Mr. Flesh Goes to the Doctor

If you’ve been reading what I write for any length of time you know I am passionate about the believer’s freedom in Christ, and living in the fullness of what Christ accomplished through the cross. The key is knowing; and God WANTS us to know. He wants to constantly pour Himself into us in the form of His perfect wisdom. The Bible talks often of the importance of “knowing”. Paul prayed that the believers would know and grow in knowledge. When he saw believers living carnal lives, bound by the shackles of sin, he would remind them of who they were, what Christ did, and would often begin by saying “don’t you know?” As our mind is washed over and over by the life giving transforming Word of God, we WILL know! And we will act, because we know.

So you say ok, suppose I know and I act, give me a practical example of how that would look. Ok, but I want to contrast these examples with the “natural” reaction of the carnal man, because we need to keep reminding ourselves that WE ARE NOT WHO WE WERE and we do NOT act or react like the world. Let’s say Mr. Flesh goes to the doctor because of some symptoms. The doctor was his first kneejerk reaction, because he sees no alternative. After sweating over test results for several days the doctor tells him he has cancer. Mr. Flesh is gripped with fear, because he sees no alternative. In desperation he asks the doctor how he is going to go about saving his life, and agrees to go through any kind of hellish treatment, as long as it will save him…because he sees no alternative. The doctor has not only given “his disease” a label, he has given him a prognosis aka. “Here is what this disease is capable of”. The spirit of fear is now dictating Mr. Flesh’s thoughts and directing his words. Mr. Flesh goes home and testifies over and over to everyone he knows, the testimony that the spirit of fear has written for him.  

No matter what you believe regarding healing, every believer’s “reaction” should be the same. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. (Eph 6:12) Which means, we are not wrestling with our flesh, the problem is not in our flesh and the answer does not lie in flesh, plain and simple. First of all, we don’t react based on fleshly evidence. Second of all, we always consult the wisdom of God before we make a move because we are helpless (yes I said HELPLESS, seriously what do WE really know?) to know what to do without His knowledge of the situation! You have to get this! I don’t care how long that doctor went to school and how many accolades he has received! I don’t care how many studies have been done; I don’t care if everyone in your family has died from this very thing for the last 500 years. GOD IS NOT IMPRESSED!!! And neither should you be.

Mr. Born Again-Righteous-New Creation-Spirit Man-Joint Heir With Jesus-Child of God (we will call him Spirit Man for short) says, “God there is this lump I’ve noticed here, should I go have that checked or is that something you just want to take care of right now?” Then in perfect peace, he waits for an answer. If he is prompted to go to the doctor, Christ goes with him to navigate all the information the doctor gives him. If Mr. Sprit Man is waiting for test results, He continues to listen for guidance and God’s wisdom in His word. His testimony is ONLY that of the truth of God’s word, not based on any physical evidence but based on the truth of what God has said about himself. His faith is bolstered as he reads that Christ his healer resides inside of him. The peace of God rules in his heart. Peace is making decisions, not fear. Whatever that doctor’s diagnosis is whatever the prognosis, whatever the recommendation, it will not sway Mr. Spirit Man, and it will not be the basis for his decision or his outcome. He tells the doctor, “Thank you very much, I will get back to you and let you know how we wish to proceed.” The doctor stresses the urgency of treatment beginning immediately! Mr. Spirit Man calms the doctor and tells him not to worry; he will get back to him shortly.

Yes it takes practice; our flesh is used to reacting to what it sees. Don’t let it get away with that. Tell your flesh “There is a new sheriff in town and we aren’t doing things the way we used to!” And let’s get over ourselves, if God is for us who can be against us? (Rom 8:31) paraphrased: What’s the worst thing that can happen? And ask yourself, if I really live this way…what are the possibilities!

Who's Your Daddy?

