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madewithonerib · 10 months

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5.] Experience of Meditation

And there you go, I don't know what else to say other than that—but this is about experiential engagement with the Scriptures.

So I would say go to the Book of Psalms or go to a passage that you already are familiar with because the point is not learning.

—the point is to to read this text slowly & aloud to yourself & then to engage in the second step that's called meditation, which the point is not to get far

…………………………………………………………. the point is to focus in on some key words key ideas/themes in this particular passage ………………………………………………………….

& then when there's something that strikes you or that resonates with you, this is important to stop.

The point does not progress

The point is this, they begin to reflect on this & say why is this significant right now? What does this word tell me about JESUS's character

How does this word illuminate some area in my own life or area in my own flaws or character failures or something like that.

What is this word?

What does this concept mean for the things that are ahead of me? That I know are coming later today…

What is the significance of this in light of what JESUS did for me on the Cross?

I have a whole bunch of questions like that on the handout & then the next step is not to keep on reading your Bible, it's to stop & actually use the very words from the particular passage.

To turn that into a prayer that uses the same words that you just read & reflected on & to turn that into your own prayer to GOD

*********************************************** Then contemplation is basically to go live your life but go live your life shaped by the reflections and meditations that you've done from the day ***********************************************

And for a while, you know at least for me it took time it kind of felt like going through the motions, but you know after a while of doing it—it just becomes pretty even brief

Meaningful practice of a daily prayerful engagement with the Scriptures—& I'm certain that this is exactly the kind of thing that JESUS is doing..

And it's precisely the kind of thing that JESUS called HIS followers to be doing it's this it's meditating it's haggai on the Scriptures—not to learn something

& not just to tell GOD what I need

But to stop & focus & not feel the need to have to do or say anything—but just reflect on the Scriptures & how they lead me into this engagement with the Living GOD WHO is the SAVIOUR of all people, especially those who believe

5.1] The Difficult & Eventual Hiccup

So let me just let me just conclude:

[1] Train yourself, strive in labor here we are as a Sunday gathering hurray, we're gonna go do this & then let's have a conversation in the month

—like you're tired because you like lost some sleep because you woke up earlier or whatever & then you're like is it really worth it & I don't know

—then I went to a concert on Sunday & it was too early to wake up & then whatever & then a month from now you're just like this never even happened you know what I'm saying??

So this is true of no one in the room right?

All right, that's true of all of us.

So again the question is: How do you gain the motivation to see that I need this & it's not just a matter of like feeling guilty or JESUS did it so I need to do it?

Power up, it's about a change of my desires & affections

it's about me coming to actually believe that I can't live adequately if I don't have this practice in my life. I need it & I want it—so that I'm going to focus in on it & say no to other things that are going to get in the way of that..

Prayer Lead to Maturity P1,2,3,4,5,6 | Tim Mackie [Psalm 1:1-5]

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eastgaysian · 7 months

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#ordinary photo of yeti #they made astarion in a lab for me to be obsessed with.#like hottest man in game for me is halsin truthfully. astarion is my shitty little white dog with separation anxiety who bites people.#very different things. if i say i'm doing a playthrough as astarion that's when you put me down #main factor motivating me not to is i need to hear neil newbon's voice acting at least once a minute or i die.#i've got a dark urge concept rattling around the brain but i should maybe self-impose a gaming break and take care of. responsibilities 😐

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debbiering · 11 days

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All Hail King Jesus, our Lord, AND Friend!

In Florida, Jim and I spent our usual last Sunday morning watching Cornerstone online and then in person at a small local church we love. I will never forget it; worship started with the lyrics “All Hail King Jesus,” and I was gazing out the large window, admiring the beautiful sun shining on the trees and watching the branches sway gently in the breeze with thoughts of Jesus not only being my…

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#die to self #donkey #enemy #Friend #humble #influence #Jesus #Jesus Smiling #King of Kings #Lord #love #outcasts #Palm Sunday #poor #rich #servant #Upside-down Kingdom

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inkskinned · 7 months

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what is with men being mad any time a woman raises her voice where did that even come from. someone posted a video of a small electrical explosion, and the top comment was of course the woman screams. the second comment is women try not to scream challenge, level impossible. i had to go back and watch the video again. there is, somewhat fainty, a little gasp emitted off-camera, more of a yelp than a scream. it is mostly lost in the crack of the explosion. afterwards, you hear her voice, shaken, say, are you okay?

