| Poster | Thread | Wordizlife
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| | Re: | | Life giving words in this thread.
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This scripture seems to point to the cross and how we need to be crucified with Jesus on the cross. On the cross is where Jesus's flesh was ripped and his blood poured out. We are to eat it, meaning participate with the death of Jesus and make the cross (through the Holy Spirit) the center of our life.
after 4 years of being a believer, this idea of being dead with Christ on the cross still seems like a MYSTERY to me. How do we know we have died with him? And how do you do it?
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Robin
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|  2009/7/30 14:19 | Profile | PaulWest
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Joined: 2006/6/28
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| | Re: | | Quote:
after 4 years of being a believer, this idea of being dead with Christ on the cross still seems like a MYSTERY to me. How do we know we have died with him? And how do you do it?
We know we have died with Him because the Word of God affirms this. We know this as fact, but we must also consent by faith to see it worked out in our life. The death has already taken place; your old man was in Christ when He was slain by God, and now your part is to simply "reckon" this truth.
"Ye are dead", and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Do you know this? And if so, can you then reckon it, void of feelings or amazing experiences?
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Paul Frederick West
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| | 2009/7/30 14:59 | Profile | Wordizlife
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| | Re: | | Quote:
and now your part is to simply "reckon" this truth.
hehehe simple enough brother, thanks :-D
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Robin
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| | 2009/7/30 22:05 | Profile | PaulWest
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| | Re: | | Quote:
hehehe simple enough brother, thanks
Well, it looks simple enough on paper. The truth is, however, it usually takes failure upon failure upon failure for God to reduce us to the ground-zero level where we can at last reckon ourselves dead. No matter how much Bible knowledge we may have, God needs to break us before we can enter into the life He intends for us to live. Therefore, to answer the original question of this thread: "How should we study the scriptures?" my take would be, "to learn how to be transformed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ".
Every time you open the Bible, you are faced with a choice: to gather knowledge or to gather life; to grasp letter of the law or to grasp the [i]Spirit[/i] behind the letter. In a nutshell, to acquire knowledge of the law, or the knowledge of grace.
To learn the law you just need a studious minsdet, a good memory and a stack of flashcards; but to learn of grace and eat of the tree of life, you don't need any Bible memory cards...but you do need to contend with a flaming sword guarding the way. Learn to put yourself under that sword in all that you do, learn to let it fall upon your flesh, learn to seek it out and cherish it as you read the Word of God - the sword of the Spirit - and when that precious sword falls upon you as your approach the tree, you will begin to see the divine truth that "...sin shall no longer have dominion over you, for you are no longer under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
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Paul Frederick West
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| | 2009/7/30 23:08 | Profile | jiyouk
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Joined: 2007/10/25
Posts: 53
| | Re: | | Quote:
PaulWest wrote:
Quote:
after 4 years of being a believer, this idea of being dead with Christ on the cross still seems like a MYSTERY to me. How do we know we have died with him? And how do you do it?
We know we have died with Him because the Word of God affirms this. We know this as fact, but we must also consent by faith to see it worked out in our life. The death has already taken place; your old man was in Christ when He was slain by God, and now your part is to simply "reckon" this truth.
"Ye are dead", and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Do you know this? And if so, can you then reckon it, void of feelings or amazing experiences?
Amen brother~
A very good explanation indeed. Agree with you on how to read the Bible, or rather how to put your self under the sword of the spirit. So true how in my life I have two options of acquiring knowledge by the Bible and letting Jesus live inside me through the Bible.
To elaborate a bit. Many christians actually go about their lives trying to crucify themselves. If a christian is earnest and truthful enough before the Lord, he will learn that it is not the outwardly "sin fruits" that is the problem, but his own heart. He cannot escape the wisper of his heart praising himself and desiring to raise onself. No matter how hard he tries, his heart desires the praise of men. He then relizes that he needs to die to the self and that this is the essense of christianity. He then tries to die to the self. But then, no matter how he tries to die to the self, the self will just not die..
And finally he sees the truth. As romans 6 and galatians 2:20 points out. We are not to try to die to ourselves.. When Jesus died on the cross, I was dead with Him. When Jesus was raised from the dead, I have ressurected with Him. This is baptism. Before, this was all theology and something to be reckoned by the brain. But, now having been totally devestated.. having seen that all the efforts to die and live a righteous life actually failed. having seen that these efforts, although good in intention spured out of the thought that "if I try to be good I can be good.." He dies with Jesus. It is a historically true event, yet requires a faith for the Holy Spirit to make it true inside each believer. He now sees that a christian never lives with his own power. Paul said "I struggle with all His energy." Every action that he takes it is by faith that I have died and Jesus is living in me. Every diper that I have to clean, it is not me, but Jesus living in me.
OF course, this can only take place when the christian has really seen that no matter how hard he may try to be good, that in the end will not make him good. NO, he is a sinner from the core. He may get rid of the fruits of sin, but that will not change his heart. If he becomes devestated.. If he becomes so devestated that his soul becomes dead.. and can only call out to God for help instead of doing all those other spiritual activities that he once thought were so helpful.. The Holy Spirit will come. And no matter how he feels afterward on the matter of being crucified... It is not feelings that we trust.. We do not live by feelings, but we live by faith. So he lives a glories christian life where Jesus is acting in me.
Where is the credit to man during this santification? None, only that he had given himself by faith to the established truth what Jesus did on calvary.
"For I have been crucified, and it is no longer that I LIVE but CHRIST THAT LIVES IN ME."
So this is kind of the framework but it has to become real to you by the Holy Spirit and by the bliever being totally devestated at his own "SIN" state.
I'm a young believer myself and it has been only a year since God made this crucify concept real to me. Before it seemed some thing that spiritually "wow!" people talked about, but they too really didn't explain it. HOwever, knowing this and acting it in real life so that the gospel of Jesus is living in me by faith every moment is a challenging task. |
| | 2009/7/31 1:38 | Profile |
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