Walk in the Spirit

Clear the mechanism, in other words put on the mind of Christ! Today is a new day, yesterday has passed never to return; if we walk in the Spirit we will put to death the deeds of our flesh. The Word is clear on the subject, it does not say; walk in the Spirit and you will get better at Christianity, IT SAYS; “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) – Its only once we begin to water down the Word that we miss the author’s intention behind its meaning. This is a statement without any wiggle room attached to it. It’s as good as if it was set in stone, locked into position for saints to feed and draw strength off. A beautiful statement of fact! The question we need to ask ourselves is do we unequivocally believe it to be true? It’s not enough to believe the idea behind the statement; what I mean by that is if we settle on this verse as a partial aid to get me through the day, a sort of a quick fix to magically get me through the trial of life, which will never cut it. Abraham is the father of faith, why? HE BELIEVE GOD, period! We too must look to start applying the Word of God with that same mind-set, anything less will leave us wanting. We must be on the lookout and avoid gleaning only what appeals to our carnality.

Ok, so with that established, what must I do to help me walk in the Spirit? This is now the process of Christianity at its core. I must not now begin to mimic walking in the Spirit under the drive of the flesh, when put to the test this application will be found wanting and proved to be counterfeit. I must be driven by faith, I must believe God, and I must learn to put all my trust in Christ’s finished work. I must be stripped of my independence, which is probably the hardest lesson of all.

Leaving that which is behind me, I must run this race with my total dependency upon what God has done for me, opened my eyes to the spirit world and with the Holy Spirit ushering me towards the finish line. We will stumble at times and many of us have scars to prove it, be that as it may, we know in whom we have believe, all hail King Jesus, bless and praise his name now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

Today is a new day filled with a multitude of potential blessing, so let us be mindful of those who have gone before us as we consider their struggles and feed off the hope that is ours in Christ; one day we shall be like HIM and what a day that shall be. I long for that day when my flesh shall be swallowed up and where the eyes of faith are no longer needed. The day when I see my God in person and as He is, Wow! even now that is an exciting thought which motivates,

Signing off

Tyrone

"Position"

“Position, position and position” is what I am after; think about it aren’t we all? My mind has been stretched and my imagination is running riot all because of the vivid dream I had last night. It is fresh in my mind, cats looking to take me out, lions leopards and even jaguars’ all looking for a piece of me. Up a tree I went with only a small blade in my hand and then it got chaotic. First a lioness intrepidly gliding up the tree trunk with her piercing eyes locked on her prize, me! She clawed eagerly into position and then she made her move with a lung she went in for the kill but met my blade instead, it was just enough of a distraction to throw her off guard and she tumbled to her death. Others had now elevated themselves above and to the side of me, I remain locked in position ready to parry off the next bout. Before I knew, somehow I had fended off all my pursuers and they had all plummeted to their deaths. It’s not the first time I have dreamed about lions trying to take me out, normally I am always running or hiding from them, but not last night, I took up a position and faced them head on.

Why would I even bother to mention all of this? There is a great lesson in it for me and maybe you too could learn from it as you project the principle gleaned from my experience and appropriate it into your lives. It may help some.

The very first thing I think about when I have these episodes is this; “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8) – And then men that come to mind Peter, James and John the generals being targeted by the devil. But it’s Peter that gives me the encouragement, even the struggling saints have their bridges to cross. The ones whom are dismissed by the wicked world as a joke, those who never seem to learn and make the same mistakes over and over. I tell you this, that while we have breath we have hope, victory is just a prayer away and then once acknowledged the wherewithal to commit to our great God. There are those that seem to always be learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Understanding our weakness, owning up to them and then vehemently seeking God’s face to have them addresses in righteousness.

In the throes of my dream I am filled with fear and it is as real as me sipping away at my coffee. I must confess it was not a very pleasant experience. However, through process it has taught me a very valuable lesson, “position, position and position” was the key to my success, and it gave me the victory. Whilst running and hiding over the years in my dreams I was always filled with anxiety, it was a terrible experience and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Not to say that my dream last night didn’t carry with it an element of fear, it did! However once force into a corner and with only one feasible out, I instinctively sprang into action and positioned myself as best I could. Against all odds I survived. Whatever attack formation these gnarly beast conjured up, their attacks all failed, plummeting them to their deaths. In hindsight and on reflection strategic brilliance surrounded me as these cats moved in for their kill. Now process this thought, how will the created ever be a match for the creator?