i am helping one of my friends train her voice pitch lower, because she wants to be taken seriously at work. she and i do each other's nails and talk about gender roles; and how - due to our appearance - neither of us have ever been able to be "hysterical" in public. we both appear young and sweet and feminine. she is cisgender, and cannot use her natural voice in her profession because people keep saying she appears to be "vapid". we both try to figure out if our purposeful voice lowering is technically sexist. is it promoting something when you are a victim to it?

a storm almost sends a pole through a car window. in the dashcam, you can hear the woman passenger say her partner's name twice, crying out in alarm. she sounds terrified. in the comments, she is lambasted for her lack of calm. how is that even fucking helping?

in high school, i taught myself to have a lower voice. i had been recorded when i was genuinely (and righteously) upset; and i hated how my voice sounded on the phone speakers when it was played back. i was defending my mom, and my voice cracked with emotion. it meant i was no longer winning the argument: i was just shrieking about it.

girls meet each other after a long summer and let out a little joyful scream. this usually stops around 12-14, because people will not tolerate this display of affection (as it has the effect of being passingly annoying). something about the fact that little girls can't ever even be annoying. we are trained to examine each part of our lives (even joy) for anything that could make us upsetting and disgusting. they act like teenage girls are breaking into houses and shrieking you awake at 3 in the morning. speaking as a public school educator: trust me, it's not that bad, you can just roll your eyes and move on. it does not compare to the ways boys end up being annoying: slurs in graffiti, purposefully mocking your body, following you after you said no. you know, just boy things.

there's another video of a man who is not allowed to yell in the house, so he snaps his fingers when he's excited about soccer. the comments are full of angry men, talking about how their brother is unfairly caged. let him express himself and this is terrible to do to someone. eventually the couple has to address it in a second video: they are married with a newborn baby. he was trying not to wake the infant up. there is no comment on the fact women are not allowed to yell indoors. or the fact that it could have been really alarming or triggering for his wife. sometimes i wonder if straight men even like women, if they even enjoy being in relationships with them.

for the longest time, i hated roller coasters because it always felt inappropriate and uncomfortable for me to scream. one of my friends called me on it, said it was unusual i'm so unwilling. i had to go to my therapist about it. i don't like to scream because i was not raised in a safe situation, and raising my voice would have brought unsafe attention towards me. even when i am supposed to scream, it feels shameful, guilty. i was not treated kindly, so i lack a basic form of self-protection. this is not a natural response. it is not good that in a situation of high adrenaline - i shut up about it.

something very bad is happening, i think. in between all the beauty standards and the stuff i've already discussed - this one feels new and cruel in a way i can't quite express. yes, it's scary and silencing. but there's something about how direct it is - that so many men agree with the sentiment that women should never yell, even in an emergency - it feels different.

is the word shriek gendered automatically? how about shrill or screech? in self defense class, one of the first things they tell you is to yell, as loud and as shrilly as you can. they say it will feel rude. most women will not do this. you need to practice overcoming the social pressure and just scream.

most women do not cry out, even when it's bad. we do not report it. we walk faster. we do not make a scene. what would be the point of doing anything else? no matter what we do, we don't get taken seriously. it is a joke to them. an instagram caption punchline. we have to present ourselves as silent, beautiful, captivating - "valuable."

a woman is outside watching her kids when someone throws a firecracker at them. she screams and runs towards her children. in the comments, grown men flock together in the thousands: god. women are so annoying.

#warm up #writeblr #this one has bothered me for a bit #any time a woman does something even passingly annoying we treat it like a fucking crime #hey man. women are allowed to be annoying. everyone forever is allowed to be passingly annoying #as long as they aren't hurting anyone/thing #like u wanna know something? i find it super annoying that men don't wear seatbelts #why arent there thousands of comments on driving videos thats just like : men try not to die in a car crash challenge #''this briefly annoyed me''. okay??????? AND????????????????? go get ur self a cookie and calm down about it #ur not entitled to control other ppl's experiences and emotions just so u can maintain ur own peace #if being briefly annoyed ruins ur whole day! you! need! therapy!!!!#men try not to become immediately angry about nothing challenge: level impossible #ps author is nonbinary. we didn't even get into the gender presentation thing #the fact men think it's SEXY that my voice is on the lower end....

