July 23 - In the Spirit
Our mind is like a battleground of our lives as our flesh and our spirit are fighting a war on whether to yield to God or to the body. If we are mindful of the flesh, of ourselves, we cannot make any decision to please God for our flesh in the natural cannot submit to the law or the rule of God. We are self-centered and self-serving, cannot honor God as Lord and cannot serve God in any way. Our body cannot be the center of our lives. The one with an overblown ego becomes a proud person and God hates the proud but give grace to the humble.
A humble person is one who knows who he is and whose he is. There is no illusion that he can operate outside of God’s sphere and rule. At the dedication of the temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and told him the condition of His presence and help, “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14)
Only a humble person can relate to God in the right fashion, as creature before the Creator. Only a humble person can pray and seek the Lord. Only then can they receive the power to overcome sin by renouncing and confessing it. Then God’s eyes, ears and heart are on that person. His prayers would then be answered and healing would take place. Healing is the return to wholeness, an absence of brokenness and weakness. It is peace and joy in the Spirit.
When a person is humble, he can overlook the demands of the flesh and yield to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit who lives in him. His mind is filled with the thoughts of the Spirit and his every decision is out of his obedience to God and a rejection of the self. He nails his body on the cross and offers it as a living sacrifice. He knows whose he is, a child of God by adoption because the Spirit witnesses the fact about him. The power of Christ is available to him, the greatest power on earth, the same power of the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. His position as a righteous person is realized for his mortal body has come alive in the Spirit because he is a Spirit-controlled person.
Are you desirous of such a life in the Spirit? Do you want to please God and walk out your position as His adopted child with all the privileges that Jesus has? You can become co-heir with Christ and obtain all God’s inheritance. Do you want power to overcome sufferings in order that you would be glorified with Christ one day? The starting point is to humble yourself before Him, pray and seek His face. Say “no” to yourself and say “yes” to God now. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and welcome God’s rule in your life today.
Ps 78:1-16 2 Chron 7:11-10:19 Rom 8:9-21 Prov 19:26