keepitflowing
Member
For much of my life as a believer, I thought that I could jump in and out of spirit and when I wasn't in my spirit, I was in the flesh-- thus, I spent much of my life as a believer being concerned with 'where' I was. Am I doing this in my spirit or in my flesh? Is this decision out of my spirit or my flesh? Is this a desire of my spirit or my flesh? And consequently, I was so afraid of doing things out of my flesh at times that I found myself paralyzed, unable to make simple decisions without a lot of conflict (read confusion) on the inside.
Get this...
Romans 8:9 says "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him."
This statement comes after Paul's description of this internal conflict. To live in that conflict is really a 'wretched' experience (Rom 7:24). So, he lays down the fact of the matter. As believers, we are not actually in the flesh-- we are in the spirit. Does the Spirit of God dwell in you? Yes? Then, YOU ARE IN THE SPIRIT. Period. There is no other condition. This is the fact.
Which brings us to the correct order of things in our Christian experience: fact, faith, experience. Fact comes first; when we look at the fact, we have faith; when we have faith, our experience of that fact follows. The problem comes when we turn our faith backwards, to look at our experience. No wonder we get discouraged! Our daily experience is generally unreliable, up and down, and full of potentially discouraging things. Our faith is not based in our experience; it is based in the facts of the word of God.
So, again here's the fact: We are in spirit. We ARE in spirit! This is where we exist, all the time. So good!
This is such a revelation for me. I can live with the assurance that I am walking in spirit... unless, of course, God points out otherwise. When He shines light, I can be made aware of my condition (i.e. turned away from Him) and turn back to Him. In the meantime, however, I don't need to be concerned with 'getting into my spirit' or 'making decisions from my spirit.' I don't need to seek for the 'experience' of being in spirit, either.
I believe what the Word says... and since the Spirit of God dwells in me, I am not in the flesh, but in the spirit!
Get this...
Romans 8:9 says "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him."
This statement comes after Paul's description of this internal conflict. To live in that conflict is really a 'wretched' experience (Rom 7:24). So, he lays down the fact of the matter. As believers, we are not actually in the flesh-- we are in the spirit. Does the Spirit of God dwell in you? Yes? Then, YOU ARE IN THE SPIRIT. Period. There is no other condition. This is the fact.
Which brings us to the correct order of things in our Christian experience: fact, faith, experience. Fact comes first; when we look at the fact, we have faith; when we have faith, our experience of that fact follows. The problem comes when we turn our faith backwards, to look at our experience. No wonder we get discouraged! Our daily experience is generally unreliable, up and down, and full of potentially discouraging things. Our faith is not based in our experience; it is based in the facts of the word of God.
So, again here's the fact: We are in spirit. We ARE in spirit! This is where we exist, all the time. So good!
This is such a revelation for me. I can live with the assurance that I am walking in spirit... unless, of course, God points out otherwise. When He shines light, I can be made aware of my condition (i.e. turned away from Him) and turn back to Him. In the meantime, however, I don't need to be concerned with 'getting into my spirit' or 'making decisions from my spirit.' I don't need to seek for the 'experience' of being in spirit, either.
I believe what the Word says... and since the Spirit of God dwells in me, I am not in the flesh, but in the spirit!
Last edited by a moderator:
