Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Romans 8:6-8


6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
Faith comes for us from hearing the Truth and it is our Father’s Truth that sets us free. Faith, even as small as a mustard seed, will move a mountain and the Truth is that we now have the Holy Spirit controlling us. He doesn’t pick and choose only a few areas of our life’s to control either, He controls everything that there is in our life’s. He never leaves us and He never forsakes us, therefore He is always causing us to triumph. Everything that happens in our life’s now works out for our and our Kingdoms good. 
To believe any other way is to be fleshly minded and that kind of thinking only brings fear. But the Truth brings us great peace and allows us to be used by our Father to serve the world. If we had to be concerned about what we had to do, or if we had to take thought about whether we were properly keeping a set of rules, we would always be focused on ourselves. We would also find a reason to condemn ourselves and others. When we feel intimidated or insecure, we tend to find faults in others. This allows us to feel like were not alone and that we aren’t that bad. But when we are given the Mind of Christ that doesn’t take thought for such things, we are able to forgive and intercede and never take any negative thought for the actions of those who our Father is using us to serve. We are able to fully apply grace because we fully live in grace. If we had to live in Law, we would demand the Law from those we serve. There is no freedom in rules and laws, there is however freedom in Christ.   
7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.
To believe that our Father has a set of rules that we on our own have to keep, slaps Him in the face and insults Him. That kind of thinking says that His grace has to be earned and that His mercy has to be accepted, not just freely applied. Religion with all of its rules does not please our Father. It never has and it never will.  
8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
    
Religion is not acceptable to our Father. Jesus is acceptable and Jesus is life and He is peace. Church is great, we are to gather together with like minded believers. But if that gathering turns into a group of people developing a set of rules and laws to show others how to live, it becomes carnal and is unacceptable. We are all individual body parts of Christ. The hand does not act or need what the kidneys do. Our hair needs and acts differently that our eyes. The same holds true with us. Our Father will use and provide for each of us as He sees fit. We are all different and we are all used differently. This is why it is all Grace. What our Father wants me to do and what I need is different than what He wants for you. We are all one body, but we all are individual members of that body. There is not a set of laws that can fit us all, only grace does and we now have it in abundance. 

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