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Day Twenty-Nine, Under-the-Influence

October 10, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Nine

 

Overthrowing Your Strongholds

 

“For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,…”

Amp 2Cor 10:4

 

 

          Have you ever seen the poles along the interstates in Montana and Wyoming used to measure snow drifts?  Sometimes I think it would help to have such a device to measure the pervasiveness of change which the Kingdom of God has made in our old patterns of thinking.  That’s a vague notion I’m sure – let me clarify.

          Simply put, the question is this – is there agreement between what I show people, what I demonstrate to be my thinking or opinions on some topic or towards some person – and what are the thoughts I allow to occupy my internal dialogue?  In other words, am I congruent?  If I harbor thoughts of dislike, distrust, jealousy, anger, rage, bitterness, etc. in my internal mind, but reframe those thoughts and actually dress them up with “pseudo-Christian fluff” that then gets projected outwardly – I am not congruent.  I am living a divided life where what I think and tolerate in my thoughts is markedly different from what I display outwardly.  This is not good.

          The Scripture says, as a man thinks in his heart – so he is.  It says out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks!  We think we are hiding those critical, negative attitudes of our heart.  Or at the very least we think we are dressing them up to make them more socially acceptable.  But we deceive ourselves.  They are known.  More importantly — when your secret thoughts indulge dark thinking – thoughts that are more like the enemies thoughts than a believers, when they are diametrically opposed to the heart and thoughts of God – you place yourself in a dangerous and precarious position.  When you harbor thoughts that are essentially “evil” in that they form a report that does not agree with God, His Word, or His will on the matter, you have then given the enemy a potentially evil foothold.  He cannot read your thoughts, but he can read your actions like a book.  He has studied you especially for places of weakness.  If he can use your negative thinking as a platform and base of operations where he can skew your thoughts into deeper darkness – he will indeed!  This is the zone of danger Will Robinson!

          This is why we are called to guard our hearts above all that we guard – for out of them flow the very issues of life (Prov 4:20-23).  We would seek to modify the projection of our thoughts, to make them look more kind.  We excuse them as something that we are allowed to indulge – completely oblivious to the truth that as they continue to solidify and expand their hold on us — those thoughts are what we actually are becoming!  If our eye is evil or unsound, then the very light that is in us is darkened, and how dense is that darkness (Mt 6:22-23).

          So where is the line in you that marks the level of the Lord’s rule in your life and the reign of His Kingdom.  To what depth does it extend?  Do you religiously arrange your external behavior but bring no discipline to your thought-life?  Do you still insist on harboring thoughts adversarial to His truth and His will simply because you excuse them as harmless? The Lord has given us His life in us and His word to renew our thinking to His.  Saints – use His word as a yardstick to judge the quality of your thinking and to bring truth to your inner man.  As your thinking is brought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus, His life will expand and grow in you.  You will begin to have victory over internal struggles and external conflict like never before.  This, then, begins the overcoming life — the resurrection life, the new life in Christ being lived out in us that He came to give us.

          Be free, be one with Christ in love, be-loved!

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Spurious Record

September 30, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Spurious Records

 

A tree falls down in the forest,

Yet there is not one to see.

Has this moment then actually happened,

When no record is made for me?

 

Jesus takes our fall on a tree,

And there are many who see.

A moment that truly did happen,

Recorded for eternity.

 

Tho’ I was not there as a witness,

Nor had a breath even mine.

This event is one I am certain,

Divides more than history of time

 

So Who then establishes truth?

On Whom can we lean with our mind?

What Anchor prevails against falsehood?

Who frames the very span of time?

 

☼

 

Only One holds Words of all knowledge.

Only One laid footings for Earth.

On the day morning stars sang together,

His commands flow forth as at first.

 

©2011 Sandra Gilloth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day Twenty-Eight, Under-The-Influence

September 30, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Eight

 

He Sees Your Need!

 

“Now there is in Jerusalem a pool near the Sheep Gate.”  Jn 5:2

 

 

          Before Jesus walked the earth as man and God, and ministered to the invalid at this pool of Bethesda, He had sent down an angel at appointed times to stir the waters of the pool.  Whoever entered the waters first after the stirring – was healed!

