The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Spirits"
Our spirits constitute the innermost essence of who we are as born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" said the Savior (John 3:6). Moreover, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9). Of even greater and far more significance, the Holy Spirit dwells within our spirits, serving as the very Life of our lives, and the presence of God in the very depths of our being. "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit… the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Corinthians 6:17; 3:16).
This sublime truth establishes the believer as a Heavenly being, dwelling upon the earth. We also possess earthly faculties and members that can presently serve as the means whereby Christ is revealed and glorified in us, or as that part of us that can lead us downward. "Every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor… The flesh lusteth against the spirit" (I Thessalonians 4:4; Galatians 5:17). Either way, nothing changes the fact of our spirits united with the Spirit of Christ. If we walk in the Spirit, we live in accordance with our grace-given newness of life and being that should characterize our journey upon the path of righteousness. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). If we walk after the flesh, we ignore or disbelieve the presence of God in us, and the spiritual reality that, again, serves as the very heart of our "new man… created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). We are who we are - in Christ - regardless of whether we live accordingly or not. Indeed, to the Corinthians, "carnal" in their walk, Paul nevertheless affirmed, "Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Corinthians 3:3; 16).
How earthly and fleshly we can feel, and sometimes walk. We must not discount the possibility, and ever be on our guard against the spiritual enemies who tempt us to live as if we little more than animals governed by natural desires and inclinations. We are not that as born again believers, and from the moment of our new birth, never will be. We can deny the Lord that bought us, and deny that we are bought. Nothing, however, changes the change that occurred when we trusted the Lord Jesus. A death occurred deeply within us, and even more, a life sprang into being, alive in the life of the risen Christ.
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
Nothing can alter this glory of freely given life and being, made possible by the redeeming work of our Savior on the cross and in the resurrection. We may not always think, speak, act, and relate accordingly. To borrow from Hans Christian Anderson, swans can live as if they remain the ugly ducklings they once were. Never, however, does anything affect the fact of who and what we are in Christ. Let us then gaze into the mirrored waters of God's Word, discovering and then growing in the abiding truth of grace that the Lord Jesus was "put to death in the flesh" so that we might raised with Him to life in the Spirit, and to His life in our spirits (I Peter 3:18; Colossians 2:12). So much was given to make such a gift possible. Let us then give much of our faith and devotion so that such a gift will become far more realized and expressed in every aspect of our Christ-redeemed and empowered spirits, souls, and bodies.
"Beholding as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
(II Corinthians 3:18)
"Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.
(Ephesians 5:8)
(Ephesians 5:8)
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(I Thessalonians 5:23)
Weekly Memory Verse
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(I Thessalonians 5:23)
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