Who Controls You?

Who Controls You?

Romans 8:8 says: Indeed, those who are under the control of human nature cannot please God. Today let us focus our minds on the Spirit which leads to life and peace instead of the human nature which leads to death (Romans 8:6)

Think of all that has happened in the last 24 hours – in your life and in the world and then consider the rest of these verses:

Romans 8:9 – You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God’s Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him.

Verse 10 – But if the Messiah is in you, your bodies are dead due to sin, but the spirit is alive due to righteousness. 11 – And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.

Verse 12 – Consequently, brothers, we are not – with respect to human nature, that is – under an obligation to live according to human nature.

The devil wants to obligate us to live according to human nature – just look at what human nature is doing to humanity and the world! – It’s destroying us. Remember Jesus said to Nicodemus – “you must be born again” …. well….what happens to the first life? It is dead. It is the second birth that leads to eternal life.

Ever feel at times that you’re holding on to two lives? I sure do…like I’ve accepted the second life without letting the first one die completely.

Verse 13 – For if you live according to human nature, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you continuously put to death the activities of the body, you will live. 14 – For all who are led by God’s spirit are God’s children.

Verse 15 – For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 – The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Verse 17 – Now if we are children, we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah – if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

We are under no obligation to obey the human nature – to pick up the old life that needs to stay dead. What did we just read? If we live according to the Spirit we will be continuously putting to death the stuff that the human nature wants to keep doing. What daily battles we face! The old self wants to keep coming back to life to enslave us – and so, through the Spirit, we will keep killing it because we are no longer slaves – We have a heavenly Father, a Divine ‘Daddy’ that we can cry to because we are His children.

The sufferings we face in this war will be intense. It is suffering that we share with Jesus who also fought these battles. But the glory that will be revealed in us when Jesus returns will so completely overshadow our present sufferings that they will not even be worth comparing.

Things will get better – so much better that it will blow our minds!!!

1 Corinthians 2:9 says – But as it is written, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”

With Jesus in our lives and God as our Daddy, let’s put to death that old self called human nature once again with all its selfish desires that seek to enslave us and submit ourselves to the control of the Spirit which will lead us to life everlasting, peace that surpasses all understanding, and heavenly things beyond all imagination!!!