As born again believers, knowing and believing that we are NO LONGER who we were is foundational and vital to our walk.  As unbelievers we had no understanding of who we were, why we were, or what we were to accomplish.  Once we are reconciled to our creator the Holy Spirit immediately begins sharing truth with us so we understand not only our purpose, but also the means by which we are to accomplish it.  If one is led to salvation in Christ, but he sees no purpose other than escaping hell, this earthly life will seem rather pointless to him.  If he understands his mandate to live a holy life and disciple other believers, but does not realize the power that is afforded him through Christ, his failure to meet the demand will leave him defeated.   The word salvation in the church is widely used, and yet we fail to take into account its FULL benefit!  Our salvation in Christ is complete!  God’s perfect plan left NOTHING undone.  Save in the Greek is the word sozo – to keep safe and sound, to keep from perishing, suffering, to heal or make well, to preserve from danger, injury or peril, to rescue from destruction.  By not understanding what Christ procured for us at the cross, are we setting a good portion of His sacrifice aside and making His grace of no effect in our lives? 

God did not just save us from, He saved us to.  Not only are we no longer who we were, our location and the rules, have changed.  In the previous posting, “Labels” I said that “we have NO RIGHT to give preeminence to any voice other than God.  His wisdom alone is perfect and His way alone is truth and His ways alone are free from corruption.  Any other “word” will be perverted to some degree because this worldly system has been corrupted by sin and is subject to death”.   God fully expects us to seek His wisdom for every situation.  This should come naturally to us; in fact it should seem foreign for us to go the world for answers.  The solution may very well come from earthly mechanisms, but He has instructed us to lean not to our own understanding, even if it seems perfectly logical.   We are no longer in agreement with the world system; we are in covenant with the Living God!  Would you go down the street and ask the neighbor’s husband to help you deal with one of your children, or to ask his opinion in buying a new appliance or moving to a new house?  NO, you would speak privately with your own husband!  

We are not of the world, our agenda is different, our views are different, our understanding is different…we are “other worldly”, our needs are other worldly.  If we think our needs are fleshly our mind is un-renewed.  Our need may be visible in this realm, but the solution will always come from the faith realm because that is the delivery system that our Father uses to meet our needs.  Yes, the supply will manifest physically, here in this world, but the source of our supply does not come from material things, faith is the substance of what we hope for.  (Do you remember the posts on the Law of Faith?)  A “need” in the life of a believer is a signal that God wants to display His power in us!  This has always been the plan.  This is why the believer has joy in every trial, because it is an opportunity for our God to show the world that salvation is found in no one else and He is ever faithful and vigilant in regard to His own!

    

Remember, the world system has been corrupted by Satan; it no longer resembles the righteous government that God intended.   Why would we, the righteousness of the Father, heirs with Christ, members of the royal family, look to this corrupt, broken, impotent system to achieve the will of the Father?  Do we know who we are?  We have been translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13).  He is our king and the supplier, of every need, remover of every obstacle!  Does it make sense that we enter into the enemy’s camp and ask him for help? Do we know who we are?  Do we know who Christ has made us?  The “wisdom” of the world is foolishness; we embody the living Christ, all wisdom and power belong to Him!  The merchandise of His wisdom is better than that of silver, or the gain of fine gold! (Prov. 3:14)

Label Me Righteous

The desire of my heart is to see believers walking in ALL the freedom that Christ procured for us at His cross.   Many believers, sincere believers, have no idea how to get out of the inconsistent walk they are now experiencing.  Joy one day, feeling hopeless the next, and having no idea what changed from one day to the next.   God withheld nothing from us to ensure that we walk in victory, our part is simply to know and believe and receive.   The reason for this “Evidence of Truth” blog is to get believers to challenge the concepts that have kept them defeated.  Walking in power and joy is simple, WE have made it difficult.

