Living the Journey

 ”But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”Romans 8:11

If the Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same
Spirit that is in us, this same Spirit will also restore to life our
mortal bodies. Without Christ what have we to live for? In a world
of depression, uncertainty and physical restraints it is easy to
withdraw into an inner world to try and protect ourselves from
greater outward pain. As we live in the Spirit there is life, peace
and joy. There is a motivation to live past our defects to make a
difference today. Living in the spirit no matter what physical
restraints try to stifles out our existence the Spirit gives life all
the way to the end. I think of many who because of an emergency were
rushed to the hospital and because of the hope in Christ that they had
were able to impact those around them for Christ.

~Clayton

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“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” Romans 8:10

Today we have come across a different kind of righteousness in this chapter. The first is found in verse four, which is the result or the outcome of being justified by God. It is a deed (past) rather than an action (present, future).

In contrast, the righteousness Paul is talking about here in verse ten is an action – the righteousness imputed to us by God, an ongoing action. God is righteous and requires righteousness from us. We cannot attain it on our own; it is a gift given through our faith in Christ Jesus. The Spirit is life in us because of God’s justification in our lives, He has sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). In order for Christ to be in us and the Spirit life we must die.

Let’s say we plant a seed… a corn seed. First we carefully cultivate and prepare the ground; we don’t want anything to keep our seed from growing. We check to make sure the soil is at the right temperature then drop our seed in the hole, cover it with dirt, watering it and try to patiently wait for the little seed to grow. We check on it every day, carefully tending to it making sure there are no weeds to choke out the growth of our precious plant. Then after a few weeks our little seed sprouted and grew into a small corn plant. Spring finishes its course and summer arrives bringing with it the hot sun the corn needs to mature. We have a beautiful ear of corn. But we aren’t going to eat it. No, we planted it for seed. So now we wait for the plant to dry up and die, thus drying out our ear of corn.

When life was created man was immortal – made in the image and after the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). When temptation came, lust of the flesh prevailed and sin then entered the world through man (Genesis 3). As a result of sin in the world, death became present and was passed on through the generations binding us to the law (Romans 5:12-14).

As long as our dead body lives it is bound to the law. But through the death and resurrection of Christ we have newness of life that isn’t bound by the law.

Ephesians 2: 1-6, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversations in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 2:19-20, “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 5:18, “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

You can’t take a kernel of fresh corn and plant it, it will not grow. It needs the plant to die so it can live. Once the corn plant dies the seed is ready to be used. And just as the plant dies, our bodies die as well, but as the seed lives, our spirit lives. We are not bound to the law, but alive in the Spirit.

The very moment we plant our corn seed it begins the process of growing. It does not immediately grow to full maturity, but needs careful tending. In that same way a person does not come to full Spiritual maturity the moment we come to Christ; it is a continual daily growth. Heeding to the flesh is the same as letting the weeds choke the growth of your plant. Your relationship to Christ only grows as much as you want it to.

You are in Christ, dead to sin. Walk in His freedom and be led by the Spirit.

~ Caitlin Savino

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Romans 8:8-9 “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”

So my first thought when I read these verses was, “What is the spiritual realm?” Thousands of thoughts collided together and as I sorted them out this is what I was left with.

Why we can’t please God when we are in the realm of the flesh is because we are under the jurisdiction of a different authority. Realms and kingdoms must have a ruler or authority. The realm of the flesh is twisted, perverted, and hazy. Anything that is done in the flesh will never come close to what goes on in the spiritual realm.

Let’s pause for a moment.These ideas of realms and kingdoms go far beyond what I can begin to imagine or think, I don’t know about you. But I read something along these lines and would like to give you their thoughts about these realms.  ”This universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we CAN imagine.” How arrogant we humans are to think that, with this little sack of protoplasm we call the human brain, we actually have the right equipment to construct a correct mental picture of reality. Without outside revelation, we are like fish trying to imagine what air is like. And if a fish did get caught, saw things in the atmospheric realm, and then got thrown back in, imagine what a flake the others would think he was if he went around trying to describe this other realm.”

When we are born again, our spirit is made alive in the spiritual realm. We are then defined by the Spirit of God. He is now our new ruler and authority. But how do you know which realm you are in? Sometime it doesn’t seem like it is ever possible to operate in the Spiritual realm. Really what I think it comes down to is abiding. If you are abiding in Him, meditating, and being with Him you are going to remain within the Spirit. But get this, even if you begin to “fulfill the desires of the flesh” or however you want to define it-you are still Christ’s. That is what blows me away. Once we are born in Him there is no going back. Now it’s just learning how to live in this new realm. We once lived in darkness and now it is light. We had been deceived for so long and now we are surrounded by truth. We lived in perversion and now He has made us pure, holy, and blameless.

Why continue living like you did when you were in the fleshly realm? If the Spirit of God does indeed live in you then you are transferred to the realm of the Spirit. Start living and breathing in the Spirit. We no longer have to live how we used to and accept the death around us. To live in the Spirit is different then we have ever known. It changes your talk, your actions, and your perspective. Don’t settle for the lie of the ‘normal’ life of the fleshly realm-life in the Spirit is far better. Go and live it loud.

