Trust the Spirit Inside you Romans 8:5-11

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8

I share this verse a lot with Christian friends who are struggling and worrying about making a decision. "I can't decide whether to Study Abroad in France or India. I want to do God's will, but I don't know what that is!" I ask them, "Well what do you want to do?" They look puzzled, as though they have never thought of that verse. I show them this verse. "If you had a sinful mind you would not want to or be able to submit to God's will, but since you want His will to be done in his life then you live according to the Spirit and "those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." If you are praying for God's will, and you want one thing more than the other, then go for that. Remembering too, that He is sovereign and if you made a decision not in accordance with His will, though not rebelling either, He'll probably set you straight.

This idea was revolutionary to me, when I first realized it. I always thought that what I wanted, as a person of the world, must be the opposite of what God wanted for me, ignoring the power of the Spirit. God puts in us desires, so that we may know His direction.

I'm sure this could be misused and misinterpreted, but it is up to the individual to decide if they are living in the Spirit and feel life and peace. As a guideline ask yourself how you feel about what you want? What kind of wanting is it? If you find yourself wanting to lean towards a certain decision, but yet your angry, anxious, stressed and don't want to pray about it or seek God's will, maybe afraid of what he'll say. Remember verse 6: "The mind of the sinful nature is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God."

I have to remind myself of this verse though every time I am struggling with a decision. "What I want is not always the wrong answer...in fact it may be pointing me to the right answer." I've got to learn to trust that Spirit inside of me.

By the way, I LOVE Romans 8, so there may be a lot of postings on it.

Imparting Spiritual Gifts

So I decided to do a personal study of Romans and post some of my thoughts here, for anyone who is interested.

"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong--that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." Romans 1:11-12

This really caught my eye because it shows the power of building one another up. We are not only saying nice words, but we are imparting a spiritual gift to them. By being examples for each other, encouraging each other, we are imparting spiritual gifts!

In the conservative christian world it is more common to see people tearing one another down with accusations, gossip all in the name of "Building one another up" and "rebuking in love." But I think that real love would be to live ones own life in faith and to encourage another with your own faith. This will not tear down but rather "impart" spiritual gifts to the other person passing to them what you are doing yourself. Perhaps this is why Jesus talked about us having a plank in our own eye when we try to pluck it out of someone else's. We should be teaching others we think are stumbling by example and encouragement, not by pointing out the splinter in their eye, because chances are, we have a plank in ours!

Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed to preach the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes"

This verse makes me think about a story someone told me once. If someone had found the cure for a deathly disease that everyone in this world had, would they be ashamed to share it? Would they withhold it? Wouldn't they be wrong in doing so? "Yes" you might say, but no one knows they have the disease of death and separation from God. Does this make it any less deadly? Many feel deeply they have some sort of disease, something wrong with them, a pointlessness to their existence, a brokeness, loneliness, desire for something more out of life would you be ashamed to diagnose their pain and give them the cure?

That is what sharing the gospel is. Diagnosing pain that someone feels and giving them the cure. And then their is rejoicing because none of us are alone in our pain, we all have the same deep core desires, and the answer to every problem of the world is found in Jesus.