As we have been discussing, we have to live by faith in order to receive supernatural supply from Christ our leader.  Listen to what I am going to say and don’t ever forget this truth.  Believers believe FIRST and then SEE because they have believed the Word of God.  Believers DO NOT have faith in the Word of God because they have SEEN!    This is so simple but you have to let it sink into your heart.   Once it does, NOTHING will be impossible.  You will realize that when you had to see to believe, you were really limiting the possibilities and you will have more hope once you realize that anything can happen because it is NOT based on only what you have at your disposal visually, it is based on God’s unending supply of whatever we need to carry out His mission. 

The foundational truth that will change your perspective is that you are NOT who you were.  You are a new creature, you are not bound by your flesh, and you are not a “recovering sinner”.  You ARE the righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS!  You ARE in Him and His righteousness HAS BEEN imputed to you.  This is where living by faith begins.  When you believe it because it is truth, there will be supernatural changes in you.  Do not waste time trying to change your behavior to become what God says you already are.  It has nothing to do with the behavior; you are, because it is truth.  You will see it, when you believe this truth.  Trust me!  Don’t waste one more second doing the same thing you have done for years with little result. 

We have NO RIGHT to give preeminence to any voice other than God.  His wisdom alone is perfect and His way alone is truth and His ways alone are free from corruption.  Any other “word” will be perverted to some degree because this worldly system has been corrupted by sin and is subject to death.  Yes?  Ok, so every time we receive any type of label, other than Righteous, are we receiving truth?  Labels received, change the way we think.  That is why it is imperative that we do not receive the labels of the world, but maintain our testimony that we are righteous, blameless and loved.

So let me get real with you for a second.  And before you react, listen to the Holy Spirit inside of you that is challenging your faith to come up higher.   When you parrot some label someone has put on you, such as Impulsive, Lazy, Loudmouth, Emotional, isn’t it your testimony that you have elevated this man given label above the God given truth of who God says you are?  Let’s not stop there, what about those whose wisdom we believe we can’t question, like Doctors?  When they label us Depressed, Bi-Polar, ADD, Alcoholic, Addict; do we have to receive it?  Is it truth?  What about receiving disease labels?  Cancer, Pneumonia, Lupus, Fibro Myalgia?  Just ask yourself, how do I reconcile these labels with who God says I am? 

Don’t use what you’ve always been told or taught to explain this away.  Exercise your faith, let yourself be stretched.  Stop living safe, what if you believe and you don’t see instant results?  What if it doesn’t work for the woman down the street, what if you tried it once and saw nothing?  What if what if what if?  It doesn’t matter, believe anyway!  The evidence WILL follow.  Keep believing as if there is no alternative!  Nail that back door of unbelief shut!  Believe until!  We are not done with this, but press God on this issue, He wants you to, He wants to take you deeper, but He wants to know you will not cut and run at the first sign of disappointment.  What if you stay where you are?  Nothing will change.  But what if……..

 

Above the Law

My intent has always been to provoke you to think differently regarding, who Christ is, what He has accomplished and who you are in Him.  We have talked a lot recently about how the born again believer operates under a different set of principles.  We are not who we appear to be on the outside, our old man; that corrupt man, beguiled by the enemy of God to live a life of confusion and futility, that man died at the cross with Christ.   We are LITERALLY a new man.  When our spirit man was “asleep”, out of communication with the Father, we were like aimless satellites that had lost communication with their remote controllers.  Now we have been reconciled to the Father and communication has been reestablished, we no longer bounce haphazardly off other objects in space, subject to the atmospheric disturbances.  We were programmed at our inception to carry out the plan and purpose that our creator designed for us long before we were ever conceived.  We have a mission!  And in order to be successful, we must be allowed to operate “above the law”.   

