thinking again.......
Not only are we born into the middle of a war.....(I've talked at length about that before) but once we experience that new birth, hopefully, we become aware of the war that is raging within us. The apostle Paul refers to it as the war, (the ongoing battle), between our spirit and our flesh. There can really be no awareness of this battle until after we have been born again. Paul talks about this in several places like Galatians 5, but also in Romans 7.....
For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. 20* But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21* I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.
When I got to thinking about this, I began once again to wonder if the religious systems will ever understand this one. I have heard so many sermons about all those terrible sinners out there in that terrible world.....and they prove it from the scriptures as if scripture was written to that world that has never been born again and has no awareness at of all of some separation of themselves as spirit and flesh, no awareness of a tri-partite existence of body, soul and spirit.
Paul wrote his epistles to the church.....to the saints....to those who spirits have been brought back to life by the new birth...the Holy Spirit has breathed HisLife into us and now....for the very first time....we begin that battle between the spirit and the flesh!
Can I quote my old friend Oswald again? I think he is saying the same thing, in his unique way and, at the same time, showing us the way out of Romans 7....... as Paul does..."Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25* Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Oswald Chambers: "Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, "Oh, I can explain that."
I pray that we will respond to the Holy Spirit that way....agree with Him.....and then Jesus will come and live His life in that area of your life.
This is not one of those things I know because Ellen explained it to me. I have and continue to experience this marvelous truth almost daily in my life....so does Ellen!
:)
For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. 20* But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21* I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.
When I got to thinking about this, I began once again to wonder if the religious systems will ever understand this one. I have heard so many sermons about all those terrible sinners out there in that terrible world.....and they prove it from the scriptures as if scripture was written to that world that has never been born again and has no awareness at of all of some separation of themselves as spirit and flesh, no awareness of a tri-partite existence of body, soul and spirit.
Paul wrote his epistles to the church.....to the saints....to those who spirits have been brought back to life by the new birth...the Holy Spirit has breathed HisLife into us and now....for the very first time....we begin that battle between the spirit and the flesh!
Can I quote my old friend Oswald again? I think he is saying the same thing, in his unique way and, at the same time, showing us the way out of Romans 7....... as Paul does..."Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25* Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Oswald Chambers: "Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, "Oh, I can explain that."
I pray that we will respond to the Holy Spirit that way....agree with Him.....and then Jesus will come and live His life in that area of your life.
This is not one of those things I know because Ellen explained it to me. I have and continue to experience this marvelous truth almost daily in my life....so does Ellen!
:)