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everyonesfinaldestination · 10 months

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Starting to think we're all just here to exist and die lately...

#nihilism #born to die #die to self #kinda depressing #my thougts #lifetoblog

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thatpunnyperson · 10 months

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According to NBC here in the US, the missing titanic sub has been found. As debris. Off the bow of the Titanic wreckage.

And it looks like the sub suffered what we all suspected, and what was undoubtedly the more merciful of the two options: a catastrophic implosion from the pressure.

Also, more info has come to light about the fishing trawler with the hundreds of migrants that sank cataclysmically off the coast of Greece, indicating that the greek coast guard knew about the vessel AND how much trouble the vessel was in, and were towing it at a speed that made it capsize, at which point they unhooked the tow line and watched the trawler sink without helping the passengers to safety. Despite a bunch of other ships trying to help as well throughout the whole ordeal.

So a lot of people are dead, all because of regulations (and the lack thereof) regarding sea-faring vessels and rescue protocols. People shouldnt be allowed to make a business charging a ton of money for a ride on an uncertified, unsafe, un-seaworthy ship going deep into the ocean with no distress beacon or tether to the mothership. People also shouldnt be allowed to enact laws that criminalize the ferrying of refugees, which then force the refugees to hitch rides on fishing trawlers, and which also prevent people from helping those fishing trawlers full of refugees due to fear of legal consequences.

Hopefully BOTH of these events spark changes on an international scale in terms of what is legally allowed to be sailed, who is legally allowed to be the passengers, and what the rescue protocols are in the event of disaster for any seafaring vessel, illegal or not. It shouldnt be just the global 1% who get 24/7 search parties and remote-operated submersibles helping rescue them.

#the question of 'what do we owe to each other' can be answered simply with 'the dignity of retrieving our remains when we die'#another answer is 'the dignity of thinking about each other fellow humans with similar motivations and feelings'#also 'stopping someones potentially self-destructive behaviors just because theyre rich and want to feel special'#also i feel like humans have been sailing the seas long enough that it should be guaranteed that people will survive sea voyages #im very mad about specifically mediterranean maritime disasters because we have ancient writing saying they made it safe #sailing from Egypt to Greece was so old hat and safe that people legit took the ancient equivalent of cruises back and forth #cleopatra habitually sailed from alexandria to rome with a ton of ships and was fine #Nero tried to have his mother drowned at sea by orchestrating a dramatic shipwreck while she was our sailing AND SHE SURVIVED #and then swam to shore got back to rome and whooped his ass #fuckin pliny the elder tried to evacuate people from pompeii and the surrounding coast villages when vesuvius erupted #and he actually WAS able to rescue people #but he himself had an asthma attack from the fumes which led to a heart attack and he died on the beach #there is legit no excuse for that trawler of migrant refugees to have wrecked #negligence all around #anyway #oceangate

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dramoor · 1 year

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Practicing His Presence

“It is only by remembering that ‘Another lives in me’ that we can die daily to that old, false, usurping self, and that we can continue to be drawn further in and higher up into the life of God. To ‘practice the Presence’ is to continually call to mind this great reality.

Once again we see that the secret is incarnational. One dies to the old self and lives to the new by continuing to receive of the Other Life. Even our prayers, in true prayer, are really His prayers. He speaks to Himself through us. And it is the same with all the virtues and all the fruits and gifts of the Spirit. All are equally derivative. We must never forget this, and we must always practice this Holy Presence, even though we can do it only for moments at first.

This really is the whole of Christianity. Christianity isn’t a covenant or a law but it is a life - it is Another Life being lived in and through us. Our human spirit, when in union with this Holy Other, is the higher self. The ‘practice of the Presence’ leads to the knowledge of this higher self, and away from either the wrong kind of self-love or self-hatred. It is in this New Life that we find our souls as well as our spirits - indeed, the whole of our nature - raised.

This is why we do not need to fear our intellects, our imaginations, our emotions, our intuitive beings, or our bodies. We simply offer them wholly to God and find them revitalized and redirected. By the principle of the incarnation the Highest is transposed into the lowest, and man finds himself resurrected in every faculty of his being. This is the true, the whole self.”

