The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Yield Yourselves"
Part 4 - An Opportunity
"Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13).
"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11).
Recently, the Lord provided an opportunity to experience the reality of His quickening (enlivening) of the mortal body by the power of His life that ever indwells our spirits, but must be imparted step by step to our earthly members and faculties as we walk by faith.
My wife Frances and I were asked to do something that involved personal relationship after a long day that tired us out physically and emotionally. We did not really feel like responding positively to the opportunity. However, we both sensed it to be the Lord's will, and Frances made the salient point, "If it is the Lord's will, we do actually want to go, don't we?"
Absolutely. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man… it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Romans 7:22; Philippians 2:13). The reticence we felt emotionally and physically involved our earthly members, which left to themselves, are subject to a "law of sin." Deeply within our spiritual selves, conversely, literal delight existed for doing the will of God regarding the matter (Romans 7:25). We both believed the opportunity to be God's will. Our choice thus involved an act of faith to believe that regardless of what we felt in the flesh, obedience to God constituted our truest desire.
Doctrinally, this involved walking according to the desire (the "delight" actually) of our spirits indwelt by Christ, as opposed to the inclinations of our flesh. The latter felt quite strong and near. Indeed, the flesh shouts. The former required an act of faith to affirm the truth. The Spirit whispers. "We walk by faith" (II Corinthians 5:17). Frances and I felt desire to not avail ourselves of the opportunity. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17). Scripture, however, declares our truest delight to be obedience to God. "I delight in the the law of God after the inward man." What would we believe, and how would we act accordingly? Thankfully, the Holy Spirit led and enabled us as we trusted the Word of God to "mortify (put to death) the deeds of body" (Romans 8:13). Fleshly thoughts, emotions, and sensations notwithstanding, we deferred to delight, the confidence of delight in our Christ-inhabited spiritual selves for the will of God.
The opportunity proved to indeed be delightful. Frances and I can both testify to our experience of the Lord clearly confirming His will and its outcome as the joy and rejoicing of our hearts. We continued to feel the tiredness wrought by the day's endeavors, both physically and emotionally. The delight of our spirits, however, far transcended these sensations of our flesh. God gave us a blessed gift in the fellowship of others. He also blessed us in the challenge we faced in overcoming natural impulses by supernatural enabling, as provided by the Spirit of Christ. "Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
The will of God constitutes the truest, deepest desire - delight - of every born again believer in the Lord Jesus. How could it be otherwise as He dwells within us and works in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure?" We live in earthly vessels, however, that bear different inclinations. What will we believe about our Lord's will? Is it ever and always best for us, no matter what? And what about our will? Is it ever and always the delight of our innermost being, the "new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness? " (II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24). A resounding "Yes!" answers both questions according to Scripture. Properly yielding both our living spirits, united to Christ, and our bodies as "instruments of righteousness" that require the Holy Spirit's enlivening, goes far in establishing solid footing and a walk on the path of righteousness.
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
(Galatians 5:25)
Weekly Memory Verse
Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
(Jude 1:2)
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