us that consents to the sin we are fighting against. When we consent to the sin, when we give into the temptation, we NEED TO REPENT, we CAN REPENT, we have a WAY to REPENT.

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:

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.

TRUTH!

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

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.

With OUR MINDS we serve the LAW OF GOD.

With OUR FLESH we serve the LAW OF SIN.

The law in our members WARS against our mind and our ONLY hope is our LORD JESUS CHRIST, it is ONLY THROUGH HIM that we have HOPE. 

He is our hope when we have NO HOPE.  When despair would over take us we must have HOPE in our SAVIOR. He knows that we are flesh creatures that want to be His spiritual followers.  We seek forgiveness always, forgiveness only found in HIM.

We must live soberly, under the realization that we live in a spiritual/flesh war. It is a CONSTANT battle and to desire it to be anything but is to set ourselves up for failure. If we long to attain a goal of perfection of our own we will strive in vain. We must seek to be ever closer to our SAVIOR, so close we know we are known of Him. WE need to be known of Him and we won't be known of Him if we are too wrapped up in knowing ourselves.

Please Father, we would be YOURS!  In the name of YOUR SON, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD now and forever AMEN!

Flesh Born, Spirit Born

Yesterday I said we must look at Paul, but truly we must look at JESUS and by the grace of our LORD, see Him as Paul saw Him, as Paul through the HOLY SPIRIT depicted Him to us.  Men wrote the Bible INSPIRED by the HOLY SPIRIT, it is the HOLY SPIRIT who gave them the words to write, the messages to give. Yes, mankind over the many years has take the unvarnished truth and warped things with misinterpretations and such, but GOD will guide us to ALL truth in HIS word as we need it, unveiling what needs to be unveiled. We will see what we need to see, hear what we need to hear, all by HIS grace!

Let us begin this study-

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

We are flesh and spirit beings, and our flesh reigns over the spirit in us because of sin.

Jesus told us we must be born again- in the spirit!  When you aren't born you have no way of experiencing the life you've been given. A baby passing away before being born has no outside the womb life experience at all. When that baby passes out of the mother's body and is buried there are no living experiences for that infant, none.  That baby has lived and died in darkness. When a baby is born living the experiences of that child's life occur in such a way they are capable of being recorded. The child could actually see his or herself from the beginning outside of the womb until whatever age it is the child gets to before watching the recordings.  When our spirit is brought to life through being born again of the SPIRIT, a new life truly begins for us. We recognize the LIFE of the spirit in us.  We acknowledge we have a spiritual life, a LIFE that recognizes GOD who is Spirit.  Unless we are born again in the spirit, we are not living a spiritual life. The potential for a spiritual birth exists in us all, but this birth, unlike our physical one is not nine months of gestation and then the inevitable birthing. This birth is dependent upon us recognizing our need of a Savior, recognizing we need forgiveness, recognizing we need to die to sin and live to Christ.

We know the law is SPIRITUAL. 

The law is OF GOD.

We know we are FLESH born,  and SPIRIT born again.

We know our flesh nature long before our spirit nature.

We are born slaves to sin, sold under sin

Like Paul, we are carnal sold under sin, and then he goes on...

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

This is TRUTH.

We do things we do NOT want to do.

We don't do things that we want to do.

Things we hate- we do.

Carnally, in our flesh nature we DO want to do things we should not do. The Holy Spirit reveals to us that we should NOT  want to do these things that our flesh nature desires.  The Holy Spirit convicts us in the things we should do, and then our flesh nature overrules that conviction and we DON'T do things we want to do.  We will do things we HATE on a spiritual level because our flesh nature dominates us.

There is a war, remember we were talking about it yesterday.  There is a war and it's not in another land far away from us, but it surrounds us personally. A spiritual war- a war between flesh and spirit. You can't escape the war, you simple can't. However, given the nature of the war you have the option to ignore the fact you are even in a war. Of course, just like a physical war, if you are thrust into the battlefield and choose to ignore you are in a war, you'll soon be killed. Spiritually we can be killed in the spiritual war. The biggest difference being between our Spiritual war and a physical war is we already know the winner of our Spiritual war and we need to choose to be on His side. Ignoring there is a spiritual war and the winner of that war, is eternally life threatening, spiritually life threatening.

All by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, more tomorrow as we continue to study His amazing truths!  Help us Father, help us to learn what we need to know to live IN YOU.

All glory to God in the highest!

Amen. 

Happiness in Being God's

Spiritual War.

Yesterday I wrote this…

'We WILL be wounded in this war, there is no escaping that. This is HAND to HAND spiritual combat. Yes, they are spiritual hands and we fight the spiritual fight, but it is REAL if not corporeal. '

Real war.

Yet we expect to laugh and have fun, to be happy and pain free. We do, we expect these things. We go to great lengths to not be bothered by many things. We drug ourselves, we drink away our problems, we fill our lives with past times that have nothing to do with God at all. We seek our pleasure in many, many ways and because we are seeking the pleasure in ways we deem good we feel it's  okay.  Maybe it is okay, but anything put in place of God isn't good. 

Does this mean we need to be unhappy  to be God's, no. But it does mean we need to find our happiness in being God's.  Our treasures are heavenly treasures, right?

We need to live soberly- truly. We need to do this, but the harder we try the more frustrated we're going to become as we fail over and over again. So what do we do?

Ecc_12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Joh_14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Joh_15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

So HOW DO WE KEEP OUR SAVIOR'S COMMANDMENTS?