  

We must not now make the mistake of locking this experience into the natural domain but rather use it to explore the spiritual. We must face our fears, whatever bothers us the most in our lives must eventually be tackled head on. But for us to find victory we need to stop running and POSITION ourselves correctly; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2) – We must be convinced about the hope which one day shall be ours. We must learn to lock onto the Lord Jesus’ victory, He has overcome and we must believe with all our hearts that we stand in HIS finished work. Carnality is our worst enemy, it always drives us from God. But it’s within our minds that we need to command our bodies into action, we need to position ourselves, and we must do it! It is not as if we will be arrested from an external source and have no say in the matter, we must do it! We must POSITION ourselves correctly and then all we need to do is STAND! In other words believe God, finished! We often want the easy way out, walking in the Spirit is not the easy way out but the only way we will please our heavenly Father and the only way we will ever conquer those doubts in our lives.

Here is the instruction, remember to dress for battle, we must put on the whole armour of God. And once we are satisfied with the fit we must remember to STAND, regardless of the onslaught. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”, it certainly doesn’t say fight him. We are no match for him, but one day that will all change when we receive our glorified bodies, but until then let us remember to stand in Christ’s victory.

Signing off

Tyrone

Thank you!

Blessed be the name of the man who was put to shame for me, all hail King Jesus! The only king, who was every shamed for the sins of so many. How many kings have paid the penalty for the perpetrated? Can you name any? Let me tell you that the Lord Jesus Christ, the king of the Jews, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob paid a penalty that he never had to pay as he chose through an abundance of love to rescue so many trapped by iniquity and paid the price for their sins, my sins! A man who lived a life of sinless perfection, took the punishment of the very thing he had conquered and was tried as a sinner, where he bled and died on Calvary.

We have had people tried and sentenced for crimes they didn’t commit, a flaw of our judicial system. But never with the magnitude of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice. Accused of breaching the law of God by those who instituted the law of God, the religious rulers of the Jews, what a joke! Hear we have an example which would be good for us to slow down and consider; one of the greatest traps that have mankind fooled into believing their lie, we need an epiphany to see the wood from the trees; “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:3) – It is absolutely phenomenal how blind we can be at times, we believe we deserve so much more, we really believe it, but do we deserve it? Ok, I own the truth that I have blundered more than most, and so maybe this makes it somewhat easier to own, all I ask is that you gawk out into the crowd and scan the faces of all those who accuse others but excuse themselves, are you amongst the number? The judges of the Lord Jesus certainly where. Be that as it may, the brilliance of God the Father’s plan unfolding in accordance with His will. Yes his son to pay the penalty for a breach he never committed. Genius personified! God’s mastermind at play with so many clueless to the brilliance behind it all. The so called wisdom of the world and all its inhabitants running around like chickens without heads, and then we have the spiritual world who were also outsmarted by the only true God, Satan playing into the hands of God.

THANK YOU JESUS FOR DYING FOR ME…

Where is boasting? Have we learnt the lesson yet? It has been excluded, all honour praise and glory belongs to my king, King Jesus. There is nothing we can add to that equation to give it more power, it is a work complete in totality and it is finished. All that now matters is our sin covered by the blood of the Lamb? Are our sins forgiven? We must be absolutely persuaded. If so, we now must learn to walk in the light and it’s when we keep step with the light that teaches us this lesson well. It’s only when we walk in the Spirit that we will have the capacity to put to death the draw and influence of the sin that so easily besets. When I slip and fall what does this prove? The answer is an obvious one, I am not keeping in step with the light. Thank God that through His glorious Word, the Bible’s teachings and the experiences of life when mirrored through the eyes of the Spirit it teaches us about the Way, the Truth and the Life! The brilliance of God! Who can fathom it? But we have the mind of Christ, let’s put it to use.

Signing off

Tyrone