Part 6 (1/2)

Without Supernatural a.s.sistance Romans 7 doesn't teach that Paul was constantly trying and failing to do the right thing. He wasn't describing his present Christian life and saying that this is the way that it is. Paul wasn't confessing that after all those years, he was still struggling with l.u.s.t, s.e.xual sin, anger, and bitterness. Neither was he saying, ”You have this flesh, and try as you might, but you can never beat it.”

Paul was simply describing the inability of the flesh-your physical ability, natural mind, emotions, and actions all independent from Christ-to please G.o.d. You cannot overcome your flesh on your own; you have to start living from who you are in Christ. Your spirit man is completely changed and infused with the life of G.o.d. You can only please Him through living by your spirit!

The Christian life isn't just difficult to live-it's impossible! In your flesh, you can't do what the Lord has told you to do. He's commanded you to just bear it when someone insults you. If they slap you on the face, you're to turn the other cheek. If they sue you and take away your coat, you're to give them your cloak as well. If someone forces you to cany their burden one mile against your will, go two miles (Matt. 5:39-41). Your natural self, independent of G.o.d, just won't do things like that!

It's natural to be self-serving, self-seeking, and self-promoting! If somebody slaps you on the cheek, you want to hit both of theirs. If someone takes something from you through a lawsuit, you want to hire the best lawyer to sue them back. But the Lord's told you, ”Do the opposite.” Without supernatural a.s.sistance, it's impossible to do what Jesus commands! That's why Paul declared, ”It's no longer me that lives but Christ who lives through me” (Gal. 2:20).

There's a tremendous amount of liberty that comes with recognizing and releasing Christ in you. You don't have to say in the flesh ”Well, I will to love you” and turn the other cheek through gritted teeth. It's much better to pray, ”Father, in myself, I'd like to knock their block off. My flesh cannot do this,” (Paul described this in Romans 7), ”but in my spirit, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have the same spirit that Jesus had when He hung on the cross and forgave the very people who crucified Him.” (You've read that in G.o.d's Word and believed it.) ”Father, I don't feel like it right now, but I know my spirit is the same one that enabled Jesus to extend mercy to those who mocked Him. In the natural, I can't do this. Father, please live through me now. Give me a supernatural compa.s.sion for this person so I can love them!”

Peter thought he was being very generous when he asked, ”How many times should I forgive my brother-up to seven times a day?” Jesus answered, ”Not seven times but seventy times seven!” That's 490 times in one day! This was His way of communicating that there shouldn't be a limit on your forgiveness (Matt. 18:21-22).

The Lord wants you to forgive totally-as much and as many times as it takes! In your flesh, you might be able to forgive a person for some minor things once, twice, or even seven times in a day (Peter thought he might be able to do that). But what Jesus asked goes far beyond your human ability. The only way you can forgive like that is by saying, ”Father, I can't do it, but You can. Lord, please love them through me.” When you humble yourself, turning away from your own natural ability and to G.o.d and His divine ability, you'll discover a supernatural strength flowing through you!

You have an unlimited supply of G.o.d's kind of love in your spirit. ”Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Cor. 13:4-7). His love never fails (verse 8)!

In your spirit, you have an unlimited ability to forgive, endure, believe, and hope! If you catch yourself remarking ”I can't put up with this person any more. I just can't take it. I'm at the end of my rope!” what you're really saying is, ”I've come to the end of my fles.h.!.+” That's good! Now let your spirit take over!

You Can Too!

Pray, ”G.o.d, I'm sorry! I've been trying this in myself, which is why I'm burned out, frustrated, and angry. Forgive me and live Your life through me. I believe Your Word. In the spirit, I am a brand-new person. If I would walk in the spirit, I won't fulfill the l.u.s.t of the flesh.” (Then, start meditating on who you are and what you have in Christ.) ”By faith, this is who I choose to believe I am.”

That's renewing your mind and releasing the supernatural life of G.o.d out of your spirit into your soul and body. When your physical mind comes into agreement with your spiritual mind, you can literally begin to hope, endure, and believe in things that you couldn't have done by your natural self.

I've been able to love the many different people who have come out against me. A guy I was witnessing to spat in my face. People have tried to physically a.s.sault me. Some other well-known ministers publicly called me a ”cult leader” and ”of the devil.” A guy stole $20,000 from our ministry. I've even been kidnapped and had threats on my life! But in all of this (and more), I can truthfully tell you that I have nothing against any of these people. I harbor no evil thoughts and never spend any time even thinking about them. I've completely forgiven each and every one. How? I renewed my mind to G.o.d's Word and released the love and forgiveness that's in my spirit. You can do it too!