         Now this certain invalid had laid there  waiting for healing for a very long time.  The Amplified Bible says that Jesus knew that he had already been a long time in that condition.  Jesus knows how long we’ve been in our condition too!  This invalid had suffered for thirty-eight years.  A lot of people would say that would exclude him from being healed.  After all – this infirmity was all he ever knew. 

          But it says that Jesus knew how long.  He saw how long! Jesus was aware over the seasons and years – each time He sent an Angel to stir those waters — this man was helpless.  Imagine it! After the very first water stirring, someone enters the water and is miraculously healed – people begin to understand!  “If I can get into the water first after its stirred, I can be healed!”

          They begin to watch the waters, intent, waiting expectantly.  Crowds grow.  More sick come to wait on the angel’s stirring.  It seems to take forever.  They grow weary in their waiting.  They stop watching – stop hoping. Then suddenly it happens again– the angel stirs the water – but someone else gets in before you.  Pretty soon – you move to hopelessness.  After all, there is always going to be someone who is quicker than you to enter the pool.  There’s always someone faster, brighter, more alert, stronger etc.  But that is why Jesus asked this invalid, “Do you want to become well?” He had to stir up expectancy and hope within this man to receive healing – just like He had done so many times before with the waters of the pool.

          As the invalid begins to explain his limitation and his lack of ability to get in the pool, desire and want are being quickened within him.  When Jesus says to him, “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk!” – he doesn’t have to struggle under his own effort to receive the strength to get up.  It is immediately there – Power is there at the moment Jesus speaks the word.  The power to get up is right there because the command of God empowers Him to respond and obey. Jesus supplies what we can’t!

          As I look at this pool of Bethesda, this invalid, and what Jesus does for Him – I know that it was not just for that moment in time, but the same healing is available to anyone for all time!  As believers in Jesus Christ, we have entered through the Sheep Gate into the place of blessing and promise in Christ.  We reside in the place of grace upon grace, and spiritual blessing upon blessing, even favor upon favor (Jn1:16) – that is in Christ Jesus.  Greater than the Pool of Bethesda that had a seasonal stirring for healing, we live in the very Presence of the Most High God Who has already given us all things for life and godliness.  Nothing is impossible for Him!  His arm is not shortened in any way.  

          Perhaps we have continued to focus our attention where He once moved, but is no longer moving.  Once Jesus visited this invalid at the pool do you think He would send His angel later to continue to stir the waters?  I don’t.

          The angel stirring the waters was a foretaste of God’s grace.  But when Jesus arrived on the scene – ALL GRACE HAD ARRIVED!  It would not be superseded by external waters again being stirred!  Out of His fullness we have already received one grace after another, spiritual blessing upon blessing, favor upon favor!  But if you see yourself unable to enter that, if you have grown un-expectant because of disappointment and failure and inability – look to Jesus.  Tell Him of your attempts and shortcomings.  Let hunger and hope be quickened within you again, so that when He says, “Get up,” you will be able to immediately!  It is the power of God that brings you to your feet. 

          Arise, enter in, be hopeful again, be-loved.

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Day Twenty-Seven, Under-the-Influence

September 23, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Seven

 

The Bridegroom’s Voice

 

“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the groomsman who stands by and listens to him rejoices greatly and heartily on account of the bridegroom’s voice.  This then is my pleasure and my joy, and it is now complete.”  Amp Jn 3:29

 

         

          John the Baptist is referring here to himself as the groomsman who rejoices greatly on account of the Lord’s voice.  Yet over in Matthew 11:11 Jesus told the crowds He was addressing that the “least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.”  That is that the least saint of God, the least believer of the Body of Christ, the smallest member who helps form the Bride of Christ – that smallest member is greater that John the Baptist.  Yet John rejoiced at the Bridegroom’s voice.  The question is:  How much more so should we who are part of the Body of Christ/part of the Bride – how much more then should we rejoice daily to hear the voice of our Lord, our Beloved, The Bridegroom?

          Rejoice you say?  “I would just be happy to hear the Lord’s voice at all?”  Well then this word is for you (and continually remains for me too!)

          What is needed for us to hear the voice of the Lord – to be more conscious of His speaking?  Like John did – we must decrease, and He must increase!

