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Discussion Forum : Devotional Thoughts : Living the Daily Death

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proudpapa
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Joined: 2012/5/13
Posts: 2936


 Re: PaulWest

Amen Brother PaulWest


RE PaulWest wrote: "quote]Are there any biblical verses which is helpful in illuminating this point?



All the verses that speak of Christ's life becoming our own. Off the top of my head: John 15:7; Galatians 2:20; 5:16; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:3."



I think Romans 6 might be helpful also attacking Sin by Faith in the opperation of Gods promises and not by our own might.


 2012/6/4 23:15Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re: Multiple Deaths

While we are on the topic of death:

Multiple Deaths

With manifold trials, tribulations, and spiritual mourning resulting from the slow death of self-abnegation, any mature believer can tell you that this world is beset with pain and persecution for the follower of Christ. Satan manufactures cheap pleasures through the carnal entertainment of illicit sex, sports-idolatry, gluttony, self-image and money to divert millions of souls from seeking the spiritual reality of God’s Kingdom – leading to eternal perdition in the outer darkness. Hence, there is a death that delivers from the world, and a death that occurs because of the world. In other words: the death in Adam that occurs "because of" sin and the death in Christ that delivers us "from" sin (see John 15:18-20; 16:33; Acts 14:22; II Timothy 3:12; I Thessalonians 3:3; I Peter 2:19-23; 4:12-13).

Most Christians occupy themselves with only the first death; that is, how to prevent their mortal flesh from expiring within the world. A vast amount of Christian preaching and ministry revolves around the preservation of flesh and an avoidance of pain in Adam, and, as result, a profound reluctance to embrace the true death proffered upon us in Christ is established in the soul. It is only after accepting the spiritual reality of our own deaths in Christ that God begins ushering us through the halls of self-denial and its subsequent suffering in the flesh to the cessation of sin (Matthew 16:25; I Peter 4:1).

If the believer chooses the Adamic death, Satan ushers him through a different kind of suffering via the fulfillment of the affections and lusts of the flesh. We are faced each day with this decision, and we must choose wisely the death for which we are to partake. A double-minded man blurs the two deaths, and thus experiences double the pain (James 1:8). He is a most wretched and lamentable creature, for he endures affliction from both camps. God’s great aim in mortification is to have us be followers of Christ in all similitude of not only His life, but His death as well.

Notice that Christ on the cross died so quickly that even the heathen marveled (Mark 15:44). He refused to fight to prolong His life, in contrast to the two thieves who bookended Him on Golgotha. We’ve heard many sermons on Christ being our example in life, but how many sermons have we heard on Him being our example in death? Before we can experience the life of sin-triumphant resurrection power, we must first experience the correct flesh-death in similar fashion. A cross of self-denial looms before all who deign to follow God’s Son outside the gates of the Jerusalem. We must embrace it; we must walk down the correct hallway that leads to the correct antechamber of self-death. Though we have been crucified with Christ, our eyes must be opened to the revelation of this truth so that we can live out this death in the actual power of the Holy Spirit.

In following the example of our Lord who went on into death before us, our dying to self should be also done expeditiously. The world around us should marvel in the quake of our final expiration! And like the two thieves who yet lingered in life beside the deceased Lord, we too can expect God to send the leg-breakers to hasten our doom if we continue to prolong our lives in the flesh (John 19:32-33).
The reason we don’t hear much preaching and teaching on the holy art of mortification and death is because very few believers have actually plumbed the depths of this realm and have come out the other side with power over sin and resurrection victory.

Christianity today instead teaches believers to seek an experience of some kind by which they might attain perfection minus mortification. In the end, however, it is the daily death of an inner crucifixion which alone can prevail and accomplish the highest good for which God purposes for our lives. If this crucifixion does not occur; that is, if we are not hastening toward it, actively seeking it, and allowing God to burden and propel all our waking moments in its direction, it matters not how much we participate in our local assemblies, study theological concepts, or listen to the finest preaching the world has to offer. We will be forever stunted, forever spinning our wheels in the muck of theories and paper Christianity.

Until we learn to crucify our own self-will through the power of God, we shall be very much alive and miserable. Ask yourself this: is the yearning for the death of your self-will stronger than the urge to remain an autonomous creature (Ecclesiastes 7:1)? Which variant holds the sweeter prospect when presented to your soul?

It was said that before his execution, Sir Walter Raleigh asked to see the axe that would behead him. When he saw it, he commented that such a sharp medicine was the cure for all disease and misery. God will see to it that we learn to embrace, to welcome this death. As we sit condemned in the cold dungeons of our own Adamic flesh, we too ought to ask to see the blessed instrument of our own execution. Must we suffer perpetual subjection to the lusts of our rebellious flesh and to the thoughts of our depraved minds? No, one thousand times! Mortification (or self-denial) through the Holy Spirit is God’s sharp medicine to cure all our misery.

Unfortunately, instead of teaching believers to seek death through mortification, carnal preaching today rallies them to beseech the executioner for clemency. This is grievous error. The message that God is pro-death whereas contemporary Christianity is pro-life will at once alienate you from the rest of the organized structure, but it must be taught nonetheless. We seek not to impress men, but to set them free from the slavery of sin.

All of our troubles, defeats, embarrassments, failings, strivings, factions and unrest spring from one single source: from a refusal to allow the Spirit of God to work His mortifying influence upon us.

Brother Paul


_________________
Paul Frederick West

 2012/6/6 12:47Profile
yuehan
Member



Joined: 2011/6/15
Posts: 562


 Re:

Thank you, Paul, for the thorough reply. I'd like some prayer on this matter too - thanks!

 2012/6/6 21:02Profile
InTheLight
Member



Joined: 2003/7/31
Posts: 2850
Phoenix, Arizona USA

 Re:

Quote:
there is no fight when a man or woman is walking in the Spirit. The fight is in entering the Spirit. The flesh resists, the world opposes, Satan harasses. The eagle pumps its wings higher and higher, fighting gravity, to reach a height to where a rising thermal can finally sustain it. Once in the thermal - in the Spirit - overcoming is effortless. This law of 'aerodynamics' for the Christian is found in Romans 8:2: The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. In other words, the law of the "Life of Christ".



I believe the Lord is teaching me that this fight in entering the Spirit is one that occurs in prayer and fasting, honestly wrestling with God there in the closet.

Just as Jesus dealt with everything He needed to deal with in the wilderness before starting His ministry, and in Gethsemane before climbing the hill to the Cross, we must fight the battle in prayer and come out with the same confidence that Jesus walked in. It's got to be real prayer, just like Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, "Father I can't do this, but Your will be done!"

In Christ,

Ron


_________________
Ron Halverson

 2012/6/6 21:22Profile





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