How do we look at people? In what light do we see their potential? How we see them will influence how we treat them.
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ESV
We are not to use the body as our emphasis. The soul is the focus. The spirit is the identity. The content of each soul is unique. We are not bodies with souls. We are souls with bodies.
Lust has a fleshly dimension. This change of focus hinders that avenue of expression.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world -- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life -- is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." - 1 John 2:15-17 ESV
Sensuality, materialism, and egotism are the whole ball of wax. How far does just this small principle go to weaken the whole structure what would take us down?
What does a soul have? What does it need? If we have a living spirit it has been made alive by the Holy Spirit. What is that like? What nourishes the connections of body, soul and spirit?
Will 'getting more' help our soul or is it only for our flesh?
Will attaining recognition add to our soul or is it an egotistic high that eventually sends us spiralling to the ground?
Souls need love. Souls need light. Souls need care. Souls need to be filled with good things. Souls need memories. Souls need to know their creator. Souls need healing. Souls need companionship.
This is on my mind lately. I can't know the people I know well after the flesh. It will hurt the relationship. I can't know new people that way either or things will start in an off-kilter way that will need to be fixed later.
God Help us. You are our way of escape. We need your eyes to see people. We need light about what You have done to get the light to see this way. Illuminate our perception. Change our minds. Turn us and we will be turned to see what You see by faith. Thank You God. Give us the gift of repentance in this area. We may need to humble ourselves before the people we have known after the flesh. It might take a conversation or more than one to get this to stick. Give us humility. Direct our steps. Thank You, God.
Praise You Lord Jesus. You walked in perfection as a man and yet we don't know You that way anymore. You are the God-man who sits on a throne in Heaven. You fully identified with us so that we could fully identify with You beyond our bodies. Lift us in our thinking. We know You will. Thank You.
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Showing posts with label The Flesh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Flesh. Show all posts
Monday, May 1, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Survival Instinct
Wow. I love Watchman Nee. Every paragraph is so dense with truth...
'Do we crucify ourselves? No. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin” (Rom. 6.6). It is not that we crucify ourselves, but that our old man was crucified with Christ at the time He himself was crucified. This is an objective fact. Your eyes must be fixed on the Lord. Were you to try to crucify yourself, you would discover how wicked you are and how impossible it is for you to die. The greatest mistake made by believers is right here: although the Bible says that I was crucified with Christ, I look at myself and find myself as hard and corrupted and undisciplined as I ever was. Even so, I try to crucify myself; yet I cannot make myself die. And that is where the mistake begins: you begin with yourself. You should keep in mind, instead, that all real beginnings lie with Christ. You do not die because you have seen yourself dead. You only become dead because you died when Christ died.' - Watchman Nee
The objective truth of the cross must become real in our subjective experience or else Christianity is utterly unmanageable. We say, 'I am dead to this.' but in truth we are very much alive and there is an instinct that kicks in to push us to keep ourselves alive.
God says that we died when Christ died and we were raised when He was raised. He is seated in Heaven and we ARE seated in Heaven. Can we mix faith with that truth so it will become alive in our experience? If we do then when the moment of temptation comes we will have practiced God's thoughts many times in preparation.
I have been deeply convicted this week. This clay pot has deep cracks. It isn't just cosmetic. My old man has incurable wounds. Situations just reveal that to be true but that is not my identity.
The believer is a new creature...
"For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them..." - Galatians 6:15-16a ESV
Let this peace and mercy be upon you today. It is finished. Jesus has done something objectively on the cross and the Spirit can take the veil off our eyes. We were blind but now we can see what God already sees if we walk by faith in what Jesus has done.