          As believers it is time for our lives to be laid down as living sacrifices, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is our reasonable sacrifice and service.  (Rom 12:1)  We are called to offer ourselves to God “as though” we have been already raised from the dead to perpetual life. (Rom 6:13)  We are called to please our master in singleness of motive and with all our heart, as to Christ Himself!  We are called to do the will of God heartily with our whole soul.  (Eph 6:5-6)  So what is the problem?

          Our own consciousness of our desires and needs, our wants and dreams, our hopes and plans (our own soul) – has not been laid in the dust before the Lord as a living sacrifice.  We not only attend to all these things, we serve and indulge these things as our first priority – and we don’t even register the desires and plans or needs and wants of the Lord.  We can’t hear His voice because the voice of our own selves so fills our focus, is so quickly indulged, so thoroughly attended to, we can’t hear His voice.

          But if we are willing to lay down our own “life” like Job says: “if we lay gold in the dust, and the Gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth], and make the Almighty your gold and the Lord your precious silver treasure, then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.”  (Job 22:24-26)

          The Gold of Ophir was considered to be of the highest quality and value.  So if we lay our Gold of Ophir down – it is laying down our very lives which we so treasure, for the Life of Christ which is of much greater value!  It is then, as we begin to let go of ourselves, forget ourselves, lose sight of ourselves – that our own voice diminishes and His voice can be heard.  It won’t happen overnight.  But as we continually make this our posture before Him, we will lose self-consciousness and the Holy Spirit will bring forth Christ-consciousness. We will then hear the voice of the Bridegroom!  In that place, you will no longer want to indulge your own self.  You will be the Bride that the Bridegroom has – and will rejoice greatly in that fact. (Jn 3:29)

          Be-less, be-Christ conscious, be-loved  — BE the BRIDE!

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The Marker

September 19, 2011 by insolomonsporch

The Marker

 

A Bookmark is a handy thing,

It shows us where we’re at.

We turn to it and see our place,

“Yes!  I remember that!”

Yet bookmarks only hold your place,

And move along with thee.

Far better is He Who took your place,

On the Cross at Calvary!

As someone turns to seek Him,

He shows them where they’re at.

And as the Spirit nudges they say,

“Oh Lord … I repent of that.”

The True Marker is the Lord!

Who holds your place… in life.

He holds it before the Father,

Within the Book of Life.

He holds your place in Heaven,

The Mansions you will see.

He went to prepare a place for you,

That where He is you’ll be.

Oh would that you might seek Him.

He stands at the door and knocks.

But warn all those who would choose Him not –

A place not held is lost!

 

©1998 Sandra Gilloth

“The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion.  My cup:  You hold and maintain my lot.” (Psalm 16:5)

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Day Twenty-Six, Under-the-Influence

September 17, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Six

 

LIVE

 

“…Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  Amp Mt 4:4

 

          It’s not the things of this world (neither bread, nor relationships, nor medicinal care, nor any other thing) which upholds and sustains our life.  That, in fact, is the sole purview of the Sovereign Authority of the Universe – God Himself!

          There is someone, however, who has drifted from God.  You have left the table of His Word.  You have turned from strong fellowship with Him.  You have allowed the place of your living to become entangled and dependent on the world – what it offers, what it believes, and you have even adopted its standards.

          There was a time you honored your parents.  But then the world presented something you wanted (which they did not feel was a healthy choice for you) you brought railing accusations against them.  You traded your obedient heart (to them and to God) for a heart of rebellion and so have now brought upon yourself the penalty of suffering for that rebellion.  Justify it as you might, unless you repent of that rebellion to parental authority, and turn your thinking and believing back to the truth, and set your heart again in dependence on the word of God (and eat at that table only) – the suffering will continue.

          Think back to Samson.  A man of great strength who was brought low when he forgot Who held his life, and when he rebelled against his parents to get the Philistine woman.  Ultimately – his life disintegrated as he was chained to the pillars of the idolatrous temple of Dagon.  At the end, he destroys the temple – pulling it down, but it takes him down as well.