(Photo © dramoor 2022 Lower Chapel, Basilica of the Holy Blood - Bruges, Belgium)

#C. S. Lewis #Practicing the Presence of God #Lord Jesus Christ #Christian #die to self #Another life lived in us #incarnation #true whole self #photography #photographers on tumblr #travel #churches #Bruges Belgium #Basilica of the Holy Blood #abide in Him

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albertfinch · 25 days

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March 22, 2024 - Exhortation

Luke 14:27 - "And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple." Matthew 16:24 - "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." How do you die to self?

Answer: We rest in Christ by leaving the flesh life and ascend into the Christ life, ie we replace the flesh life with the Life in Christ.

Philippians 2:12 - "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,"

1. Start by interceding in prayer for those lost souls and Believers that God would put in your life to disciple into salvation or their Christ identity. 2. Build a list of people you are praying for. 3. Be constantly talking to new people you have never talked to before. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a word of knowledge about their spiritual need. 4. Ask them if they would like to know more about Jesus -- or ask them if they would like to know more about Jesus' finished work on the cross and their inheritance in Christ. 5. By continuing to do these things you will build your Christ consciousness and develop a spiritual hunger that you previously lacked. 6. This is how the Holy Spirit crucifies your self-life. 7 You will wake up one day and discover your lack of interest in the self life The Holy Spirit will begin to crucify all of those agendas that you thought were important.

John 15:5 - "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

8. You cannot crucify your self life. It takes a commitment to your oneness with Christ coupled with the aforementioned action.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

#purpose #jesus #holy spirit #self life #die to self #Christ life

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hannibal-is-my-comfort-show · 4 months

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#They metaphorically die in eachothers arms (i refuse to believe they're actually dead) 10 years ago #and i dont think anyone has yet recovered #theres literally so much you can talk abt #including the fact that theyre both self destructing idiots (affectionate)#bit alas my vocabulary has vanished #ado yall #hannibal #nbc hannibal #hannibal nbc #netflix #hannibal netflix #renew hannibal #revive hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #hannigram #murder husbands

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graciousheaven · 1 year

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To Live is to Die to Self

By nature, we live to satisfy the desires of the flesh, desires that are sinful and opposed to the will of God. We have no inclination for the things of God; for our minds are futile and our hearts darkened. The natural man is characterized by self-love, self-indulgence, self-exaltation, self-sufficiency, self-will and pride. He neither glorifies God nor thanks Him, but glorifies himself. For he is blind to the truth, disobedient, rebellious against God, deceitful and wicked; he is held captive by sin and death. As long as we are in bondage to our sinful desires and lusts, we are spiritually dead, alienated from God. For no man who walks according to the flesh can please God; for the desires of the flesh cannot be reconciled with the will of God. There is no fellowship between light and darkness; there is no accord between truth and falsehood.

He who lives to satisfy the desires of the flesh is of the devil. He walks in darkness and is ruled by the spirit of falsehood; he hates God, despises his truth, and indulges in deeds of wickedness such as “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before (says the Apostle Paul), that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). But he who seeks after the things of the Spirit is born of God and is controlled by the Spirit of God – he loves God and his truth and bears the fruit of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (V. 22-23). There is therefore no harmony between the Spirit and the flesh. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other”, as Paul writes in Gal. 5:17.

Life and death are set before every human being here on earth, and the eternal destination of each person is determined by where they set their heart. “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Gal. 6:8). Paul also writes in Rom. 8:13-14, “If you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Rom. 8:5-8, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The natural man is spiritually dead, separated from God. To pass from death to life, he must crucify the flesh with its passions.

Now the question is, why does the flesh have to be crucified? Our body of sin must be destroyed so that we no longer serve sin, but become slaves of righteousness, and thus escape death. And so Paul writes in Rom. 6:6. “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Being bought by the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we have become his slaves. Thus we are to live in perfect submission to Him and in obedience to his Spirit. “For (as Paul writes in Rom. 7:5) while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” Our Saviour freed us from lawlessness “in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom. 7:4).