--
'Do we crucify ourselves? No. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin” (Rom. 6.6). It is not that we crucify ourselves, but that our old man was crucified with Christ at the time He himself was crucified. This is an objective fact. Your eyes must be fixed on the Lord. Were you to try to crucify yourself, you would discover how wicked you are and how impossible it is for you to die. The greatest mistake made by believers is right here: although the Bible says that I was crucified with Christ, I look at myself and find myself as hard and corrupted and undisciplined as I ever was. Even so, I try to crucify myself; yet I cannot make myself die. And that is where the mistake begins: you begin with yourself. You should keep in mind, instead, that all real beginnings lie with Christ. You do not die because you have seen yourself dead. You only become dead because you died when Christ died.' - Watchman Nee
The objective truth of the cross must become real in our subjective experience or else Christianity is utterly unmanageable. We say, 'I am dead to this.' but in truth we are very much alive and there is an instinct that kicks in to push us to keep ourselves alive.
God says that we died when Christ died and we were raised when He was raised. He is seated in Heaven and we ARE seated in Heaven. Can we mix faith with that truth so it will become alive in our experience? If we do then when the moment of temptation comes we will have practiced God's thoughts many times in preparation.
I have been deeply convicted this week. This clay pot has deep cracks. It isn't just cosmetic. My old man has incurable wounds. Situations just reveal that to be true but that is not my identity.
The believer is a new creature...
"For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them..." - Galatians 6:15-16a ESV
Let this peace and mercy be upon you today. It is finished. Jesus has done something objectively on the cross and the Spirit can take the veil off our eyes. We were blind but now we can see what God already sees if we walk by faith in what Jesus has done.
--
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Faith Produced By Rhema
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - Romans 10:17 KJV
This passage is so amazing when you look at the Greek. The 'Word of God' in Greek is Rhema (Strongs G4487) Theos (G2316).
In the following passage Logos (G3056) is used for word.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." - Luke 8:11 KJV
The logos is the written word or a concept that is intelligible to the understanding. The Bible is the logos of God's mind. Jesus is the Logos of God. He is what makes God understandable to us. The Logos is vital, pure and unique but it is not what produces faith. It provides a platform for faith to be produced but people can have Logos and still be as dead as a door nail.
In order for faith to be produced there must be a message that is heard but it must be a message that dawns on a person. It must connect in a deep way. The mind of God must touch the mind of man. It can't just be the persuasive argument coming from a learned person... it must be the life of God extended to the soul of a person... the mind, emotions, will, conscience and consciousness of self are all engaged. The Rhema pulls a person out of subjective living and invites them into objective reality.
This kind of hearing can produce transformation because faith is now involved. The logos comes alive. Our relationships come alive. Our purpose for living comes into focus. What God is doing and thinking becomes evident. Truth dawns on us and we are not living in the dark. We have a light.
Rhema doesn't tell you what you want to hear. It might say 'Dig ditches and God will deliver the enemy into your hands.' (2 Kings 3) and then the Rhema declares defeat in battle (1 Kings 22). People use the logos to make things come out the way they want it to. God's word is turned into a self-help manual. One of many on a shelf with all the others.
No. The word of God is more than that. Grace is the Rhema of God! Your flesh is going to die in the battle. Your Spirit will have victory. Grace unveils divine reality. The Gospel of Grace is the invitation into God's divine provision for salvation. It isn't going to save your self life. The unconditional nature of it is going to kill it. It is the love that will save your soul and illuminate your spirit. It will save you forever and moment by moment in the details of life.
Jesus did it all. That is Rhema. We can have the His righteousness placed on our account as a gift and only if we receive it as a gift. That is the provision. Then in that provision we can walk by faith into our day with a spiritual victory.
Let's walk in the Rhema that saved us. That might have happened moments ago or years ago. In that light God will give us more light... specific light for day ahead of us.
--
This passage is so amazing when you look at the Greek. The 'Word of God' in Greek is Rhema (Strongs G4487) Theos (G2316).
In the following passage Logos (G3056) is used for word.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." - Luke 8:11 KJV
The logos is the written word or a concept that is intelligible to the understanding. The Bible is the logos of God's mind. Jesus is the Logos of God. He is what makes God understandable to us. The Logos is vital, pure and unique but it is not what produces faith. It provides a platform for faith to be produced but people can have Logos and still be as dead as a door nail.