Think about all we have talked about lately.  How Christ is alive on the inside of us and it is no longer our flesh that is navigating in this world but His Spirit inside of us to accomplish His will on the earth.  When Christ was on the earth, He operated “above the law”.  He healed, He raised the dead, He multiplied solid matter into more solid matter, He walked on water, and He escaped His enemies undetected until the appointed time when He MADE Himself subject to them.  So if Christ is alive in us, are we subject to carnal laws?  Ok, don’t jump ship just yet, stay with me.  God instructs us to “make ourselves subject” to the rulers that are on the earth because He is the power behind every power.  We are to obey authority!  We also see ourselves hindered by natural laws such as gravity.  So before I tell you where I think we as believers are to come down on this issue, let me give you an analogy. 

Ambulance drivers have the authority to run red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road and exceed the speed limit in order to carry out their assignment.  Policemen can shoot to kill if necessary.  A judge can deprive someone of their right to freedom and a prison guard can hold an inmate against his will for a prolonged time.  If any of these people committed any of these acts while not under the protection of their “office”, they would be guilty of driving infractions, kidnapping, or even murder.   During much of our time on this earth, we make ourselves subject to the same laws everyone else is subject to.  But in order to carry out our assignment, we have to be able to rise above the confines of natural law and operate supernaturally by the law of faith. 

Throughout the Bible God deals differently with those who are in covenant with Him.  We need to see ourselves as set apart and be prepared in every situation to act and react differently than the rest of the world, based on the voice and instruction of our God.   We should ALWAYS be listening for that voice, ALWAYS expecting a supernatural outcome.   God has made us a peculiar people.  In the Old and New Testament that meant a purchased valuable treasure, to be preserved.  Even today the definition denotes a spectacle, something that is seen as being different than the norm.  We HAVE to see ourselves that way!  We have to be prepared at any moment to be called on to trust in Christ to enable us to operate above the law.  Nothing hindered Jesus from carrying out His mission when He was here in the flesh, and nothing should hinder Christ now!  When we came into covenant with Him we agreed that He could have FREE UNFETTERED ACCESS to our bodies! 

We will go deeper into this concept of operating “above the law” next time.  I will let you chew on that for a couple of days.  If you like to do word studies in your Bible, study and meditate on the word “subject”.  Decide for yourself.  What were we subject to, what are we subject to today and what is made subject to us through Christ.  Next time we will see how we have unwittingly agreed with the devil in receiving labels that do not apply to us.

Don't Tamper With the Mail (part II)

There is power in the good news of Christ.  This message alone can save all of mankind from the curse that he is under.  And what is that message?  CHRIST IN US! The hope of glory! (Col 1:27) Christ is the message; He is the Word that is preached! When a heart grabs hold of that message, it is literally grabbing hold of the living Christ and saying, DON’T GO!  You are what I need!  When we receive his word He is imparting His very being into us.  As believers, every time we read the Word of God, more of Christ’s actual being is made known to us, and what is revealed to us BELONGS to us!  That is what changes us.  We were NEVER meant to go to His Word and use it as a “guide” to “be a better Christian”.  If that is how we treat it, any book from the Library will do.  Does that seem harsh?  It is not adhering to the teachings that change us, it is SEEING and RECEIVING Christ right into our very being, and that is a spiritual transaction that only the Holy Spirit can enact.

Let’s look at Colossians 1:27 closely.  Have you always assumed the glory promised was not until you see heaven? Hope in the Greek is elpis (expectation of good) and glory in Greek is doxa (a condition or state, a good estimation or opinion of).  This verse literally says that because of the revelation of the mystery of Christ IN US we can have an expectation that God is going to be good toward us!  And because of His glory in us, we now have a good opinion of Him which grows, and we can be confident that He has a good opinion of us!  Isn’t that the crux of it?  In the fall, man lost the glory that he embodied so not only did his estimation of himself change, he also began to fear God because his estimation of who God was had changed as well.   Through Christ, we are reconciled back to that glory.  We see Him accurately and since we now embody God’s righteousness because of His Son, we see ourselves accurately, as we were always meant to be.  We are at peace. 

