Carnality in Believers

[manichunter]

What is Carnality? What is spiritually?

Key Question- Do you see any carnality within yourself?[/b

Can you answer those two for yourself?

I will attempt to share what I have been taught by God.

Carnality is any personal thought, act, or view produced by a human person that does not ultimately lead to glorifying God and advancing His kingdom, but it brings personal glory and praise to its originator. It consists of everything short of spiritual. It is limited to earthly thoughts and actions; and, it cannot comprehend anything related to the spiritual. To be carnal minded is death and confusion and to be spirituality minded is life and peace.

Ro 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Carnality is ego driven to validate and prove itself right. It wants acceptance and approval for its actions. Carnality resists anything contrary to its establish ideologies. This includes the truths of God and inspirations of the Holy Spirit. It fight against anything that it does not immediately comprehend because it exposes its weaknesses, dependence, and need of trust in God. The carnal mind cannot discern and recognize spiritual deception.

1Co 2:14 - But the natural man does not receive the thingsof the Spirit ofGod, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Carnality wants to understand and filter everything in through logic, deductive reasoning, and theory. Carnality is both an inherited and learned mindset. We are born in a carnal world and we received the same carnal mindset from Adam. Then we learn to be even more carnal as we attempt to survive and thrive. Carnality always believes in something, therefore, it creates a personal world view as it vehicle for living its own life.

1Co 3:3 -for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

However, the bottom line is that carnality does not want to trust God. Why? The carnal is an enemy of God. It is at war with God. It disdains the things and knowledge of God, because it cannot understand and control them.

Ro 8:7 - Because the carnalmind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

Re 22:15 -But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

To be spiritual means to trust God. There is no distance or measure between carnality and spirituality with the exception of trusting God. Spirituality comes down to either trusting God or not. Spirituality has a different process than carnality. It is not learned but surrendered to. It is the only means by the Holy Spirit that the truth can be distinguish from the lie.

Joh 14:17 -the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Joh 16:13 - has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

How does one possibly know that they could be operating in carnality?

1.It loves to learn and comprehend knowledge that makes one feel better about themselves.

2.It loves to boast in the knowledge it knows

3.Find it hard to trust God

4.Sees knowledge as means of pleasure, power, and profit

5.Produces strife and pride

6.Is partial and prejudice

7.Hates the truth and loves the lie

How does one possibly know that they could be operating in spirituality?

1.It loves to discovered more about God that enriches the relationship with God

2.Praises God for His inspirations and revelations

3.Trusts God regardless of knowledge

4.Sees the truth as means of communion and share with God and others

5.Produces humility and peace

6.Is not partial and prejudice but just

7.Loves the truth and hates the lie

*Bonus round- carnality is in abundance on a great many of Christian forums. LOL............

What do you think carnality is? Do you see a lot of carnality within yourself?

 

[manichunter]

This might be a little controversial but this is what I teach. It is not an exact science so get me a little break here for I speak as a man. LOL

Anyone, every believer as to go through the process of being transformed by the renewing of their mind. The putting off the old man and putting on the new man does not just happen the same instants we received Jesus as Savior. No the Holy Spirit has been sent to prepare the Bride to receive the bridegroom. It is the ultimate work of the Spirit and what He has ordained per individual to raise them up for the work of their personal ministries. He has ordained discipleship as the means of maturing saints and provided mentors that have about finished their course to be our examples. So salvation might be a gift of God, but the process of sanctification that ends in our glorification comes at a cost of death and destruction to the old carnal man daily. We have to put the new man on, and this is no easy task............ The carnal man fights with all his might to keep the reigns of our life in his hands..........


I provided these stages for a believer on the thread "Life Cycle of the Believer"


Ro 12:2 -And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

1Pe 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

Eph 4: 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming

Again, these are not exact figures, but hypothetical generalizations:

1.Believers that have not been discipled (disciplined the ways of God) = 99% carnal and 1% spiritual
2.Disciples who have not finished discipleship= 75% carnal, 25% spiritual
3.Servant who has entered into the work God called them to do= 50% carnality, 50% spiritual
4.Master Servant= 25% carnal, 75% spiritual.

Without the spiritual refining fire of the Spirit through discipleship and afflictions, carnality will not and cannot be removed. The impurities simply stay in us until we surrender to the smoldering process of transformation away from the conformity to this world and into one in the image of the kingdom.
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