          Now as you see your situation – see your past rebellion and repent of it.  Turn from past thinking and change your mind to hold God’s thinking once again. As you repent and ask forgiveness, you crumble the hold that pain and suffering have on you – just as Samson crumbled those temple pillars.  You then de-throne rebellion, and place God on the altar of your heart once again.  With that your life can be sustained not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

          Be repentant, be restored, be-loved!

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Day Twenty-Five, Under-the-Influence

September 13, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Five

 

Arise and Shine!

 

“Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you – rise to a new life!] Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!” (Amp Is 60:1)

 

          Before Moses was commissioned by God to go deliver the Hebrews out of captivity in Egypt, their bodies were bowed under the strain of their evil taskmasters.  Their heads were bowed under the oppression of a system that only cared about what they could produce.  But their hearts remained attached to the belief that a Deliverer was coming to free them.  He did, and has freed – US ALL!  Yet – you and I today can often slide into a place of captivity and forgetfulness of that deliverance and freedom.  We can lose our perspective and thus our position through Christ.  There in that place of being weighed down, our heads are bowed, and we look like captives.  Even as believers, if we are not watchful, the cares of this world can choke and suffocate the Word that is in us (Mt 13:22).  But dwelling within us is the very Presence of the Most – High God, Who is more than a conqueror in us!  To be engaged with that Truth we must receive it, know it, and keep it as a light before us to walk out.

          Think of yourself like a balloon filled with helium.  Under normal conditions you are buoyant.  You float!  That is a picture of the Spirit-Filled life.  You are an over-comer.  But if you change the external conditions and begin to increase the pressure on the outside of the balloon – the balloon begins to struggle and shrink under that greater pressure.  The only way to avoid the collapse of that balloon is to increase the internal pressure to match that of the outside atmosphere.

          In life, when our focus is stayed on the world and its cares, our buoyancy begins to subside.  The problem is:  we are focused on the wrong thing.  Yes, we can be aware of the problem and issues – but we focus on the Lord!  Like Col 3:2 says, we set our minds and keep them set on things that are above, not on things on the earth.  To focus on the cares of this world steals our buoyancy and our over-coming strength in Christ.  This strength dissipates (leaks) anyway over time – so we must constantly fill up and be filled in the Spirit.  We do this by focusing on Christ, meditating on, and memorizing His Word.  We let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.  We put on the love of Christ and enfold ourselves with His bond of perfection (this helps slow down the leaking process) 🙂(Col 3: 14-16).  And we allow His peace to rule in us – this stabilizes agitation and upheaval in us that stirs us to fretting and worry.

          So then focusing on Christ, constantly connecting and filling up on His Word, being enfolded in His love, and having His peace fill and rule in our hearts  — these are the ways we keep our lives in a place of faith and strength before Him so we can indeed arise and shine in His glory.  These are the ways we throw off the shackles of prostration and depression that the enemy would like us to be captive to.  These are the ways we keep our spiritual life buoyant and inflated with the Presence of the Lord!

          Beloved – we are free!  Our circumstances may be pressing hard against us.  We may be perplexed.  We may be pursued or persecuted.  We may even be struck down by events – but we are not struck out and destroyed! (2Cor 4:8-10) Within us resides by God’s grace everything we need to overcome every situation and circumstance.  But our success lies in keeping our focus on Him, His word dwelling in us richly, enfolded in His love, with His peace ruling over our hearts! We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus!

          Arise and shine — beloved!

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Day Twenty-Four, Under-the-Influence

July 29, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Four

 

Of Greasewood or Mesquite

 

“And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones.  And you shall be like a spring of water whose waters fail not.”

Is 58:11

 

          There is a place where drought and dryness is of more consequence than in the geographic territory where you physically reside.  Drought and dryness are worse when they permeate the landscape of your spiritual life – because you have neglected prayer.  Prayer waters the life of your spirit and feeds the life of Christ in you.  To not pray feeds your natural life and the life of sin in you.

          The Lord showed me a dramatic analogy of this as I walked along the desert terrain where I live.  Mesquite and greasewood compete across this basin for very limited water resources.  When rain has been really scarce (like it has been here) – the mesquite looks quite green alongside the brown and struggling greasewood.  But mesquite is vicious.  It harvests poisonous thorns of an inch long or better.  It spews toxins in the soil which restrict other plant encroachment within a perimeter of 2ft. around it.  It dominates the terrain in dangerous ways.  When rain has not fallen for months, mesquite provides an illusion of health while greasewood looks virtually dead.