It seems simple, but this revelation alone can transform a heart in the blink of an eye.  If as believers we are waiting for the hope of this glory to appear in Heaven, we will never realize the joy and the victory that is ours NOW.   This really is the message that saves.  The “doing” part was DONE.  Hebrews 10:7 says …the volume of the book is written of ME! Christ!  It all points to HIM!  Because when we SEE Him we will be changed.  And before that verses 5 and 6 say He finds NO pleasure in our trying, He wants a body that He can LIVE IN!  That’s all!  We make this way harder than it has to be.  Once we see the truth of who He is, He only asks us to yield to Him so He can live through us to bring about all that He purposed for us.  We get to just stand back in awe and watch Him at work.  So instead of a life of “trying to live FOR Jesus” He lives His life in us and we rest in who He is. 

Do you feel butterflies in your stomach right now at the possibility that it really is this simple?  That is His Spirit inside you recognizing truth.  Grab onto it.  Don’t let that other voice inside you turn you back the way you came.  How has that worked for you?  How many Christians do you know living that lie?  Do they have joy?  Consistently?  Are they victorious? Consistently?  Someone’s speech can reveal in a second what they truly believe.  Do you know believers that it seems like they always have some crisis going on, or their speech is a litany of complaints, always criticizing others or themselves? 

Our only HOPE is Christ in us, not a better us.  This is what the message was before man tampered with the mail and tried to make the message better.  It was too simple for our flesh before.  Man had to get his sticky little fingers on it and make himself a project.  There is NO fixing this flesh, when we realize that and just let Christ live IN US, then we will really begin to live!  There is so much freedom in Him when you see that it’s really all Him, and He left nothing for us to do but trust in His goodness.  Please meditate on Hebrews 10 this week; do you see that He wants us to be guilt free in our conscience as well? He did a complete work in us and He completely completed it! Now we are complete in Him! 

Don't Tamper With the Mail (part I)

There is so much confusion in the body of Christ as to the purpose of the individual believer and the role of the Church here on the earth.  The message is simple and powerful.  God and man were in perfect harmony, and God gave man the right to rule over himself.  Man was taken captive and held hostage by Satan, and was now subject to a dictator.  God sent His Son, who won a decisive victory over Satan, stripped him of his dictatorship, and annulled his right to rule over us.  At that point all that was left to do was to go announce to man was that he was free!   The truth began to spread; men everywhere enlisted in the new Kingdom, and went forth as an army, to liberate all those that had been forced into slavery under the law of sin and death. 

The ruler of the slave kingdom feared the message of freedom and set about to sow seeds of confusion among the hearers.  The message took on a different tone.  Many were being told that their liberation hinged on certain requirements and standards that must be met.  This message was not one of hope, and freedom, but simply bondage to a new set of requirements, a message that said their freedom could be maintained by daily good works and behavior modification.   Many chose to stay and serve under the dictatorship of death, they had grown accustomed to the current workload, and the “good works” option seemed cumbersome.  Their hearts were darkened from years of indoctrination by their perpetrator, and only the light of the TRUE GOSPEL could free them from their chains.  Those that did opt for good works, were soon disillusioned, the freedom that was promised was impossible to maintain as this ruler seemed as hard to please as the last one.  

The Church should be an unstoppable force, moving en masse in one direction, with one clear objective.  Instead, we have turned our weapons inward and seem intent on devouring our self whole.   If the devil’s plan was to divide and conquer, we have walked unflinchingly into his trap.  Discipleship has become an assembly line where we stamp out Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans and Charismatics, instead of as Paul puts it “imitators, and followers of me (Paul) as I am of Christ.  (I Cor. 1:11)  Paul had complete confidence in the message that was given to him by God.  Remember Paul was not a disciple of Christ while Christ was alive; the gospel that Paul preached was divinely imparted to him by the Holy Spirit.  It was not the teachings of Jesus and it was not the message that Peter preached to the Jews.  Much of the confusion in the Church comes from a “mashing” of the Word of God and not recognizing what it is saying to whom.  I call it the “gospel mash” it caught on in a flash, it was a graveyard smash.  

