NEWSFLASH: TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH, BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE!
2015 has come to an end and 2016 Is looming. What are your Goals for your spiritual Growth?
See lots of people make New years Goals, Resolutions, Plans, Mind-maps,Dream or Vision Boards etc…Many don’t consider spiritual growth as part of that Vision…today I am here to say to you its an essential part of your Growth in all other departments of your life! If your Inner spirit, Your Mind is not given its true attention you are as good as staying in one place or even going backwards…! What do you feed your mind and spirit?
Let me also open this can of worms…Carnality. Most of us are Carnal minded. we focus on the Physical achievements and pleasures and we miss the very purpose of our existence. How about this 2016 you focus more on Growing and Living Spiritually thus attracting Life and Peace….
Thats my personal experience & let me back it up with some spiritual food… See the Lord promises to Look after you in miraculous ways indeed:
“Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert!” Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 KJV
We are blessed when we read the Word of God and our faith grows because we believe in His Word. People have been suffering for the past five centuries, deceived by such false doctrines as the Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification, the Doctrine of Justification, and others that claim that redemption is possible through prayers of repentance. Romans 8:3 tells us that God did what the Law could not do in likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in his flesh. He judged Him to deliver us from all our sins. Today, we turn to Romans 8:4-11 for God “He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” The question, of course, is this: what does this mean?
FIRST, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO NOT LIVE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH?
This means to not seek the profits of the flesh. It is to the flesh, and to stay away from those who do not obey the word of God, Verse 5 states, “for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh” What does the things of the flesh mean? This means that there are those who, even as they attend church, seek after their own desires. To put it simply, Christian should not go to church for the purpose of profit -seeking businesses in the world. This is living according to the flesh. These people go to churches with large congregations to introduce and advertise their businesses, in the hopes of acquiring regular and loyal customers. They attend church and believe in Jesus for the sake of their own flesh.
There are others. Those who teach sectarianism within the Christian community, and those who teach their followers to pursue only material blessings are also the ones who live according to the flesh and who have set their minds on the things of the flesh. We can easily encounter sectarianism in our Christian community. Who are these sectarians then? These are the people who deceive themselves with their misplaced faith in the superiority of their denomination. They say that their sect was established by so and so, that they have such and such theologians, that they are this big and greatly known over the world and have this strong a tradition, and build up their own faith. There are many with such faith in this world.
Sectarians believe in Jesus for the benefits of their own flesh. Those who live according to the flesh still boast of their churches and of having been materially blessed by attending their large churches. some churches have such common community goals as love your wife. But this is what those who live according to the flesh means. should churches set their eyes on loving one’s wives as their goal? They should not. Am l then saying that we should not love our wives? of course not, but such goals , however nice and attractive, cannot be the fundamental purpose of our Church.
Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Too many ministers today have turned themselves into such people by being interested only in increasing the size of their church membership, offerings and building- these have now become the main purpose of their faith. Build a bigger, teller, and larger church has become their greatest goal. Even if they outwardly say that gathering more followers is to lead them to Heaven and offer other such excuses, their ultimate purpose is the to raise more money in order to build bigger church buildings…not building the church!
To make their churches to follow the things of the flesh, they had to turn their followers into religious fanatics. Some pastoral leaders have built their success on the ability to turn their congregation into fanatics, half-crazed, delusional, and utterly misguided.
THOSE WHO LIVE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD
However, there are those who really live according to the Spirit of God among the Christians. These who live according to the spirit live according to the Word of God, believe what is written in the Scriptures while denying their own thoughts, do as God pleases, and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Bible states that those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. If we have been forgiven for all our sins by believing in God’s righteousness, we should not live thoughtlessly, but live meditating on the work of the spirit. The Bible states that those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. lf we have been forgiven for all our sins by believing in God’s righteousness, we should not live thoughtlessly, but live meditating on the work of the Spirit. Those who live by the Spirit think spiritually and set out to do the things of the Spirit by faith. Happy are those who pursue the things of the Spirit. These are the people who please God, save others from the sins of the world, and live by faith. We have been forgiven for our sins and therefore must set our minds on the things of the Spirit and live according to Him.
THOSE WHO ARE IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST
Let us read verse 9 together:
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
This passage, according to Paul, means that if we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit – in other words, if we believe in God’s righteousness and have been redeemed from our sins, we are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit. lf anyone has the Spirit in his/her heart, this person is in Christ, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person is not His. We are, therefore, not in the flesh but in the spirit. We, who are in the Spirit and have been delivered from sin through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, should and forget that we are the soldier of righteousness, who have the capacity to please God as the righteous in Christ. We should not despair at the weaknesses of our flesh, but please God with the faith that, although we are weak, we are His and we are in Him, and that therefore we are His workers.
So what will you chose for 2016, To live carnally or live spiritually? I encourage you to chose the Life and peace that comes from Living in the spirit! And may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ Be with us all now and always throughout 2016 and beyond.
Allow me to wish you all Blessed New Year, filled with all good things from the Heavenly throne room Always!
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Stay Blessed
