The book of Romans, in particular, the 8th chapter solidifies our relationship with God and life through the Spirit. In fact, in all of Paul’s admonitions in this chapter, he reminds us that without the Holy Spirit, we will wedge a difference in our concept, approach, and reasoning of God.
It reminds me of Eugene Peterson’s quote, ” the moment the organic unity of belief and behavior is damaged, we are incapable of living out our full humanity in which we were created”.
In fact, Paul, although warning us of a fleshly life, says that it’s not so much what a fleshly life will do to you as much as what a spirit life has already done for you.
With this chapter in place the conjecture is that through the supernatural, we have been given a NEW leaf in life. It actually defines our frustration in this world as a spiritual one, not a natural one. For instance, John G. Lake wrote, ” We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience”. It’s our light that intimidates us, not the darkness. Our spirit understands that it has an eternal contract with life. To ignore that will bring a constant stream of frustration. Why? Because again, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
The supernatural realm of living will always bring discomfort to apathy. Those who have chosen a natural realm of survival will be offended by those who refuse too. Bill Johnson in his book When Heaven Invades Earth says that “misunderstandings comes when we pursue what others ignore”.
When Paul writes about “mastering the secret of living” in Phil.4:12, he is basically saying “I have found that living supernatural changes the rules for living, and I like those rules”.
You see, in Romans 8:16 it says, “The Spirit and our spirit collaborate together to confirm our spiritual inheritance.” We are the children of God. Spirit living removes the condemnation that tries to erase that promise, so get over into His way of life and start TRULY living.
CHARGE!