This is a whole kettle of fish I will not get into today, but I would urge you in reading your Bible, take the time, with the Holy Spirit as your teacher, to understand what role you are playing today as a believer, and the role of the Church.  If we call ourselves believers why are we at such odds with other believers?  How could ONE message with ONE purpose have taken on a life of its own?  Somewhere along the way, we stopped being the ministrants of the message and made it personal.  I am reminded of what my small group leader says frequently, “don’t tamper with the mail, just deliver it.”  I want to be on the earth to see the Church become all that Christ intended for it to be.  I want us to realize our purpose and the power that we embody with Christ as our Head!  I want to see this sleeping giant awaken!  I want the devil to be gripped with fear when he hears the rustling of the Body of Christ on the move.  Just as he was when he realized he had not killed the Christ but instead played right into the hands of the Living God.

As with most of my postings that turn into 2 and 3 parters somewhere in the middle, we will continue this train of thought next time.  In fact this does not at all resemble the posting I “thought” I was going to write this morning.  I love it when the Holy Spirit comes in at the last minute and says “Stop the presses!”  It keeps me weak, and dependent on Him.  After all it IS HIS MESSAGE! 

The Law of Faith (part III)

In trying to get a handle on what faith is exactly, Hebrews chapter 11 is FULL of information.   As we saw last week in vs 1 faith is substance.  It is the beginning foundational (unseen by the human eye) “stuff” that God uses as building material.  This “stuff” starts out as supernatural “stuff” but when it is mixed with the Word of God it manifests in the physical realm.  In vs 3 we see that God used faith, in combination with His Word to create the universe.  We know Jesus to be the Word of God and John 1-3 tells us that nothing that we see was created without the Word.  So the first thing God decided to show man was the Law of Faith in operation.  If God caused things to manifest in this physical realm by combining His Word, with His Faith, then that law will work the same every single time, with the same outcome every single time.  

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Every miracle Jesus performed on the earth was manifested in this way, His faith, combined with His word, brought about the expected result.    Hebrews 11 is full of testimonies of men who lived miraculous lives because they had tapped into the system by which God displays His power in man.  Vs 6 tells us that we are not pleasing to God if we don’t believe - 1)that He exists, and 2)that He will reward us if we seek Him.  This vs is not scolding us for our lack of faith, but rather it shows God’s frustration when we will not allow Him to work in us through faith.  Imagine a husband who loves his wife passionately, who desires nothing more than to be close to her and provide good things for her.  Yet his advances are constantly rejected and the wife feels unworthy and refuses all of his gifts, the husband will be frustrated and the relationship will not be satisfying to him.  God desires to reward us and display His power through us and without faith we frustrate His goodness.  God’s Spirit in us causes us to hope for the things He hopes for.  His word alive in us gives birth to that thing hoped for, and this all happens through faith.  

 

God can only work through a yielded, rested vessel.  The Gospel of reconciliation announces to us that Christ has taken out of the way the ordinances that were contrary to us.(Col 2:14)  Everything that caused us to be at odds with God has been removed.  The only thing left for us to do, is rest in the finished work of Christ.  Yes, the Bible is full of imperatives, but every requirement has ALREADY been met in Christ and all we need to do is to come into agreement with that truth.  There is NO striving to achieve any of the imperatives on our own, as if we could!  God is definitely a proponent of supply side economics.   All demand was met in Him, through the supply of His Son.  He invested His Son in us; He is not going to leave the return on His investment to chance.  He put all His eggs in one basket, HIMSELF!