          Mesquite is like what proliferates in the landscape of our heart when we neglect prayer.  The worst things in us arise, and while giving the appearance of vitality – they are thorny, deadly, and vicious.  When we neglect prayer it is like the desert where rain has failed to fall sufficiently to support better foliage – like the greasewood.  So in a sense, rain to the geographic terrain is like prayer to our spiritual terrain.  A shortage of rainfall allows thorny mesquite to arise and dominate.  A shortage of prayer allows our thorny, deadly, natural life to gain ground and dominate.  Good rainfall shifts the balance for a better more profitable ground cover of greasewood to thrive.  Increased prayer strengthens the life of Christ in us, and spiritually we look like well watered gardens. 

In the desert, we often become devoted to praying for rain when it has not come.  But it is time to pray more passionately for the prayer lives of our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

          So what about you?  Are you looking dry and parched and thorny in the spiritual state?  Is that the life that is dominating in you?  Or are you that well watered garden – the springs of which never fail and can even water others.  The Lord would have you be so and more.  He has made every provision for it.

          Be lush, be watered, be-loved!

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Day Twenty-Three, Under-the-Influence

July 14, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Three

 

To Tread, Or to Walk Upon

 

“… Take courage!  I AM!  Stop being afraid!”

Mt 14:27

 

 

                The other day the Lord showed me a comparison of what working in my own power looks like versus working in the Spirit.  Working according to my own nature – in my flesh, even with my best stuff in operation – is like me treading water.  You really don’t get anywhere, you get really tired overtime, but it does keep your head just above water.  What the Lord is looking for however in His saints– is the work that is done through faith in Him that overcomes – even our faith.  It is work done through love, in the Spirit.  This kind of work looks like Peter – walking on the water!

          Now I have heard that Peter was disobedient, reckless, all kinds of things negative because of this water-walking episode.  But interestingly enough, the Lord’s only rebuke to him was that he doubted!  In the Matthew verse above, Jesus had just spoken to them as a group and commanded them to stop being afraid.  Under the canopy and faith ignition of that word, Peter – in exuberant spirit – says to the Lord, “If it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  The Lord did then command him to come.  Only after Peter allowed his attention to move from the Lord to the wind and waves did he succumb to fear and began to sink.

          But notice this.  Jesus had already made a perfect provision for Peter to walk on the water, and walk without sinking!  When Jesus said, “I AM!  Stop being afraid!”  He was laying out a blanket statement which made it possible for Peter to walk on water.  His query to Peter about doubting did not pertain to Peter’s walking on water.  It pertained to Peter’s doubting the very veracity of Jesus’ word which He had just spoken.  The same word released faith in Peter initially to walk – but was dissipated in the face of the contesting wind.  The cares of this world do indeed choke the word that is within us!

          Peter, had by faith in Jesus, overcome his natural fear to walk on water because of the power of Jesus’ word.  But then Peter’s focus gave way to the wind and waves (the world) to overcome the word in him!  This was his failure, and though momentary it brings a glorious demonstration for us.  You see – ignited by faith in the Lord’s word through love, we too are called to be overcomers of every situation that life hands us. 

          Can you believe this?  John 16:33 tells us this very thing!

                   “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.  In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”

 

Also, 1Jn 5:4 further develops this concept:

          “For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world even our faith.”

 

          Whatever is born of the Spirit of God – is spirit!  This spiritual power (of faith through love) has the capacity to overcome every thing which the world can throw at it – even our faith.  This spiritual power is  the very life of Jesus operating within us as believers!  Hence, this Scripture (1Jn 5:4) is a depiction of Peter walking on the water.  Walking on water: – the truth of the supernatural life in Christ.  Treading on water: — the natural power of man’s own natural life on display.

          Can we believe Jesus’ word even now – even for today?  He still says: “Take courage!  I AM! Stop being afraid!”  It is just as true today!

          Be-loved!

 

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Day Twenty-Two, Under-the-Influence

July 8, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Two

 

Are You — Sowing to the Flesh?

