THE LIFE OF FAITH AND THE GLORIOUS CHURCH - 2009
                                                      FEBRUARY 28th

                                 THE INSTRUCTION OF THE FATHER IS FOR OUR GREATEST GOOD ALWAYS - WITHOUT EXCEPTION!

          ...."There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh get their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit"....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Romans 8:1-5 NASB

          We see in Colossians 3:2 the command to set our mind on the things above, and NOT on the things that have their source in the world. We saw in Philippians 4:8 the command to let our mind dwell on that which is true and honourable and right and pure and lovely and whatever is of a good repute. It is so important for every believer to have a clear revelation of the "solemnity" of God's Word, and realize that when God gives us an instruction that it is for "our" greatest good always - and, thus, we need to obey it. If we find ourselves in an area of the "flesh" - walking apart from God's will - we must look closely at the things that we are hearing and the things that we are fixing our eyes on, for they are surely "infiltrating" our thought-life [and ultimately our heart] in some way, whether we consciously realize it or not.

                 PEACE - THE TOTAL ASSURANCE THAT WE HAVE BEEN "WHOLLY RECONCILED TO THE FATHER IN EVERY WAY

          ...."For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace".... vs. 6

          If we are going to keep our thoughts fixed on the things of the flesh [and on the world and its ways] then we are going to reap death in one of its many forms, but as we bring every thought captive to the Word of God and, thus, we come into a full dependence upon that Word at all times, THEN we are going to experience the life and love of God superabundantly. We will experience that "absolute" life in which there is no fear, no darkness or any other form of death, and we shall experience the peace of God - a peace which passes all understanding, a peace in which we have the total assurance that we have been "wholly reconciled" to God in every way.

"solemnity" - the state or quality of being solemn; gravity; reverence;

Related Scriptures:  1 John 4:18; John 10:10;

                                                                                                                            *****