So imagine this concept applied to our faith.  Could it be that there too, He left nothing to chance?  Were you able to look at Galatians 2:20 and Acts 3:16 in the King James Version?  The original translation of Gal. 2:20 says - 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.   Yes, it is HIS faith, CHRIST’s faith that we are trusting in to enable us to live victoriously and accomplish all God has predestined for me to accomplish.  In vs 16 we see that we are justified by HIS faith as well.  He could not leave our redemption to chance!  The very reason He sent His son, our redemption, all hinges on faith in His sacrifice.  He not only provided Himself as the substitute, but He supplies us with the faith necessary to believe on Him for our very salvation.   Can it get any better?  Just as it is Christ’s righteousness that is the foundation for our justification, it is Christ’s faith that is the foundation for our trust in His righteousness.  There are quite a few places where the New Testament refers to the faith OF God or the faith OF Christ.  In Acts 3:16 the faith that Peter had in the name of Christ to heal came through Christ.  

Do we have any idea how big this is?   As we see Christ bigger through meditating on His Word, we see that HE IS SUPPLY for every shortfall in us.  So what does that mean?  It means we are complete, IN HIM.  He has finished it at the cross.  His wisdom has angled the whole transaction in such a way that we cannot come up short in any area.  We are pleasing to Him in every way; we are what He says we are.  Every condition for blessing, provision, healing, joy, and victory has been met in Christ!  I know this has been a long post, but please meditate on the scripture you’ve been given in the 3 Faith postings; your faith will grow as you dwell on Christ

The Law of Faith (part II) or Flesh Stand Down

The Bible says that when we operate by faith we are operating according to a law. (Rom 3:27)  When we are born again our spirit man becomes subject to the spiritual laws of God which He has written upon our hearts.  Romans 8 explains that the carnal man (what we were before being reconciled back to the Father through Christ) is still hostile toward God.  His mind is fallen and darkened and he cannot grasp the spiritual things of God.  Did you know that the carnal man is not subject to the laws of God?  The unbeliever is actually subject to a different set of laws than you and I.  He is subject to the law of sin and death, and he must obey the requirements of the law of sin and death.  Whatever law system one has chosen to place himself under, he is subject to the laws of that system, or government.  God will not hold one accountable to obey His laws if that person has not agreed to come into covenant and be subject to God's laws.  But the principals that govern God's kingdom will not be operational in that person's life either.  And in the end, that person will be judged according to the law he has chosen.  Life if governed by the law of the spirit of life, or death if governed by the law of sin and death.

Our old man that WAS subject to the law of sin and death, died with Christ at the cross. Christ has made our inner man, alive in Him and we are now servants of righteousness!  The law of the Spirit of life operates in our flesh as we lend our "body parts" to righteousness.  Sometimes we make this more complicated than it is. When we were subject to sin, we simply yielded to it and our flesh knew exactly what to do. Now we are subject to righteousness, and we simply yield to God's spirit of righteousness within us, our flesh will follow suit. Don't get hung up on the flesh part, that is NOT who you are! YOU are the part that interacts with God, on the inside, your spirit man, who is now awake and no longer opposed to the ways of God. (give your flesh time, it will get with the program).

Remember that God is Spirit, and He interacts with us through our spirit man.  He is actually communing with His own spirit which is inside of us, and He is in perfect agreement with Himself at all times.  Our spirit man, His Spirit, is in a posture of yieldedness, so there is nothing to stop God's will from being performed through us.   When God begins to reveal this concept to us we see that His preeminence and sovereignty have already been established.  When we are in constant worry that we are outside His will, or that He is unable to work in us because of our flesh, it is only because we do not see How big He really is and that He dealt with the flesh issue before He ever came to indwell us.  We do not even know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit prays through us as we yield to Him. (Rom. 8:26) 

Trying to navigate as though we are fleshly beings will only lead to frustration and defeat. (Gal 5:17) We are SPIRIT.  Our outer man is only our covering so we can carry out our mission here on earth without scaring the bejeezes out of everyone!  When we operate according to the law of faith God is able to achieve the miraculous through us.  We have access to the invisible! The sky is the limit!  The flesh is limited to that which it can see and achieve on it's own.  All of this can only be accomplished through faith.  I ended my post last time with the statement that God does not ask us to shoulder the "burden" of trying in our flesh to "muster" up the faith, to live by faith.  This is such an important concept that I will devote all of my next post to that very thing.  I would like you to meditate on Acts 3:16 and Gal 2:20.  (If you have access to the KJV, that is the version I would like you to use for this meditation).

