Continued From Yesterday

(Continued from yesterday)

This is a continuation of gleaning from the first chapter of the Christian Classic by Andrew Murray The Master’s Indwelling. As Christians we are to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18). This is not just for some it is for all. It is for you and me. Murray writes, “God’s Word teaches us that God does not expect a man to live as he ought for one minute unless the Holy Spirit is in him to enable him to do it.” (p17). God expects us to live according to the Spirit. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5, ESV). If you are Christian you have the Holy Spirit.

^“Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5b, ESV). Murray gives some steps that will help in the move from carnal to spiritual.

1. Recognize that a spiritual life, a walk in the Spirit, is within our reach. It can be had.
2.  A man must see the shame and guilt of living a carnal life. Just as one cannot come to God for salvation unless he is convicted of his sin and need for God, one cannot come back to God until he is convicted of his sin that had led to carnality. Read the story of the prodigal son.
3. The distance from the state of carnality to spirituality is ONE. Murray continued, “It is when a man utterly breaks with the flesh; when he gives up the flesh into the crucifixion death of Christ; when he sees that everything about it is accursed and that he cannot deliver himself from it; and then clams the slaying power of Christ’s cross within him, - it is when a man does this and says: ‘This spiritual life prepared for me is the free gift of my God in Christ Jesus.’ That he understands how one step can bring him out of the carnal into the spiritual state.”
4. Crucify the flesh. “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, ESV). One must give themselves up to the Holy Spirit by faith.

The choice is ours. Living in a state of carnality or spirituality is a choice we make everyday. Take the step.