In order for faith to be produced there must be a message that is heard but it must be a message that dawns on a person. It must connect in a deep way. The mind of God must touch the mind of man. It can't just be the persuasive argument coming from a learned person... it must be the life of God extended to the soul of a person... the mind, emotions, will, conscience and consciousness of self are all engaged. The Rhema pulls a person out of subjective living and invites them into objective reality.
This kind of hearing can produce transformation because faith is now involved. The logos comes alive. Our relationships come alive. Our purpose for living comes into focus. What God is doing and thinking becomes evident. Truth dawns on us and we are not living in the dark. We have a light.
Rhema doesn't tell you what you want to hear. It might say 'Dig ditches and God will deliver the enemy into your hands.' (2 Kings 3) and then the Rhema declares defeat in battle (1 Kings 22). People use the logos to make things come out the way they want it to. God's word is turned into a self-help manual. One of many on a shelf with all the others.
No. The word of God is more than that. Grace is the Rhema of God! Your flesh is going to die in the battle. Your Spirit will have victory. Grace unveils divine reality. The Gospel of Grace is the invitation into God's divine provision for salvation. It isn't going to save your self life. The unconditional nature of it is going to kill it. It is the love that will save your soul and illuminate your spirit. It will save you forever and moment by moment in the details of life.
Jesus did it all. That is Rhema. We can have the His righteousness placed on our account as a gift and only if we receive it as a gift. That is the provision. Then in that provision we can walk by faith into our day with a spiritual victory.
Let's walk in the Rhema that saved us. That might have happened moments ago or years ago. In that light God will give us more light... specific light for day ahead of us.
--
Monday, December 2, 2013
It Is Finished - Part 10
The cross exposes the natural man. Jesus finished that work also on the cross. He proved that independence apart from God not only makes men dangerous to themselves but dangerous to all things that are holy.
"'You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.'
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him." Acts 7:51-57 ESV
People have wrongly used the cross as a weapon against the Jewish people to justify antisemitism. God used it as a tool to expose the the whole human race.
"For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." Romans 8:6-7 ESV
The law exposed the results of the fall but the cross was the ultimate exposing act. Fallen man not only would murder God if he could... he did murder God when given the chance.
"So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:12-17 ESV
We are reborn as heirs. We are no longer debtors. Now we are heirs. The Spirit bears witness to that fact.
"Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.' " Psalms 40:7-8 ESV
The Spirit bears witness to our relationship but we will always need objective truth to guide us. Jesus came in the book but the book was in Him also.
"For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth." Psalms 44:25 KJV
You may have noticed that many born again people believe some very strange things. Lineage does not automatically create wisdom. We need objective truth that the Spirit gives a witness to and uses to teach us. The letter can be dead with out the Spirit but the Word of God made alive by the Spirit of God produces miraculous results.
"The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer." Psalms 19:7-14 NKJV
The cross has taught me that I can not be trusted to function on my own. I still can not understand my own errors. I need light and the Bible serves that purpose.
"And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:33 KJV
Jacob was a deceiver. God reigns over a household of deceivers. He has remade the whole human race as a potter remakes a broken pot. Humanity was condemned but God has remade a remnant for Himself.
"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 KJV
This Monday morning I need grace and truth and by God's grace I have both things. I have a bible in my hands that is being hidden line by line in my heart and I have a Savior. They seem separate but they are one. I will never outgrow either of them.
"'You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.'
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him." Acts 7:51-57 ESV
People have wrongly used the cross as a weapon against the Jewish people to justify antisemitism. God used it as a tool to expose the the whole human race.
"For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." Romans 8:6-7 ESV
The law exposed the results of the fall but the cross was the ultimate exposing act. Fallen man not only would murder God if he could... he did murder God when given the chance.
"So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:12-17 ESV
We are reborn as heirs. We are no longer debtors. Now we are heirs. The Spirit bears witness to that fact.
"Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.' " Psalms 40:7-8 ESV
The Spirit bears witness to our relationship but we will always need objective truth to guide us. Jesus came in the book but the book was in Him also.
"For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth." Psalms 44:25 KJV
You may have noticed that many born again people believe some very strange things. Lineage does not automatically create wisdom. We need objective truth that the Spirit gives a witness to and uses to teach us. The letter can be dead with out the Spirit but the Word of God made alive by the Spirit of God produces miraculous results.
"The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer." Psalms 19:7-14 NKJV
The cross has taught me that I can not be trusted to function on my own. I still can not understand my own errors. I need light and the Bible serves that purpose.
"And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:33 KJV
Jacob was a deceiver. God reigns over a household of deceivers. He has remade the whole human race as a potter remakes a broken pot. Humanity was condemned but God has remade a remnant for Himself.
"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 KJV
This Monday morning I need grace and truth and by God's grace I have both things. I have a bible in my hands that is being hidden line by line in my heart and I have a Savior. They seem separate but they are one. I will never outgrow either of them.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Hand on the Table
"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed! And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing." Luke 22:19-23 KJV
In communion the hands and the mind are occupied with Christ and what He has done. The hand that remains unoccupied in that way is the dangerous hand. The hand that remains on the table is a hand that betrays. It is a hand present for fellowship but devoid of communion. It is a hand on the table.
The disciples worried themselves trying to figure out the dilemma. Whose hand was it? Why would someone do such a thing? But, Christ just continued on His way to the cross.
If the flesh remains exposed to body life but the person remains unconverted by Christ betrayal is inevitable. Christianity will seem vain and ineffective. Christ will seem distant. The work will become something to be attacked and have bitterness attached to it's memories. The cost of betrayal will end up thrown back into the temple in moral frustration and the end will not be pretty.
This scenario can be someone's whole life or season of their life. A 'hand on the table' season is a bitter season with few or no snapshots in the scrapbook of faith.
Searching for tares is frustrating and futile. So is being passive when we should be active in believing.
Handling the bread and the wine is where the life is. It is a life of nourishment and comfort. Christ is present and close and redemption is happening and possible. We never eat communion alone. It is done in a group for a reason. In that place the cross has made us all equal and we have everything that is truly important in common.
Memory filled communion causes us to reflect on an event we did not see ourselves. The cross. Christ had His face set like a flint to go there. Nothing natural or supernatural could stop Him. Let nothing stop us from going and taking the cup of salvation and drinking from it. That is the place where we are once again saved from self and every other danger.
In communion the hands and the mind are occupied with Christ and what He has done. The hand that remains unoccupied in that way is the dangerous hand. The hand that remains on the table is a hand that betrays. It is a hand present for fellowship but devoid of communion. It is a hand on the table.
The disciples worried themselves trying to figure out the dilemma. Whose hand was it? Why would someone do such a thing? But, Christ just continued on His way to the cross.
If the flesh remains exposed to body life but the person remains unconverted by Christ betrayal is inevitable. Christianity will seem vain and ineffective. Christ will seem distant. The work will become something to be attacked and have bitterness attached to it's memories. The cost of betrayal will end up thrown back into the temple in moral frustration and the end will not be pretty.
This scenario can be someone's whole life or season of their life. A 'hand on the table' season is a bitter season with few or no snapshots in the scrapbook of faith.
Searching for tares is frustrating and futile. So is being passive when we should be active in believing.
Handling the bread and the wine is where the life is. It is a life of nourishment and comfort. Christ is present and close and redemption is happening and possible. We never eat communion alone. It is done in a group for a reason. In that place the cross has made us all equal and we have everything that is truly important in common.
Memory filled communion causes us to reflect on an event we did not see ourselves. The cross. Christ had His face set like a flint to go there. Nothing natural or supernatural could stop Him. Let nothing stop us from going and taking the cup of salvation and drinking from it. That is the place where we are once again saved from self and every other danger.
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