1 John 3:6 reads, “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him.” John is not saying that those who are in Christ no longer sin; for we cannot reach perfection here on earth. For although we are born of the Spirit, the dead body of sin is still attached to us (cf. Rom. 7:24). Thus while waiting for the redemption of our bodies, we fall from time to time. What John is pointing out here is the habitual practice of sin – this is the evidence that a person is not of God. For the Christian life, though not marked by perfection, is characterised by a wholehearted commitment to Christ, and an earnest desire to be like Him. A true disciple of Christ is marked by an earnest pursuit of holiness rather than the practice of sin. As V.7b-9 says, “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

We die to sin in order to set our minds only on the things above. For we cannot serve two masters. The natural man yields his members unto sin as instruments for unrighteousness (cf. Col. 3:7), because he is in bondage to sin. He does not love God nor keep his commandments. The Lord declares in John 14:21, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Paul writes in Gal.5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” He who is not of Christ is in bondage to the flesh. Anyone who is controlled by the flesh abides in death, no life abides in them; for there is no life in the Spirit without the death of the old self, without the destruction of the body of sin. Sin has dominion over those who present the members of their bodies to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, and death is their reward. In other words, anyone who lives to satisfy the desires of the flesh condemns his soul to eternal torment. But he who renounces to the flesh and walks according to the will of God escapes condemnation. As the Lord says in John 12:25, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Any heart that indulges in a life of sin will be sent to the fire of hell. But anyone who despises his life of sin, anyone who rejects the flesh with its desires and throws himself on the mercies of Christ is granted everlasting life in the Kingdom of God, where sin is completely powerless and death is conquered. Therefore, until a man has, by the power of the Holy Spirit, crucified the flesh, he cannot have life. There is no hope for those who love their body of sin. Unless someone dies to sin, he will remain its slave, he will be held captive forever by the sting of death, man’s last enemy. This is the wages of sin. But he who is dead to sin has died with Christ: he has shared in Christ’s death, he has been baptised into his death. And since Christ lives, he also lives in Christ, being born again, regenerated by the Spirit of grace. As Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

So we cannot have life, unless we crucify the flesh with its sinful passions and lusts. However, we are not capable to put to death the desires of the flesh by human design; for in and of ourselves we have no power over sin and the flesh. Furthermore, as natural men we do not even will to let go the desires of the flesh. Therefore, it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit, through his supernatural work of regeneration and sanctification, that we can crucify the flesh. The Lord recognizes our inability to conform to his will by our own efforts, He recognizes our inability to overcome the flesh by our own doing. Therefore, during the Upper Room Discourse, He promised his disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 16:13, saying, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”

By the power of the Spirit of Christ, we can put to death the flesh with its passions and lusts, if indeed the Spirit of Christ dwells in us. But this cannot happen without saving faith, which is a gift from God. Saving faith is evidenced by self-denial, by a humble and genuine acknowledgement of one’s sins, of one’s sinfulness, unworthiness and unrighteousness. Saving faith also produces godly sorrow and hatred for one’s sins, the recognition of one’s need of Christ, and a sincere affirmation of one’s desire to turn away from sin. Additionally, a person who has saving faith confesses Christ as Saviour and Lord, as the only Mediator who reconciles sinners to God.

Unless we embrace the righteousness of God, which is graciously imputed to every repentant sinner, through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, we cannot be delivered from the flesh. For no one can be freed from the bondage of corruption without the help of the Spirit of Christ. For in and of ourselves we have no power over the flesh. However, the Spirit of God, who alone is able to defeat the flesh, lives only in those who have turned away from their sins and put their trust in Christ the Saviour. The Spirit seals us in God’s love and sets us apart for Christ. And so Paul writes in Rom. 8:9b, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” And anyone who does not belong to Christ therefore cannot crucify the flesh. But being born of the Spirit and adopted as sons into the family of God, the Spirit gradually sanctifies us to conform us to the image of Christ; He restrains our sinful desires so that we no longer live according to the flesh but according to the will of God.

