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.  

HisSpace

It has occurred to me that god is seeking space that He can use for His will to be accomplished. He wants MySpace. On the social network MySpace promotes itself as a place for friends. One can publish just about anything about anyone on MySpace. It is all about the person. What if MySpace (all that is mine) was His Space. What if my job, my house, my spouse, my kids, my cars, my money, my whatever was HisSpace to do His will? There has been a show that was entitled Changing Spaces. What if we just allowed God to come into MySpace and make it HisSpace? His Space to do His will! What changes would He want to make? What would He want to move around? What would He want to throw away? What atmospheres and environments would He want to chnage? Do we just come to God and stay in control of all that we call MySpace? It is clear that God loves you, loves you unconditionally, loves you as you are, but does that mean that He does not care about what MySpace is really like? I think He does. What do you think?

Dry Spells

It appears that more and more people are determining that they are in a dry spell, valley or some uneventful place by some other name. Life is about highs and lows, good and bad, easy and difficult, dry and wet or happy and sad. Many seem to think that when life is not full of exciting emotion that everything is bad. But is it? Is it not in these times that one looks more insightfully into their past as well as their future. Realizing that some decisions in the past might be the reason they are experiencing this particular valley. Realizing if something does not change then nothing is going to change. During these times we seem to have a heightened sense of where we are. Are these not the times when God is most findable in who He really is? Are these not the times when we really realize where our hope is found? Are these not the times that determine who we really are and who we really trust? It is not the emotions of Christianity or life that I put my trust. It is in Christ and the truth of His Word that I have to trust no matter how I feel. Is there anything else one can trust 100%? Valleys are separated by mountains, so if one wants to get to the next mountaintop you have to go through the next valley. Keep your head up and climb my friend. (Read Psalm 42 and 63)