Awaken, Sleepy Man!

Continued

Our coming to the living God who, unbeknownst to us, was to become our Father was a simple, but miraculous response to His initiative. Everything from that point forward would have been most wonderful had we continued to listen to His spirit wanting to make known to us Who it was who had become our Life (Jesus speaking of the Holy Sprit’s agenda, ‘He will reveal and glorify me’).

We chose to do what we did. Unless the Holy Spirit has been permitted to reveal to us that the enemy of our soul is still resident within our flesh, we were and are still clueless. This in no way diminishes the perfect and finished work of the cross, which did not, by the way, proclaim “Jesus in, Satan out!”

Food for thought here: nowhere in scripture is there mentioned anything about man having a ‘human nature’. I personally believe that the two trees in the garden spoke of a reality pertaining to a nature humankind could choose to have: one was death (the knowledge of good and evil); the other was Life, as represented by the Tree of Life. The soul of man was meant to be governed by someone, ergo, the choice of the trees. Who are we going to serve?

Despite the fact that our spirit has been reborn, our soul has not. Clearly, life and death issues are paramount in our continued walk with the Lord. ”The mind set upon the spirit is life; the mind set upon the flesh is death.” It is in this area of our lives we are most blind and ignorant. Although saved, we do not yet grasp that the enemy of our soul still beckons to us from his hidden position within our flesh. He appeals to our soul, trying to dazzle and beguile us through the mind, will and emotions.

Genesis 3:5-7 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

I am learning to love the apparent contradictions and paradoxes that keep popping up in scripture. For example, the above scriptures refer to eyes being opened, but the results did not benefit humankind. This one-time eye-opening experience spelled death for man.
Yet in Ephesians 1:17-18, it says,
17 For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,
18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

This continuous eye-opening experience spells Life, in that we see Him as our only Life. Many would think that this is a one-time event, rather than a journey of learning to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, and not leaning unto our own understanding. Oh, the glory that beckons us, as the Spirit of Truth has access into opening the eyes of our heart more and more!

Everything outside of Christ is religion, and the father of it all is Satan.

It’s amusing when one mentions ‘religion’. Those within the institutional church agree, yes it’s ‘out there’, but they do not see it existing within the confines of their doctrines. A co-mingled gospel, i.e. ‘another gospel’, results from mixing anything, such as performance or works, with God’s 100% grace.

”Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be transformed by the continuous renewing of your mind.

”Being renewed in the spirit of our mind frees us from the matrix of religion.

Rich