Releasing Your True Ident.i.ty You can't please G.o.d if you're in the fles.h.!.+ Romans 7 describes living by your own natural, carnal ability. That's why the results are defeat, failure, and an inability to do the desired good (Rom. 7:19). In your flesh, you can't overcome, turn the other cheek, or forgive an unlimited number of times. That's why Paul said of his flesh, ”O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). In other words, Paul asked, ”Who will deliver me from this flesh?”

The very next verse contains the answer! ”I thank G.o.d through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:25). Deliverance from the flesh comes through living by who you are in the spirit! From here, Paul launches right into Romans 8 with ”There is therefore.” ”Therefore” refers back to what has previously been said, which is that the tlesh cannot please G.o.d (Rom. 7). Therefore, you must walk after the Spirit (Rom. 8).

”There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1). Your spirit is the only part of you in Christ Jesus. If you are in the spirit, there is no condemnation to you whatsoever. That's good news!

Romans 8 is one of the most victorious chapters in the whole Bible! Why? It's written from the perspective of your born-again spirit. The frustration of living after the flesh described in Romans 7 is not the typical Christian life. Romans 7 speaks of a person trying to please G.o.d through their own natural effort. ”O G.o.d, I'm trying to do better. I want to do better, but I just can't!” Why? It's impossible to serve G.o.d in the flesh. The word ”spirit” is only used once in Romans 7. In contrast, it's used 21 times in Romans 8. It's Romans 8 that describes the typical Christian life. You've got to get over into the spirit!

This revelation of spirit, soul, and body unlocks so much of the Christian life! How can you live in the spirit if you don't know that it was your spirit that changed? When you understand that, you can begin comprehending that who you are and what you have in Christ doesn't fluctuate based on your performance. How can you release something you don't know or don't believe you have? Once you do believe, you must reject the flesh and walk by who you are in the spirit. Cultivate a good image of who you are in Christ, and let that become the real you. It's just a matter of discovering and releasing your true ident.i.ty!

An Extroverted Introvert Through this, G.o.d's done a miracle in my life! I was extremely introverted before being turned on to the Lord. Because of nervousness and self-consciousness, I couldn't look someone in the face and talk without stammering. Now, G.o.d has me speaking to millions of people daily through television and radio. I've ministered to people face to face in meetings all around the world, sometimes up to five thousand at once. Yet, I'm not afraid because it doesn't bother me anymore. I'm focused on who I am in the spirit!

My flesh is the same as it always was. I still have a tendency to be introverted. In fact, when I'm not focused on the Lord and someone catches me in the flesh, I still want to withdraw, not exert myself, and just go sit in the background. This natural part of me hasn't changed.

Most people think they're improving their flesh when they're born again. That's simply not true! You don't improve your natural self through the Christian life, you just become better at denying it. The improvement comes by choosing to recognize your new ident.i.ty in Christ and letting those thoughts and actions manifest from your spirit.

When I take personality tests now, I always score the maximum in every category for extroverts. That's who I've chosen to be and who I've become in Christ. It's who my born-again spirit is. If you could somehow test me apart from my G.o.dly reactions, you'd find I'm still an introvert in my flesh.

Living from the Spirit The Christian life isn't your natural flesh becoming stronger in G.o.dliness so that you don't need the Holy Spirit as much as when you first began. Rather, it's growing stronger in the spirit and weaker in the flesh. The flesh's dominance steadily diminishes as you learn to consistently depend on and draw out more of what's in your spirit.

Focus on who you are in the spirit by meditating on G.o.d's Word, and your flesh will bow the knee to the spirit's rule and reign. ”Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the l.u.s.t of the flesh. For the flesh l.u.s.teth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:16-17). You'll break the control of the flesh as you base your ident.i.ty and potential on what the Word says about who you are in Christ. Instead of being controlled by your old carnal self, your spirit man will begin to dominate.

