1Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified) states that we, "No longer know any man (including Jesus) only after the flesh, but after the Spirit." It says that now, through Jesus and the new birth, we are a new creation. Notice, it doesn't say we are only forgiven, but that we are a new creation.
We obviously still live in this flesh and blood body, but now because of Jesus, God has reckoned this flesh and blood body to be dead with Jesus on the cross and alive to God through the resurrection. If the body is dead because of the crucifixion and the Spirit is alive unto God, then it makes it obvious that God will deal with and contact us by our new creation spirit man. God is Life and doesn't spend much time talking to dead people.
We've long depended on our five senses (the flesh) to contact and fellowship with our Heavenly Father. Many have been disappointed over and over again, because "this faith thing" doesn't work. God deals now with our new creation, the born again spirit of man. There are times when His presence is so strong in our spirit, that we can feel it in our flesh, but it comes first into our spirit.
God is a Spirit, according to John 4:24 (Amplified) which says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth (reality)." Clearly, truth is reality. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified) "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
Some might sigh and say, "We've already read these scriptures." Let's take all these things together now and let God reveal what we can learn from these simple truths to us. We learned first that God is a Spirit and secondly, the Words of the Bible (the Word of God) is also spirit. The third thing we learned is that this Spirit Word is also alive. John 3:5-6 (Amplified) says, "Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and (even) the Spirit, he cannot (ever) enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of (from) the flesh is flesh (of the physical is physical); and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit."
Until we begin to understand that God leads by His Spirit, (in Word, in revelation, in truth), then we will miss the mark of where we wish to be with Him. Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." We can be born again by the Spirit and taught by the doctrines of men, never maturing into true son-ship and into true fellowship with our Father. When my wife and I had our first baby boy, he was my son from the moment he was born. Even though I enjoyed holding him and loving him, I had very little fellowship with him. While he was an infant, I couldn't take him hunting, fishing, horseback riding or hold conversations with him, because he was a baby. I loved my son, but I couldn't enjoy the things I held in my heart for him.
As my son began growing and maturing into a young man, we had (and still enjoy) a great and loving relationship. He has learned for himself the love of fishing, hunting, horseback riding, 1957 Chevrolets and love his own family. We now have an unbroken fellowship by his growing into a mature son, instead of just being my baby boy.
We will never be any more of a new creation, than we are already. What we can do and are expected to do, is to mature in this new life. Let's read Romans 8:10-11 (Amplified) which says, "But if Christ lives in you, (then although) your (natural) body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of (the) righteousness (that He imputes to you) And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, (then) He Who raised up Christ from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you."
Hebrews 5:13-14 (Amplified) says, "For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action) for he is a mere infant (not able to talk yet) But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law."
The Word of God (truth), when fed into your spirit, will bring even the life that is in the Word to bear on the flesh and train it to respond to the Spirit, by use and practice. Romans 8:11 refers to the "raised and glorified" body that died in the natural, but I also believe it's talking about the Life of the Spirit bringing healing and dominion and discipline to the natural body, while we are still here. Galatians 5:16 (Amplified)says, "But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the Holy Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit); then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God0."
If we allow the Word to become Spirit to us and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to us by the Spirit of the Word, then it will allow the Life of the Spirit to permeate and heal and bring life to our natural bodies too. Proverbs 4:20-22 (Amplified) says, "My son; attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings; Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart for they are life to those who find them, healing and health to their flesh."
The new creation that we've become has dominion in the Spirit, as well as the natural realm. Through the new birth, we have once again become alive to God, in the Spirit. We can now operate like God intended man to operate in the first creation. Man walked in the Spirit with the Father, according to Genesis 3:8 (Amplified) which says, "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden [of Eden] in the cool of the day (in the Spirit)."
Through Jesus, in the new creation reality, are alive in our spirit and can hear the voice of God like Jesus did. He doesn't lead us by our intellect or senses, but He leads us by our spirit. Proverbs 20:27 (Amplified) says, "The spirit of man (that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God) is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts." The only way to truly hear or know God, is by your spirit.
We've learned these truths in God's Word by our intellect, but this is only intellectually knowing. We're intelligent enough to read and understand the words, but they haven't become life and healing by revelation. Remember, the spirit of the man is "the lamp of the Lord." When the Word is revealed to your spirit, that releases it's power into the remainder of your being.
The old covenant people knew what the Word said, but they had no revelation of what it truly meant for them. Jesus said in John 7:28-29 (Amplified), "Do you know Me? and do you know where I Am from? I have not come on My Own accord and as self-appointed, but the One Who sent Me is true (real, genuine, steadfast) and Him you do not know. I know Him (Myself) because I came from His (very) presence, and it was He (personally) Who sent Me."
Without the Holy Spirit giving life to the Word of God, we simply read it with out intellect and only educate the senses to understand the words, but not the Spirit. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified) "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the Life-Giver) the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." It doesn't matter how much we think we know about the Word, without the Holy Spirit revealing the Life within it. They are simply words of no benefit, but are only for the flesh without His revealing the Truth in them.
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