davidbowerkingwood

God has a Better Plan for his Children!

When any person is born again by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, amazing and wonderful things are instantly applied to them and their spiritual situation is totally changed forever! That portion of you which was created in the image of God, and is eternal, is restored to a close relationship with the Holy Trinity; a relationship which is sustained by the power of God, and can never be broken!

All of this is only observable by faith; our mortal bodies, which have not been restored, are still struggling with the ravages of sin and the deadly consequences of Adam’s direct disobedience to God! There will never be a better time to observe God’s counsel to his children which is found in 2 Corinthians 5:1-7

“5 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, ³ if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. ⁴ For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶ So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. ⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

While the time in our tents is a limited assignment, our place in God’s family is eternal and will never change! We know this by faith and not by sight; living a life by faith is an essential element in finding the joy and happiness available to those who have been given the new birth!

As Christians, our time in the tent is one of very uncertain circumstances; we are located on a spiritual battlefield in a world controlled by Satan. Satan is the prince of the power of the air and exercises profound influence on the affairs of men.

The Ancient Spiritual War

We are serving as soldiers in an ancient spiritual battle that started thousands of years ago; I have written more on this in a series, “To the Soldiers in the Spiritual War.” The secret to a life of joy, is living a life of faith, not a life based on your circumstances, not a life based on sight!

The world, in which we live, is dedicated to distracting us by flooding our mortal senses with a profusion of noise and disturbing images! We do ourselves a great disservice when we let the world control our perceptions of reality; to the extent we let the world determine our view of life is the extent we are living a life based on sight and not on faith!

Our Not so Secret Weapon!

As Christians, we are given the most powerful gift that exists in the entire universe; we are made one with God, the Holy Spirit, in an unbreakable, eternal union! The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, joins with us as we live out our lives on the spiritual battlefield called Earth.

God puts in place, for each of us, a perfect plan which will be fulfilled in accordance with God’s will for our lives. In Romans 8:26-30, we are given a summary glimpse of this plan:

“²⁶ Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰ Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Will You Live a Life of Faith or a Life of Sight?

While our old sin nature is reckoned to have been crucified with Christ at the point of our new birth, our old sin nature still remains within us and can control us if we let it. The secret to controlling it is confession of sin. In 1 John 1:8-10 it is written:

“⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Confession of known sins results in the forgiveness of all unrighteousness; the Holy Spirit can take control of our lives at that point and restore the fruit of the Spirit! The contrast is explained in Galatians 6:16-26 where it is written:

“¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

As a born again Christian, indwelt by God, the Holy Spirit, you do have the option and right to live a Holy Spirit led life, a life filled with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I encourage you to fill your life with God’s joy and happy expectations!