 

“For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

Gal 6:8

 

            This is an area of foundational teaching that often gets left in the pursuit of what seems to be more “cutting edge” Biblical teaching.  For that reason, much of the Body of Christ does not comprehend what it means to sow to the flesh or the spirit, and its great importance.  Tied closely to the doctrines of walking in the Spirit (or conversely walking in the flesh), it is an enigma to many believers.

            In Day Twenty-One of this devotional, we looked at the dangers of flattery because of the component in us which flattery feeds – the flesh.  So this notion of sowing to the flesh is closely linked with the topic of Day Twenty-One.

            Once a believer is born again he carries within him two natures.  He retains his old nature – his soul (comprised of his will, intellect, and emotions), and his physical body.  His soul and his body are something he received because of a natural birth.  They are his flesh.  While they are not “evil” (unless they are engaged in sin) – the soul and the body together are always flesh!  They can do good, but they can also easily sin.  Satan counts on you continuing to operate in the flesh even for good – for then it is a small leap to bring you to sin in the flesh.

            The believer also now carries within him the life of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (the Holy Spirit) within his own regenerated spirit.  You received this supernatural life when you were born again.  This new life in Christ gives the believer the mind and will and intentions of Christ, and the ability to be led by the Spirit.  But remember, these two natures are completely adversarial in what they want and their posture.  Hence, a struggle is introduced into our lives that we have never known before we became a believer:  the struggle between the flesh life, and the spirit life; the natural life and the supernatural life.

To sow to the flesh simply means that the believer is drawing upon his old flesh nature to live his life, instead of drawing upon his new nature in Christ.  The word  sow in Strong’s is #4687 speiro.  Speiro means to scatter, i.e. sow (lit or fig):- sow(-er), receive seed.  It also says that is it probably strengthened by #4685 spao, which means to draw out.

Now think of your flesh life and your spirit life like two different bank accounts.  When you live your life drawing on the assets of your flesh (your will, intellect, or emotions, or the demands of your body) – you are sowing to the flesh.  Not only do you live a flesh-centered existence, you are continually preferring the flesh and gratifying it, but that flesh-based currency can only extend the flesh.  So as you try and minister or witness to the Lord, if you are relying on flesh currency – you will only extend and draw out the boundaries of flesh.  That is what happens both within you, but also within those you minister to or teach.  You strengthen the flesh life in yourself and them, and therefore you reap only flesh and from it decay, ruin, and destruction.

That may seem harsh.  After all, as a believer, your desire is most likely to serve the King!  The truth is, however, we can only serve Him on His terms and those terms are to serve Him through the nature of Christ in the Spirit of Christ.  Only in that way is there spiritual success!  Only in that way do we work in righteousness!  When we work through our spirit and the Holy Spirit we are drawing our “currency” out of the Spirit of the Kingdom of God.  What is extended then is of the spirit – it is extending and drawing out the spirit life.  It is both bringing life in the spirit, and also strengthening that life.  Only currency in the spirit can do that – not currency of the flesh life.  But sowing to the spirit reaps eternal life for ourselves and others who receive it!

Now the enemy counts on us spending our lives drawing on the flesh to try and build the Kingdom of God.  He counts on us remaining ignorant of the concept of sowing to the flesh or the spirit.  Why?  As said before – when we live our lives drawing upon and out of our flesh – it is easier for the enemy to move us into sin which brings us under condemnation.  Also drawing out of our flesh currency is a futile exercise.  All that we strengthen, all that we extend remains of the flesh nature – and only flesh.  This brings no profit in the spirit.  This effort will ultimately reap ruin and destruction for the lives involved.

             So what are we to do?  Live as Jesus has provided – by His Spirit Life!  We live and move and have our being in Him – in His life, no longer in our old life!  Learn how to discern if you are walking in the Spirit, or are you walking in the flesh.  But learn to draw everything that you work with, live by, build with, and share — from the assets of your spirit “currency.”  The first part is to understand that this issue exists.  The second part is to pursue knowledge from the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God for living righteously according to the Spirit of Life in Christ.  May you be blessed to have your eyes fully opened and walk according to this provision!

            Be-loved.

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