My flesh is still basically timid and shy, but my spirit is as bold as a lion (Prov. 28:1)! Some people who travel on airlines push their way up to the counter and make demands whenever something goes wrong. I'm quite the opposite. I actually set my travel agent cards aside because the ticket agents almost never grant me any of those discounts. I'm just not a pushy guy! Yet, I can be very bold and a.s.sertive when it comes to spiritual matters, or anything else of value to me. People have challenged me in services before. It's like the spirit of might comes upon me, and I just take care of it (Is. 11:2). That's because I've learned how to live more from my spirit than my flesh.

Chapter 18.

Mind Your Spirit Through spiritual dyslexia, most people perceive Galatians 5:16 completely backwards! ”This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the l.u.s.t of the flesh.” They recognize that the flesh and the spirit are contrary but a.s.sume that they're automatically walking in the spirit if they just deny their flesh. Therefore, they put all of their focus on quitting this and rejecting that, thinking, If I can just stop doing these bad things and having these foul thoughts, then I'll be in the spirit'. Wrong! This verse doesn't say ”Walk in the flesh, and you'll hinder the spirit” or ”Overcome the flesh, and then you'll walk in the spirit.” No, it declares just the opposite: ”Walk in the spirit, and you won't fulfill the l.u.s.t of the fles.h.!.+”

Darkness is simply the absence of light. You can't get rid of darkness by shoveling it out of the room. However, if you turn on a light, it'll flee! When you walk in the spirit (turn on the light), by default-as a byproduct-you won't fulfill the l.u.s.t of the flesh (darkness flees). Willpower is the shovel of the flesh. If you feel you can't really accept who you are in Christ until after you overcome the darkness in your life-drinking, cussing, smoking, or whatever problems you currently have-you'll just end up frustrated and stuck (Rom. 7). It's not that G.o.d won't release His power to you; it's just that you haven't yet flipped the switch! Lay that shovel down and turn on the light! Get into G.o.d's Word, and start recognizing and meditating on who you are in Christ. As you focus your attention continually on the reality of your new ident.i.ty, the brightness of who you are in the spirit will begin to s.h.i.+ne in and through you to such a degree that it'll break the control of the flesh and deliver you from these external problems. Light always overwhelms and chases away the dark!

A friend of mine used to be a well-known secular entertainer who wrote several famous songs. While in this profession, he became born again. After finis.h.i.+ng a concert at midnight, he'd hop on the bus with his musicians and start traveling to their next gig. Excited about G.o.d and His Word, my friend actually snorted cocaine off the pages of His Bible so he could stay awake and keep reading about how much the Lord loved him!

Today, this man has been a pastor for over twenty years! How did he overcome his flesh and its bad habits? Did he quit snorting cocaine and all the other unG.o.dly things he was doing first? No! This man didn't let his vices keep him from beginning to find out what G.o.d's Word said about him. He centered his attention on discovering who he was in Christ and what all Jesus had done for him. As those things became reality to him, he finally came to a place where G.o.d led him out of that lifestyle.

G.o.d wants you to come to Him just as you are! After you're born again and changed inside, renew your mind to who you arc in Christ. As you find out who you are in your spirit, you'll change outwardly as a result. If you'll just start walking in the spirit by focusing your attention on the things of G.o.d, regardless of what your flesh is like, you'll break its dominion over you!

Focus: Quality & Quant.i.ty You can know whether you're walking in the spirit or not by what your attention is on. ”For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5). What you're thinking about will tell you whether you're in the flesh or in the spirit!

Where is your focus? If the doctor says you're going to die, are you more dominated by his word or G.o.d's Word? Are you imagining and antic.i.p.ating sickness, disease, and death? Or are you focused on the scriptures that declare He's taken away all your sickness and by His stripes you were healed of every disease? Are you centered in on the spirit or the flesh?

If your mind is stayed on the things of the flesh, then you're in the flesh. You cannot please G.o.d, nor will you be able to succeed against this ailment. You'll die physically even though G.o.d's healing and raising-from-the-dead power is already inside your born-again spirit. Whatever your mind focuses on determines whether you're in the flesh or not. It's really that simple!

By learning to keep your mind stayed on G.o.d, your spirit will dominate and control your flesh. ”For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). This isn't just quality time; it's both quality and quant.i.ty of time spent focused on the things of G.o.d.

Fleshly mindedness is death. ”Carnal” literally means ”of the five senses.” Carnal mindedness is being fleshly, physical, and outward minded instead of spiritually minded. It's being dominated by your five senses. If your body is facing sickness and you're more in tune with and sensitive to what you feel (flesh) than what you believe (Word), then you're carnal. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Whose Report Will You Believe?