God has placed us here as His "law enforcement".  We are to oppose the enemy and his rule, and we are certainly not to operate according to the fleshly principals of his system.  Christ, the light of the World is alive in us crying out to the World "BE RECONCILED TO GOD!". (II Cor. 5:17-20)

The Law of Faith (part I)

As believers we are to live by faith and not by sight.  What does that mean?  You will find as we get better acquainted that one of my pet peeves is that as Christians we have a bad habit of using words and phrases (I will call it Christianese) that we have heard in the church growing up and often times have no idea what they mean.  We even spout verses of scripture that are often overused out of context having never meditated on the scripture to allow the Holy Spirit to give us greater revelation into its meaning. 

So let’s take a more in depth look at what it means to live by faith.  The Bible makes it clear that faith and sight are opposed to each other.   We were created to live by faith, but remember that when man fell he learned all kinds of unnatural behaviors and became “at home” in his flesh.  Let’s also keep in mind what we have learned regarding the 2 kingdom system in previous posts (Law and Order 1-4). We will look more closely at the Bible’s definition of faith in a moment but here is the concept of faith: God’s Kingdom is unseen, but He has written its principals on our hearts, (that is actually our inner man) and by faith we operate in this unseen realm.  Since the devil has no access to the believer’s spirit man, he must attack using our mind will and emotions.   If we stay in faith and refuse to trust in what we see, he has no power to harm us.  If we step out of faith, and react in fear to what we see, we have just given legitimacy to his lie and are now
helpless to try and fight him on his territory, by his terms. (Fear is Satan’s counterfeit to faith)  The World REACTS, based on the market, the weather, or their mood.  Believers DO NOT live that way, we live confidently walking, listening for the voice of our Lord and savior.  Satan is no match for the risen victorious Christ living inside of us by faith, but in the flesh we are no match for the devil. 

Yes the evidence and lies will scream at us to go by what we see, Satan is after all, a master of deceit.  If Satan had the power that most Christians credit him with, he would have killed us all off long ago.  When Jesus approached the demoniac, the demon flailed the man about trying in a last ditch effort to appear powerful.  Like the little man behind the curtain in “The Wizard of OZ”, the truth is, that was all he had, he’s all show and no go, unless we pick up his lies and give them life.  Don’t take the bait.  Isaiah 14:16 says that in the end, when all is stripped away and we see him for who he is, we will stare at him and say “is THIS the one that made the earth to tremble??”

Faith is not walking around telling ourselves “I think I can, I think I can.”  It is not some feeling or emotion that our flesh can whip up on its own.  Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the substance of what we hope for, the evidence of things we CANNOT see.  The Greek word there for substance is hypostasis: a substructure or foundation, that which has foundation, actual existence, substance, real being.  The Greek work for evidence is elegchos:  proof, a thing proven or tested, conviction.  And the Greek word for things, pragma: something accomplished, matter, that which exists, or a law suit.  How exciting!  Here is the picture; Our Father puts hope in our heart to accomplish something that is on His heart.  At that point, in the Father’s mind, the THING is already done, it is ALREADY accomplished.  At that point He asks us to partner with Him in faith to bring the thing about.  He loves to share His heart with us and He loves for us to desire what He desires.  Faith is the delivery system by which God takes what is in His heart and causes it to become reality in this worldly realm.  Faith is like the union between a man and a woman by which children are born. 

We will dig more deeply next time, and we will see how, when it comes to our part in faith, God does not ask us to shoulder the impossible.  There too HE provides what we are unable to.