How do we GO and sin NO MORE?

We MUST LOOK at Paul, seriously, we have to -

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

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.

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

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.

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:

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

TRUTH!

More indepth study on this tomorrow by the GRACE OF GOD! 

Wretched men...we are saved by Jesus Christ!

Amen!

Living Soberly

Living soberly.

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Tit_2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world

(Soberly-Adverb from G4998; with sound mind, that is, moderately: - soberly.)

Yes, when we talk about living soberly in this day and age we associate that with not drinking or doing drugs.  Living soberly is much more than that. It's a way of life in all things. You can abuse many things that aren't drugs or alcohol. You can abuse power, authority, dominance, humility- yes, you can abuse being humble. You can twist anything and everything into something warped if you aren't living your life for God through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.  The sweetest person in existence if sweet to their own glory is not living soberly, but for self exaltation. Even the private glory is found out by God, He knows the hearts. Our hearts must be God's.  We are NOT perfect! We struggle, we ARE AT WAR!  We are SOLDIERS in a WAR! And any soldier of a physical war will tell you just how awful war can be. In war there are wounded soldiers, and there are fallen soldiers, there are deserters, there are heroes, there are those who do their duty to no fanfare and get by unscathed. We know in this spiritual war we are in grave spiritual danger all the time. We CANNOT hide from this enemy! We CANNOT run from this enemy! We CANNOT sit on the sidelines! We may be deserters, but we are still in the war, and deserting only lets our enemy win us.

We WILL be wounded in this war, there is no escaping that. This is HAND to HAND spiritual combat. Yes, they are spiritual hands and we fight the spiritual fight, but it is REAL if not corporeal.

More tomorrow on this, by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Amen. 

Give up self serving

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world

We are to deny self because to focus upon ourselves is not loving God and loving others. Putting self first is to be alone and God did not create us to be loners. We are NOT gods and to put ourselves before God is to believe we are gods. We are to deny self because self is of evil. We are to deny ungodliness because ungodliness is of evil. We are to deny worldly lusts because they are of evil.  To deny these things means living SOBERLY, living RIGHTEOUSLY, living GODLY. 

We can only do this through GOD.

We are NOT to do any of this to our own glory!  We do NOT succeed, God succeeds in us!

Seriously, some may read this and think I'm crazy, but this is truth. We don't want to believe it because we want to be self serving, everything in us cries out to be self serving, to seek our own happiness, and if not happiness our own balance of sorts. We don't want to be disturbed. We need, by the grace and mercy of our Lord through the Holy Spirit's power, to truly give up self serving. 

We are told to pray always and there is a reason for that…  being in constant contact with our HOPE found in Christ Jesus, this is truth, this is life, this is love, this is hope.

Isa 55:6  Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Isa 55:7  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

SEEK the LORD.

FORSAKE OUR WAYS.

FORSAKE OUR THOUGHTS.
RETURN TO THE LORD.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

CHANGED into the same image from glory to glory- BY the SPIRIT OF THE LORD.

1Ti 1:1  ...by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope

CHRIST OUR HOPE.

Rom 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

The POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST.

Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Rom 5:7  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

SAVED from wrath through HIM.

Deny Ourselves, Truly, Deny Ourselves

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

DENY OURSELVES if we would follow our SAVIOR.

I've studied this before and I'll study it again and again, and again. Why? Because I need to.

Just today I had a bit of a self-revelation. My selfishness is WORSE than I ever imagined.  I grew up self focused in a bad way. Maybe a lot of us do. We tend to take the stings of bullying to the heart as children and because we are too young to make sense of things as an adult can we internalize this and it shapes our self-view. We, as children, tend to believe what the bullies say- even it it's not true. And the bullies don't have to be strangers- some of us have family members who bully us, people who are supposed to love us and watch out for us. Anyway, I 'm not going to talk about bullying or make excuses, I'm just trying to comprehend the origin of my extreme selfishness or at least the part of it I was enlightened about today.  I focus on myself and my appearance way too much. And while you might say we all do, I say… you could be right, I don't know I just know me- a little bit anyway. I let my appearance govern my life. I don't want attention from anyone because I believe the attention will be negative, because I see only negative.  So, I look at myself and concentrate on myself and my flaws and they consume me. THIS IS SELFISHNESS. I am self focused! Far from denying myself- I look at myself and hold myself up to the standards of the world.  I am flawed, extremely flawed. I live my life constantly wanting to fix some of these flaws so much so it's a daily desire and a daily failing, and when it's not a daily failing it's a daily self chastisement for the self congratulating for not failing. Such a vicious circle and it revolves around me which it shouldn't. 

As Christ followers we are to DENY OURSELVES- and we are to LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS, not develop some warped self-love that we justify by saying something like we can't love others unless we love ourselves. The truth is, we are to TREAT  others- LOVE others- as WE DESIRE to be loved.  We are not to love ourselves in the way so many think we should. We are lovable ONLY through CHRIST'S love not some love we manufacture.

We truly do need to deny ourselves and ALL that means. We can't keep focusing on ourselves- our feelings, our looks, our everything and start FOCUSING on GOD and OTHERS. The time we spend wrapped up in self goes beyond being stingy with our money, or our time, or our services.  Please God, help me to deny myself DAILY and put YOU FIRST, and put OTHERS FIRST. Please, LORD through the HOLY SPIRIT and by the grace and mercy of Your Son, Jesus Christ our LORD now and forever.

Amen.