Life and Peace...

(Romans 8:6) “For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:”

This is why I love the simplicity of scripture, here we have a verse that says it like it is, and we can measure our walk with our Saviour simply and with accuracy if we apply this text to our lives. This morning with the sun yet to rise and the birds hushed in their nests and after a restless night of sleep, my mind races with many thoughts as confusion and death looks to have a piece of me. But now that I sit in front of this keyboard and pen my thoughts the balance of what is true becomes evident, understanding the mind of the spirit, life and peace now grips my soul as I look to my Saviour as God the Holy Spirit renews my mind and helps me feed off that which brings life, the Word of God.

The flesh is an enemy of God, it will never in itself ever find the will to align itself with God’s law, it was an enemy before salvation and it remains an enemy after salvation. The spirit on the other hand will always align itself with the will of God, even if your flesh tries to persuade you otherwise. The qualifying factor that will bring life to any believer is that they have the Spirit of God living with and in them. If a person does not have the Spirit of Christ, then it is simple, they are still dead in their trespasses and sins and they will not understand the mind of the Spirit, how could they? Could a man blind from birth explain a sunrise with accurate detail? Obviously not! It is the same for all who have not been born again and for all who do not have the Spirit of God. Death is their portion and their mind will constantly process death, have you ever wondered why insurance companies do so well. From a young age men and woman lay aside hard earn monies to take out death cover; it is a reality that grabs all and sundry. However, if we have the Spirit of God, to put it simply, if we have believed on the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice for sin on our behalf and we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) from the dead and we confess Him as Lord with our mouths, Paul assures us we will be saved.

Now, because we have the Spirit of God that indwells us, the same Spirit must drive us to seek out God’s will for our lives. Paul explains it like this; “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

So when I wake-up with turmoil in my heart after a restless night with my mind trying to convince me of death, the Spirit persuades me that I am a child of God and equips me to feed from the Word of God enabling me to cry Abba Father. Once again the Spirit feeds my mind with life and peace. How I love this great God of ours, He is forever wise and His ways past finding out; yet when He reveals just a glimpse of His character to us, His children; it is sweet to the palate.

I will leave you with this thought; will your day be full of death or life and peace?

“So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh:” (Romans 8:12)

The flesh with all of its intellectual reasoning will result in death but the spirit will give life, it will work life and peace into the believer’s heart.

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Romans 8:13)

Father God, I pray you will give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the Word teaches us, your children.

Signing off

Tyrone