Rom.8:1 (Amp) says, "Therefore there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong), for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit."
The remaining of the above chapter, tells us what God has truly done for us, through Jesus. The "dictates of the flesh" will continually accuse us with our past lives and will never allow us to be free The condemnation holds us back from developing into what God has made us to be. The carnal mind, the flesh and the natural man cannot conceive the Truth of God's Word that tells us, we've "Been made to be the Righteousness of God." Being dictated by the flesh, will keep us in guilt and condemnation, but the Dictates of the Spirit will tell us who've we become in Christ and "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
The world system and man-made rituals and traditions have amplified this struggle in God's Church. Carnal sermons and teachings will only continue this struggle. It's difficult enough to "Keep our minds stayed on Him," without our church leaders keeping us focused on our past, sinful lives, which causes us to be double-minded. Many have taught that God is testing and trying us, which leaves us with nowhere to go for deliverance. We'll have enough trials and tests on this earth, without God needing to create new ones for us. Jesus prayed in John 17:15,22 (Amp), "I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protects them from the evil one."
Jesus continues in Verse 22, speaking about the soon coming new birth. Thus, He prays, "I have given to them the Glory and Honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are One." God has crowned the new creation being with the same Glory and Honor that Jesus has. We must listen to the Dictates of the Spirit and not the flesh, in order to receive this. The flesh will see this as being prideful, while the spirit will receive it as Grace and Love.
Studying God's Word will show us that this was God's intention from the Garden of Eden. David was singing and seeking God in Psalm 8:4-5 (Amp), asking God, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of earth born man that You care for him? Yet You have made him but a little lower than God and You have crowned him with Glory and Honor."
This Glory and Honor is the very Glory of God Himself, Who lives in the spirit of every born-again, new creation child of God. We continue seeing on the weakness of the flesh and our shortcomings, but the Father sees the heart or spirit, which is once again in His Own Image and Likeness. The natural, carnal, flesh man will dictate our every failure and fault to us, but the spirit will always encourage and reveal the Truth of what Jesus has done for and through us. Paul writes in Rom.12:2 (Amp), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs, but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new ideals and attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is that Good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is Good, acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."
Paul didn't tells us, "You never know what God will do" or "Thy will be done," but said we could know the perfect, acceptable and Good will of God, in our lives and for ourselves. We must renew our minds by God's Word and His Spirit, so we can know the Dictates of the Spirit. This requires spending time and fellowshiping with Him. Every individual believer must willingly desire and act to do this.
Jesus has done everything needed for us, but if we don't know what He has done, then we'll never walk in God's perfect will for us. Many believers don't study God's Word for ourselves, but have depended on our pastor to study for us and tell us what God's will is. If we don't have a personal relationship with the Father, then we'll miss His will for us and for what He would have us do and be in this world.
We must learn the difference between how God dealt with those who weren't Spirit filled, new creation people and how He deals with the new covenant people. God dealt with the old covenant people by the Law and sacrifice, but He deals with the new covenant people by Grace, love and the spirit. We can see how Jesus dealt with those He ministered to and how God dealt with those who weren't alive to Him in their spirit. The Law was for the carnal man/woman, but Grace is for the new creation being. God couldn't deal with those in the old covenant by the Indwelling Holy Spirit, but only by their outer, carnal man of flesh. We don't have to meet requirements of certain feast days and sacrifice, but only believe in the One Sacrifice Jesus, Who has fulfilled the Law, gave Life to the spirit, delivered us from The Curse of the Law and has not only made us free, but has made us one with Himself.
We must go beyond the cross where Jesus Paid the Price for us and see ourselves the way the Father sees us. We are "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus", according to Rom.8:17. Does this mean we're these things only when we get to Heaven, or does it mean that Heaven is ours now and we now have the same inheritance Jesus received from the Father? We received this inheritance when Jesus sat down at God's right hand and all that Heaven has, is now ours to enjoy and share with Him. Heb.4:16 tells us that, "Through Jesus, we have access to God's Own Throne of Grace and are welcome and accepted there in His Presence for whatever favor and Grace we need to walk out this life of the spirit, in this world."
We've been told that, "Everything that happens in this world is God's will," but nothing could be further from the Truth. If everything that happened was God's will, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to come. Jesus didn't do the cross to put people into bondage, but to set the captives free. Do we believe that when millions of babies are being aborted, it's God's will? Do we believe that when children and adults are kept in the sex trade, is God's will? Do we think it's God's will for people to suffer and die from cancer and disease? If these things are God's will, then why would He have Jesus heal the people from disease and sickness or cast demons out of them? Why would Jesus commission believers to "Go out into the world and lay hands on the sick, cast out devils and minister to those who are oppressed," if these things were God's will for us?
If we don't know if it's God's will for us to be sick or well, then how can we know if God's will is being done or if satan is trying to kill us? Why bother going to the doctor, if we believe it's God's will for us to be sick? Being double-minded stops the Dictates of the Spirit in our lives and enhances the dictates of the flesh. We must renew our minds by God's Word, so we will know the Dictates of the Spirit in our lives.
James 1:6-8 (Amp) says, "If any of you be deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given to him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering, no hesitation, no doubting. For the one who wavers, hesitates, doubts, is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord. For being as he is a man of two mind (dictates of flesh and Dictates of the Spirit and not judging the difference) hesitating, dubious, irresolute, he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
We must set out minds and hearts (spirits) on the Grace and Truth of God's Word and receive the Dictates of the Spirit, instead of the worldly rituals and man-made traditions. The true potential of the new creation man/woman has only been revealed through a few persons, and even then, in limited ways. We've watched men like John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth and others who walked in the Super-natural things of God, believing they were special in God's eyes. Every new creation son and daughter of God is supposed to walk in these things. I've been asked, "Brother Jim, do you really think Jesus meant for all of us to walk in that?" Why else would Jesus say in Mark 16:17-18 (Amp), "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe. In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; They will pick up serpents; and even if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them, and they will lay their hands on the sick and they will get well."
Jesus didn't say these things will follow "only a few special people," but "those who believe." We are born-again believers, but what do we believe" I know many Christians who don't believe in speaking in tongues or casting out demons. Are they believers? Yes, but they can only believe so far. The dictates of the flesh and unrenewed carnal mind seems to keep people in darkness to the Super-natural things of God. Jesus told those who doubted Who He was, "If you don't believe the things I say, then at least believe the things I do." Even those with hard hearts can accept and be saved, when they see the signs and wonders that only God can do. This is the calling of the new creation children of God. Jesus prayed in John 17:18 (Amp), "Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." We're not the Messiah, but we believe in Jesus and will do what the Father did in Him. Jesus said that, "I only do what I see My Father do." This is as natural to our spirit man/woman, like breathing is to the natural man/woman.
The great men and women we read about, aren't so much special to God, but are those who chose God special. Are we willing to do what they did and choose God over the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment