spirit life Archives | Christian Learning & News

Jesus said those who desire to follow Him must deny themselves and take up their cross. This is a high calling yet how many of us understand what this means? We are happy to follow Jesus for the benefits we have in His salvation. Yet following Him means death to self. Jesus walked a crucified life before He was crucified on the cross. We too are called to walk in the same way. Yet how many of us are able to do this? There is no resurrection without a crucifixion. This is the truth and there is no other way to follow Jesus. We have been called but few desire to follow in His steps. This is the sad state of His church on earth. Many praised Him on Palm Sunday but few followed Him on Good Friday. Therefore few believed when He rose from the dead. It is the same today.

Separation

A crucified life means we are able to differentiate our soul from our spirit. Our soul longs to rule on earth but Jesus said we must rule from our spirit. When we understand this we will be able to access all God has prepared for us. God has already prepared a place for us. He has already ordained how we need to live. Yet few of us discern and walk according to His will. I believe this is because we are still walking according to our flesh rather then according to His Spirit. He said abundant life is in His Spirit not in our flesh. The more we crucify our flesh the more we will walk according to the Spirit.

Walking According To The Spirit

One way to walk in the Spirit is to pray in tongues. This bypasses our mind and connects with God’s Spirit. Now we can hear God speaking to us and so listen and do His will. This is not a one time experience. It is a daily walk and a conscious decision to walk according to His Spirit. This is not hard work because all He needs is for us to yield to Him. He does all the work. What a salvation we have in that He has provided all things to live a full life. Let us begin today to live a full life in the Spirit. His resurrection life in us will enable us to do this. Hallelujah.

Dr. John Mathai

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Biological Life

This is the earth compatible life of the flesh, it is carried in the blood. This is the life that keeps the tissues and organs going while we live here on earth. It could be corrupted by sickness, accidents, abusive living, and other physical pain. The expiration of this biological life of the flesh is what we refer to as death in human terms.

Life as Living

The man was said to be a living soul, simply means the man started giving outward expression to the inward vitality within him. Bible scholars refer to the phrase “living soul” as a “talking spirit”. The expression of the invisible essence called “life” by those who are not yet dead is referred to as “living”. When living is patterned in a certain way and for certain purpose, we refer to it as our “lifestyle”. We can have victorious living, healthy living, wealthy living, purposeful living, godly living, and the many ways of qualifying our lifestyles. It is your responsibility to consciously develop a trajectory along which you will love to pattern your living, thus developing a lifestyle.

Many events and occurrences within and beyond our human control will want to alter or hijack our lives for the worse; it is our responsibility to stand up with the whole armor of God and fight till our God given power of choice for life and blessing prevails. Joy, happiness, fulfillment, sorrow, failure, sadness, and all other cardinal descriptions of human mode of life are simple expressions of the quality of life at the soul level. We must not give the power of determinant to anything or anyone, no matter how connected we are to such person, nobody has the right to determine living for us beyond our choice. Many will come our way looking to deposit the poisons of negativity and dysfunctions they are carrying around. But, we owe it to God and ourselves to sharply refuse such poison or else they will be subjecting our living to corruption.

The Life of the Spirit

“The core of man, which is in the likeness of God, is the spirit of man. God himself is a Spirit.” (John 4:24) The life of God is “spirit life”. This was the part given to man by God as the breath of life at creation. The departure of this very life of God was the death which happened the day Adam ate the fruit of the knowledge of Good and evil (see Genesis 2:16-17). The restoration of the life of the spirit is a major event in redemption.

The Higher Life

Of the three spheres of human life, the life of the spirit is the ultimate, it is the core of human existence. The life of the flesh and soul are meant to be serviced and enriched by the life of the spirit. This is what keeps man in oneness with God. It comes from God and so is naturally agreeable with God in everything. It conveys the power and wisdom of God into the trinity of man. This life of God is the unquenchable life we refer to as eternal life. This is the good and higher life we receive at new birth.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

This very life of God that has come back to us at new birth, is meant to impact us on every sphere of our existence. It has restored eternal oneness with God (eternal life) into our spirit so that we can live with Him forever. It has re-vitalising effects on our mortal body, helping us to deal with morbidity and the mortality while we still live therein. It helps us deal with the corruption and corruptibility of our tissues and organs through healing or fending off the sicknesses and diseases.

Higher Life Is Better Life

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

The life of God has a re-configuring ability toward human living. It bears its weight on our soul and helps us to develop a new lifestyle. A lifestyle of victory and dominion in Christ. This life of God in us is meant to affect our choices, our values, our pursuits, and ultimately our outcome. When we allow the very life of God within us to shape our lifestyle, we can never be anything but the best that God wants us to be.

The Life of Water and the Spirit

The breach in the body, spirit, and soul of mankind was as a result of the departure of the God’s kind of life at the fall. The same breach was taken off and the bridge of life was brought back at salvation. This life is birthed, lived, and sustained by the the intake of the Word of God and the indwelling of Spirit of God.

“Jesus answered most assuredly, ‘I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'” (John 3:5-6.)

This is the description of the entrance of the life of God as new birth given by Jesus. The higher life is full of God kind of results as seen in Jesus. That is your new realm. This is your only way of living. A life full of God kind of result. Higher than Satan, death, sicknesses failure, and whatever hinders natural mankind on this side of eternity.