The Spirit alone is able, through his supernatural work of regeneration and sanctification, to set sinners free from the bondage of corruption and bring them captive to Christ. No man can crucify the flesh by human effort or craftiness. Therefore those who are not in Christ cannot please God because they cannot walk according to his will. Only those who are born of the Spirit can please God, for they are prepared for all good works by the Spirit at the moment of their new birth. And so Paul writes to the Galatians in Gal. 5:25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” The unregenerate man does not walk in the Spirit, because he is unwilling and unable to do so. Thus his habitual lifestyle cannot be in conformity to the will of God. But someone who is born of the Spirit does the things of the Spirit. As the Lord Himself says in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Thus, through the command for Christians to walk in the Spirit, Paul, like the Lord, draws a dividing line between the lifestyle of a carnal man and that of a man born of the Spirit – he commands the Galatian believers to live in such a way that their walk, actions and conduct testify to their new life in the Spirit. For he who is born of the Spirit obeys the Spirit and not the flesh. When we are in Christ we are a new creation. Therefore, our conduct and desires must match the will of God. For everyone who is born of the Spirit bears the fruit of the Spirit. Those whose lives are not marked by the fruit of the Spirit, that is, love, joy, peace, self-control, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness and gentleness, prove by their conduct that they are not born of the Spirit but of the flesh. Such cannot inherit everlasting life. Thus declares the Lord in John 3:5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”

There cannot be life without the death of the flesh. When a seed falls into the ground, it dies and a new life sprouts out of the dead shell. Likewise we die to the flesh and are begotten as living souls in Jesus Christ our Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through his supernatural work of regeneration. Our new birth of the Spirit marks the death of the old person we used to be. As Paul writes in Rom. 6:4, “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” As a new creation, we walk in newness of life – Christ abides in us and we abide in Him. And so with boldness, we affirm with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

There is no life for those who cherish their sins; there is no life for those who live to satisfy the flesh. To live, one must die to self, one must forsake the flesh with its corruption. But this is not possible unless we embrace Christ the Redeemer and share in his death. For those who died with Christ also share in his life. In Christ we are recreated, born of the Spirit, for a new life, a life of righteousness and holiness. As Paul writes in Gal. 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” They no longer live to satisfy their lusts, but for the glory of God; for their heart is no longer set on the things of this world, but on God and the things of God.

Those who refuse to let go the desires of the flesh, those who love their sins hate the Living God; for their god is their natural desires. They despise God’s commandments, they reject Christ the Saviour, and suppress the truth with their unrighteousness. Such cannot find favour in the sight of the Lord. “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed”, writes the Apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 1:9-10. Anyone who rejects Christ the Light, anyone who suppresses the truth is held captive by death, and the eternal destination of his soul is hell. Unless a person turns to Christ the Saviour in repentance and faith, death abides in him. The body of sin must be crucified by the power of the Holy Spirit for the soul to be preserved.

Christ came to destroy sin and to give life to those who love Him. Whoever rejects Him cannot be delivered from sin, he cannot find peace with God. 1 John 2:23 reads, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” Those who deny the Son remain under divine curse and are assigned a portion with the wicked. But anyone who turns to Christ finds peace with God; he receives life through his faith in Christ and is baptized into the family of God by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes residence in him and gradually sanctifies him, that he may be conformed to the image of the Son. Those who deny the Son have neither seen the Spirit nor known Him. For this is how the Son reveals Himself to those who love Him, this is how He gives life to those who put their trust in Him, by taking residence in them. John 14:23 reads, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.” By taking residence in those who believe in Him, Christ imparts life to their dead souls and preserves them by his Spirit for the day of the redemption of their bodies.

There is no life apart from Christ. For it is He who raises the spiritually dead, it is also He who gives sinners victory over the second death. If you have not yet submitted yourself as a slave to Christ, I urge you to do so right now, lest you remain forever under the dominion of sin and harvest death as your eternal reward. There is no freedom for those who are not in Christ – every unrepentant sinner is a slave of sin, held captive by death. The Lord Himself says in John 8:34 that “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” That is to say, anyone who practices sin and rebels against God, anyone who refuses to forsake their evil ways is under the dominion of sin, he is a slave of sin. “And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever”, says the Lord in v.35. In other words, slaves of sin are cast out of the Kingdom of God, unless they turn to God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek forgiveness in his name. “He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). There is salvation in God’s Son for all those who put their trust in Him. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”, says the Lord in John 8:36. So repent of your sins today, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and He will set you free from the bondage of sin and death.

https://www.faithintheoneaboveall.com/post/to-live-one-must-die

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