1Jn 2:15 Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And
the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.
Gal 6:8 For he
that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 5:16 This
I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
flesh.
Gal 5:17 For
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would.
-- From yesterday -
'Our Lengthy
Discussion as to the difference between spirit and soul and their respective
operations has been to lead us to this present point. For a believer who
strives after God the element to be apprehensive about is the inordinate
activity of the soul beyond the measure set by God.
The soul has been in
ascendancy for such long duration that in the matter of consecration it even
presumes to take upon itself the task of realizing that act to God’s
satisfaction. Many Christians are unaware how drastically the cross must work
so that ultimately their natural power for living may be denied.
((('My thoughts on
the above- 'Many Christians are unaware
how drastically the cross must work' The cross, we've talked recently about the
cross and how it is an instrument of death. Christ died on the cross He didn't
rise up off the cross, He was killed on the cross, murdered on the cross,
tortured on the cross the symbolism of the cross is the DEATH of our Savior, He
died for us. When we are told to take up our own cross daily it's a cross for a
reason. Our cross with Christ's cross works in us to rid us of all that is
contrary to Christ. Our daily cross MUST
work drastically in us. And it is a DAILY cross because it must be borne daily,
and a part of us that is contrary to God must die on that cross daily. Can you
imagine for a moment opening your eyes in the morning and instantly praying
asking God to nail your soul self superiority to the cross? To nail to the
cross- your daily cross all the carnal things, all the flesh things, everything
that would keep you from letting the spirit rule in you, through the Holy
Spirit. The cross must work drastically in us. DRASTICALLY. The cross will look
at our lives and reveal to us all that must die in our lives, all the self
serving aspects we possess. ))))
'They do not know
the reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit nor that His authority must extend to
gathering under His control the thoughts, desires and feelings of the entire
being. '
(((My thoughts on
the above - The HOLY SPIRIT must have
under HIS CONTROL our THOUGHTS, our DESIRES, our FEELINGS, ALL OF US. Truthfully if we do ANYTHING that we can't
imagine our Savior being with us as we do it, then we should NOT be doing that
thing. We NEED to be under the HOLY SPIRIT'S CONTROL, under HIS AUTHORITY.))))
'Without their
having an inner appreciation of this, the Holy Spirit is unable to accomplish
everything He wishes to do. The greatest temptation for an earnest and zealous
saint is to engage his own strength in God’s service rather than to wait humbly
for the Holy Spirit to will and to perform. '
(((My thoughts on
the above- We need to PRAY, and submit. When we come face to face with a
temptation- we need to PRAY. When we are shown a temptation and nudged by the
Holy Spirit as to its vileness, we have to PRAY before we do anything else. In
that prayer we need to give ourselves to Christ to work in us, do to that which
we cannot do. IF we give into the temptation we need to pray more earnestly and
KNOW that the Holy Spirit WILL do His work in us, in HIS TIME, not ours. We
cannot take credit for the victories that are NOT OURS, yet we try to. We try
to be the ones to save ourselves and time and time again we are shown we
cannot!))))
'The call of the
cross of the Lord Jesus is to beckon us to hate our natural life, to seek
opportunity to lose, not to keep, it. Our Lord wants us to sacrifice self and
be yielded wholly to the working of His Spirit. If we are to experience afresh
His true life in the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must be willing
to present to death every opinion, labor and thought of the soul life.'
(((My thoughts on
the above- Do you hate your natural life? Do you seek an opportunity to lose
your natural life? We HAVE to sacrifice
self and yield to the HOLY SPIRIT. EVERY OPINION, EVERY LABOR, EVERY THOUGHT of
our lives must be given to the HOLY SPIRIT.))))
'The Lord
additionally touches upon the issue of our hating or loving our self life. The
soul is invariably “self-loving.” Unless from the very depth of our heart we
abhor our natural life, we shall not be able to walk genuinely by the Holy
Spirit. Do we not realize that the basic condition for a spiritual walk is to
fear our self and its wisdom and to rely absolutely upon the Spirit? '
The Spiritual Man
- Watchman Nee
(((The Holy Spirit
must live and work in us all by the grace and mercy of our SAVIOR. Please Lord,
please teach us to yield to the cross and wait for the Holy Spirit. Please.
Teach us when to act and when not to act, as we seek to be yours. As we recognize
the things in our lives that must be nailed to the cross help us through the
HOLY SPIRIT to do so. Please, Lord, we would be YOURS.))))