~Libby

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“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:7

Who we have been, what we are what we will become is all dictated by one of the most important truths that most churches, parents and individuals have all forgotten! This one simple truth determines our peace and fellowship with the Lord vs. our self seeking abhorrence to God’s holiness, therefore being at enmity (opposition or hatred) with God Himself and His character.
This important truth deals with the kingship and authority over the rule our life, it functions around two kingdoms and it deals with two rulers that dictate the end result their kingdom. Let’s take another closer look at the verse and notice the SUBJECT,

“Because the carnal MIND is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

God is righteous, holy and pure and those whom He tabernacles within MUST be the same, but how is this possible? Here is where this simple truth I have been talking about comes into the vital position in which it plays…this profound truth is called: MEDITATION! By meditation I mean simply: Those things upon which you spend your time thinking, pondering and setting your focus in. Just remember this powerful statement: What you mediate on is what you become! This is fact, law and there is no doubt about it, because we do nothing in our lives outside of this principle of meditation. Whether or not we give great or little thought into it, we are always using our God given ability to think as a means of life.

How does this all tie in with the passage? Simply, if we keep our eyes set upon such things as our self, friends and the ways of the world, we will bear the fruits of these things! This will be manifested in the fruit of ultimately rejecting the opportunity God has given to us to know Him in a more intimate way through His Word. If we do not set our thoughts upon the Lord, we have set them against Him; there is no third choice. So if you desire intimate fellowship with your Father that bares the fruits of the Spirit and His Kingship in your life, you must first deny your own thoughts, ways of thinking and embrace the Word of God which is God thoughts and His way of thinking! Set your eyes, meditations and thoughts upon the One for whom you were created and you WILL become ONE in fellowship and intimacy with Him!

May the Lord richly bless you all as you set your whole heart to seek Him!(Psalm 1)

~Nate Paine

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Dear Friends,

To be carnally minded is death.  It may sound like an exaggeration but it’s not.

Driving along a desert highway, I began to tell my brother and sister how I really felt about my situation. . Two things I feel sometimes: fear and claustrophobia. Fear that my situation will only get worse; claustrophobia that it won’t end. Those thoughts ingrained a hopelessness, a carnal perspective. It colored grey over brightly colored days. That’s when my brother shared this verse with me.  “Jan,” he told me, “those thoughts are working death in your emotions.”  No doubt!  And likely working death the rest of me too.  He started to explain what it was to be spiritually minded.

At first, it felt so strange and unnatural, against the grain to think a different way than I felt. But in every way this new way of thinking Marty described is DEATH DEFYING!

I want you to imagine with me what it must be like in the dwelling place of the Most High. The vibrance of LIFE there!  The enthusiasm, the joy, the victory songs, the banners waving, the praises of His majesty shimmer in rich grace.  All of this richness is underscored with peace, the serenity of Love reigning supreme: unthreatened by the wiles of the wicked or the rebellion of the wayward.God delivers freight loads of this life and peace straight to the address of the spiritually minded! His promise of Romans 8:6 and of Psalm 15 too, fail not.

 “Who shall abide in Thy holy temple? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?”

“He that…speaketh the truth in his heart.”

God’s thoughts calm storms of raging emotion, smooth rippled brows of worry, heal wounded spirits, give wisdom to seekers of understanding, strengthen weary hearts, and demonstrate power in weakness. To be spiritually minded is to have His thoughts.

Brothers and sisters, the most exciting thing in my life to date is learning this art of speaking the truth in my heart, the truth about God, the people around me, my situations.  What can compare to hearing His thoughts?! Every moment still is a choice to surrender the original carnal thoughts, but consistently preaching the Good News to myself, consistently speaking the truth in my heart,consistently being spiritually minded replaces  fear and any trace of claustrophobia in any situation with the joy of opening another shipment of life and peace!

Your sister in Christ,

~Janny

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“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5

In the chapters leading up to Romans 8, Paul has spelled out the glorious accomplishments of the gospel. We are no longer under the law! We are free from its demands, bondage, and condemnation because we have been crucified with Christ. Not only have we died with Christ, we have also been raised with Him to walk in newness of life!

But we struggle, don’t we? We all know the inner battles and tug-of-war against the flesh and we long to experience the freedom we are supposed to already possess! We hear verses such as Galatians 5:16 as the answer to the struggle:
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Walk in the Spirit and I won’t fulfill the sinful desires of my flesh? Yes! But if you are like me, my next thought is, “Great! But how? HOW do I walk in the Spirit?” I love Romans 8:5 because it’s so practical and it sheds some light on walking in the Spirit. We are told that those who live according to the Spirit “mind” the things of the Spirit. But what does it mean to “mind” the things of the Spirit?

If you’ve been to London, you may have seen or heard the phrase “Mind the gap.” According to Wikipedia, “’Mind the gap’ is a warning to train passengers to take caution while crossing the gap between the train door and the station platform.”  Mind means to pay attention to, be careful  of, take heed, look after or apply oneself to.

With these definitions in mind, consider Romans 8:5 in the Amplified Version:
“For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.”

So! Part of walking in the Spirit is what I choose to set my mind upon. To mind the things of the flesh takes no effort on my part; it’s the default program so to speak. But to mind the things of the Spirit takes an active setting upon, a deliberate choosing to think truth.

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3) “Affection” can also be translated mind.

In the Old Testament God’s people are frequently told to “remember” – to remember the things God had commanded them and the mighty works He had done on their behalf. They were often quick to forget. We are also quick to forget all that Christ has accomplished on our behalf in His death and resurrection. We forget that we are no longer under condemnation. We forget that we are free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. We forget that we’ve been empowered by the Holy Spirit to live lives pleasing to God. We forget that we are loved. Forgetting these things can lead to soul-death – discouragement, doubt, stress, anger, even depression – and our minds become set on the circumstances around us and the sin within us. We wear well-worn paths of walking in our flesh!

However, moment by moment you and I can choose to walk according to the Spirit, as we lift our eyes to Jesus and set our minds upon the life-giving truth of God’s Word!

~ Ruthann

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