THE SPIRIT LIFE IN CHRIST
THURSDAY 21 APRIL 2022
There is a life we live through the Spirit. It is a life of faith in Christ Jesus designed for all born again Christians who, through Christ Jesus, have been set free from the law of sin and death.
Reference: Romans 8:3-4 New International Version (NIV) "For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
The law was our tutor to bring us to perfection but it was weakened by the struggling and wayward flesh and so, it couldn't bring or produce intended perfection. In other words, the flesh couldn't meet the law's requirement. For this reason God sent His only beloved Son, Christ, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be a sin offering that we might be justified by faith. Having condemned sin in the flesh, Christ met all the righteous requirement of the law. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor but have been set free from it. Therefore, we are called to live according to the Spirit, and never to entertain the desires of the flesh, which could not fulfil what the law required.
To live according to the Spirit is to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit and simply embrace His leading and operation in us. It is the Spirit of life in Christ, which is living life fully on God's terms. It starts with building our consciousness of a real present God in us and imputing His Word into our thought processes in the mind realm. This purpose produces mental and emotional stability as we orient our thinking to divine viewpoint.
Correspondingly, Romans 8:5-6 reads, "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace" (NIV). Simply put, the consistency of the thoughts flowing with the things of the Spirit produces mental stability - which denotes life and peace.
Those who live according to the flesh fulfil its unholy desires which start with carnal thoughts and purposes, because they set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, although they are Christians. But those Christians who live according to the Spirit are controlled by the desires of the Spirit because they set their minds on and seek those things that please God. Remember that something remarkable and extraordinary happened when you received Christ as Lord. The Spirit of God moved into you to reside permanently. Now, when you habitually acknowledge that God lives and breathes in you, you'll condition yourself to live, walk and function by His Spirit.
The only way a Christian can shape His life along the same line as the life of Christ, is by living according to the Spirit and fulfilling His dictates. This is because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to set us on a solid basis with the life of Christ - at all times. So then, this implies that those who pay attention to impulses and appetites of the carnal nature, are living the life of the flesh and cannot please or satisfy God, even though they are Christians. Therefore, to live a consistent life of the Spirit, acknowledge that Christ took His abode in you and His Spirit quickened your spirit such that you became alive to God. And by making up your mind to follow the dictates of His Spirit at work in you, Christ lives out Himself in you and through you. Hallelujah!
Scripture Reading - John 6:63; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 3:16; Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:16-18.
Guided Prayer: Heaven Father, I'm grateful that I'm complete in Christ, who in the likeness of sinful flesh became a sin offering and condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in me. I face all my life's situations, having an inward witness and enlarged awareness that I'm one with Christ and the Holy Spirit is hugely at work in me. Daily, I acknowledge your presence in me by the Spirit; hence more and more, I recognize and follow your leading so as to experience a fulfilled Christian life every now and then, in Jesus' Name, Amen!
