18 Apr 2010, Posted by spittingimage in General, No Comments.

From one nailed scarred hand to Freedom

Life by the Spirit

Galatians
5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not
let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 13 You, my brothers,
were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful
nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in
a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep
on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each
other. 16 So I say, live by the Spirit,
and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful
nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary
to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not
do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that
those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not
become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

If
God is for us, then who can be against us?
If we are justified through Christ and re-generated into new creatures, that
is, adopted as sons of God then why do we persist on being enslaved to the old
nature. Why is their grumbling and
factions and the like? What will it take
for us to unify each other as the body of Christ? There are many questions that always seems to
be lessened by our own depravity; whatever that looks like by some. We are all men and we are definitely
fallible, therefore, without using the Word of God as a way of reproof in our
lives then everything else we do is for naught.
Let be more specific, without the Word of God as our benchmark, prayer
and petition, and accountability and trust in and only of our salvation through
Jesus Christ, then we are in error. We
cannot say that something is from God if the Bible does not reproof it. Let me explain it this way: Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to
their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey
them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no
advantage to you. Jesus put it this
way: Matthew 22:34 Hearing that Jesus
had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an
expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36"Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a]
38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on
these two commandments."

Jesus
paid it all, once and for all, on Calvary.
If you profess the name of the Lord as Savior, believed that he was born
of a virgin, died for our sins and rose again on the third day and confess our
sins to Jesus and ask him to be Lord over our life, then you are saved. Your transgression are forgiven and you are
made white as snow. Also, we read in
scripture that we become Sons of God. Our
old sin nature is at war with our new self and we have to either choose to live
by the Spirit or to live a life that continues to require another
crucifixion. Why, to those of us that
continue to fall into the same sin, do you continue to crucify Jesus and ask
for your sins to be pardon? Is the fruit
of the Spirit in your life? Are you
walking by the Spirit, that is, is your life completely obedient to God and to
his Word? Do the words Stewardship,
Purity and Discipleship mean anything to your daily walk? If the answer is yes, then you are walking by
the Spirit. If you answer is some of the
time, then you need to clean house and repent, and if the answer is no, then I
have to ask are you truly saved?