It is also obvious that everyone alive is thriving
in their flesh. Christians still have a raging war that needs to be dealt with
on a daily basis; we have already established that once we get saved we do not
totally die to self because we are still alive in our bodies with the same mind
driving us. However we do now have the mind of Christ which was given to us at
salvation, we have the Holy Spirit who guides and leads us into all truth.
Without the Spirit of God governing our lives as Christians we would never be
able to change in character and our old natures would continue to dominate our
actions; tricking us at times making us believe that "we are good"
within ourselves; the war cry of today’s world!
We know that even our best attempts to please God, if
motivated by the flesh is as filthy rags in His sight: why? Because our flesh
has been tainted by sin and mix fresh drinking water with enough oil and it
will be rendered useless. Paul makes this point very clear in Romans chapter 8;
take what I say or what anyone says pertaining to any truth in scripture and
test in against other quotes out of the bible and see if it fits, if not,
something is off and needs to be readdressed.
Some people claim to be Christian through the
traditions of men, but deny that a person needs to be born again; does that
type of reasoning fit with the Bibles teachings? No! Here is the
proof; Jesus answered him, "Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John
3:3) To claim a relationship with God,
the One who is Spiritual cannot be seen with the naked eye, and to try and
enter into his presences without spiritual eyes is foolish, and yet so many
have been duped into believing that it is possible, the traditions of men, a
trap that Satan has lured millions into. So to approach God in that way results
with a truth which is unavoidable; it is impossible for us to please Him in our
flesh. We need eyes in order to see His kingdom and His brilliance will always
allude us if we are not given sight to see, simple put, we must be “born
again”. Our natural minds will always resist this thought as it is way out
there; “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7)
How do I test whether I am being driven by my flesh
or by the Spirit of God? It is once again rather simple; the “fruit of
repentance” is a perfect test to help us examine where we stand; “For see what earnestness this godly grief has
produced in you, but also what eagerness
to clear yourselves, what
indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!
At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.” (2Corinthians 7:11) –
How have we responded to Christ’s sacrifice and the finished work of the cross?
Does religion remain a nice idea or has it changed our lives?
As Christians we will now be driven by the Spirit
of God; “For the law of the Spirit of life
has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. God has called us to life in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ.” (Romans 8:2)
We were once dead in out trespasses and our sins
but now we have been made alive to serve our God; we have been born again;
without this miraculous event taking place in our lives it would be impossible
to approach the throne room of God, impossible to methodology God. Nevertheless
for us to pretend that the tension between the Spirit and our flesh should not
be prevalent in our lives is in fact false. This tension remains for a reason;
for it helps build us up in Christ’s character; contesting against our old
natures produces endurance and brings with it peace but only if we
are governed by the Spirit of
God.
The Bible is
full of many valuable instructions that will benefit the ones obedient to them.
In order for that to become our reality we need to understand what is being
taught. We must recognize the voice of our God and His instruction under any
given circumstance; simply put we need to “put on the mind of Christ”. And the
only way we will ever achieve this in the right measure is if we are lead by
the Holy Spirit. He must now govern our thoughts. But in order for that to
happen we must “unlearn all that we has been learnt” which come from another
source altogether. To be carnally minded is to simply align ourselves with the
enemy’s arsenals which wars against the Spirit. Me, self and my worth all comes
from our carnal natures and with this mind-set in play it is impossible to
please God. We cannot please Him, please get the point for if it is missed, our
entire lives would have been wasted. However as Christians we have now been
given spiritual ears and eyes to make head and tails of the difference, but sometimes
we give far too much of what we allow into our lives a pass. It can be the very
things we sanction that rob us of our victory in Christ. Remember to put this
prefix into every action we carry out and we will live a peaceable life; anything we do or any intent we
may have minus God equals the flesh and if the flesh dominates our lifestyles it simply
proves that we are still carnally minded.
We must examine ourselves in the mirror and if this
is our lot in life, it is then time to cry out unto our God and Father and
plead with Him “to renew a right spirit within us”. The plea of David, a man
after God’s own heart, do you not want to be tarred with the same brush, I know
I do. Pleasing my heavenly Father and to live a life sold out to Him driven by
the Spirit of God.
Signing off
Tyrone
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