The Life of the Spirit and the Life of Christ are one or it is not the Life of Christ. Exalting the experiences of the spirit above the Life of Christ is not from the Holy Spirit. To focus on the manifestations of the Spirit is not from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ or it’s just a lying spirit. Oh, this has been a hard row to hoe for me. Why? Because the lust of the flesh pines for a manifestation for my flesh! This isn’t uncommon; rather it is far too common.
Holy Spirit and Life of Christ
Petting of the flesh is the desire of the flesh. And which one of us can say we have not looked for fleshly strokes? But if not you, it has certainly been me. My flesh is a comfort heat-seeking missile. But that is not God, just the hunger of my old nature.
If the work of the spirit is man-centric (man-centered), it’s deception. The Spirit exalts and elevates the Life of Christ not the serving of man. For the Spirit, my needs will never overshadow the needs of Jesus, no matter how great. Is this cruel or calloused? Absolutely not, my need is Jesus! His need IS my life. Everything is He not me! So have I taken this too far? No, probably not far enough.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 ESV
Spirit of Christ
This world and life is for Jesus, about Jesus and from Jesus. This is His world and I am His, too. He created me and bought me to be His own. I am now owned. Once I was a slave to sin and my old nature, but now I’m a bondslave of Christ. My life is not for me any longer. Therefore, if my life is no longer for me but for Him, why would the Spirit tempt me to make it about me again? He wouldn’t.
This hasn’t always been good news to me. As I said above, which one of us has not sought pets and strokes of our flesh? And often I have had to live this by choice and in faith because my experience ran contrary to the truth. My old nature screamed for satisfaction, appearing more alive than dead and was fueled by my unbelief. But the truth is that my old self was crucified with Christ, no matter how alive it might appear to be.
Truth about My Life and the Spirit of Christ
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
Romans 6:6 NIV
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.
Romans 6:4 ESV
Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices, and have clothed yourselves with the new spiritual self, which is ever in the process of being renewed and remolded into fuller and more perfect knowledge upon knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it. In this new creation all distinctions vanish. There is no room for and there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, nor difference between nations whether alien (barbarians or Scythians) who are the most savage of all, nor slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all [everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person].
Colossians 3:9-11 AMPC
John, I so love the gift of glorification here, everything the Father gave to the Son, the Son gave back to the Father. The Son gave us the Spirit to walk into a deeper relationship with Him whom in turn would reveal more of the Father whom would show us greater works that we could do than the Son. Unfortunately most of the bride is powerless right now in her walk because of her limited belief, we are not seeing the works that the Son did in the body because she is centered on the flesh, many don’t recognize the… Read more »
Oh Sharon, haven’t heard from you in a while. Thank you for commenting, it is nice to hear from you! We have missed you! Bless you!
” The Spirit exalts and elevates the Life of Christ not the serving of man” Reminded me of John 7:39 ” … for The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified….” And that is always the principle…
Perfect Marsela! Thanks for commenting. See you soon. ? ❤️
‘this is this’ or same-as statements may not address anything directly, while possibly getting us into soon deep muck elsewhere.
“the lust of the flesh pines for a manifestation for my flesh!” Yet, a genuine ‘manifestation’ to the glory of God is not purposed for the enjoyment of flesh. Most ‘flesh’ on-the-street would seemingly prefer avoiding any genuine manifestation from God.
Great Marshall, thanks for commenting. Glad you agree.
THIS IS WHAT I SEE: We understand by Jesus’ example that the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. Jesus glorifies the Father and not Himself. And the Father glorifies the Son and not Himself. The Son is not self-serving but trusts the Father to provide for Him. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6, “Your heavenly Father knows what your needs are; so, set your desire in Him, glorify Him and honor Him, purpose to do His will, then trust Him to provide for all your needs because He loves you.” (Very Paraphrased!) bcd The person of… Read more »
Bless you Bruce! Your BCD version fits perfectly.
Dear John, thank you for this! It is an answer, a Big answer and Life and Peace (and repentance) for some questions and situations i’ve had recently. Bless you and thank you – i know these are not without great cost. Also thank you for the links you provided – there is Life there too! thank you again and bless you. Love and joy and a hearty Amen to tammy’s prayer : )
So glad it hit the spot LT! Thank you so much for your encouraging comment. I truly bless you!
“…often I have had to live this by choice and in faith because my experience ran contrary to the truth.”
Thank you Father for the manifestation of Your heart and word through John.
“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift…for the edifying of the body of Christ…speaking the truth in love…causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love..” Ephesians 4:7,12,15,16 NKJV
May “mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”
Love.
Bless you Tammy! You’re the best.
John,
This post speaks to me on so many different levels. At first I thought to jot down some of what you’ve shared so I could visit it as I mulled it over – but found that I was re-writing the entire post ;-)! I’m grateful for the “print” option! This one is definitely meat to be chewed over and over again.
That’s awesome, I’m grateful for the “Print” option too. Jennifer said this post is probably one of the clearest ones I’ve written. Don’t know about that, but I am thankful it was presented very clearly. I saw and heard it that way. God made it very simple to me. I love that! Bless you Tammy!