Without Supernatural a.s.sistance Romans 7 doesn"t teach that Paul was constantly trying and failing to do the right thing. He wasn"t describing his present Christian life and saying that this is the way that it is. Paul wasn"t confessing that after all those years, he was still struggling with l.u.s.t, s.e.xual sin, anger, and bitterness. Neither was he saying, "You have this flesh, and try as you might, but you can never beat it."
Paul was simply describing the inability of the flesh-your physical ability, natural mind, emotions, and actions all independent from Christ-to please G.o.d. You cannot overcome your flesh on your own; you have to start living from who you are in Christ. Your spirit man is completely changed and infused with the life of G.o.d. You can only please Him through living by your spirit!
The Christian life isn"t just difficult to live-it"s impossible! In your flesh, you can"t do what the Lord has told you to do. He"s commanded you to just bear it when someone insults you. If they slap you on the face, you"re to turn the other cheek. If they sue you and take away your coat, you"re to give them your cloak as well. If someone forces you to cany their burden one mile against your will, go two miles (Matt. 5:39-41). Your natural self, independent of G.o.d, just won"t do things like that!
It"s natural to be self-serving, self-seeking, and self-promoting! If somebody slaps you on the cheek, you want to hit both of theirs. If someone takes something from you through a lawsuit, you want to hire the best lawyer to sue them back. But the Lord"s told you, "Do the opposite." Without supernatural a.s.sistance, it"s impossible to do what Jesus commands! That"s why Paul declared, "It"s no longer me that lives but Christ who lives through me" (Gal. 2:20).
There"s a tremendous amount of liberty that comes with recognizing and releasing Christ in you. You don"t have to say in the flesh "Well, I will to love you" and turn the other cheek through gritted teeth. It"s much better to pray, "Father, in myself, I"d like to knock their block off. My flesh cannot do this," (Paul described this in Romans 7), "but in my spirit, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have the same spirit that Jesus had when He hung on the cross and forgave the very people who crucified Him." (You"ve read that in G.o.d"s Word and believed it.) "Father, I don"t feel like it right now, but I know my spirit is the same one that enabled Jesus to extend mercy to those who mocked Him. In the natural, I can"t do this. Father, please live through me now. Give me a supernatural compa.s.sion for this person so I can love them!"
Peter thought he was being very generous when he asked, "How many times should I forgive my brother-up to seven times a day?" Jesus answered, "Not seven times but seventy times seven!" That"s 490 times in one day! This was His way of communicating that there shouldn"t be a limit on your forgiveness (Matt. 18:21-22).
The Lord wants you to forgive totally-as much and as many times as it takes! In your flesh, you might be able to forgive a person for some minor things once, twice, or even seven times in a day (Peter thought he might be able to do that). But what Jesus asked goes far beyond your human ability. The only way you can forgive like that is by saying, "Father, I can"t do it, but You can. Lord, please love them through me." When you humble yourself, turning away from your own natural ability and to G.o.d and His divine ability, you"ll discover a supernatural strength flowing through you!
You have an unlimited supply of G.o.d"s kind of love in your spirit. "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things" (1 Cor. 13:4-7). His love never fails (verse 8)!
In your spirit, you have an unlimited ability to forgive, endure, believe, and hope! If you catch yourself remarking "I can"t put up with this person any more. I just can"t take it. I"m at the end of my rope!" what you"re really saying is, "I"ve come to the end of my flesh!" That"s good! Now let your spirit take over!
You Can Too!
Pray, "G.o.d, I"m sorry! I"ve been trying this in myself, which is why I"m burned out, frustrated, and angry. Forgive me and live Your life through me. I believe Your Word. In the spirit, I am a brand-new person. If I would walk in the spirit, I won"t fulfill the l.u.s.t of the flesh." (Then, start meditating on who you are and what you have in Christ.) "By faith, this is who I choose to believe I am."
That"s renewing your mind and releasing the supernatural life of G.o.d out of your spirit into your soul and body. When your physical mind comes into agreement with your spiritual mind, you can literally begin to hope, endure, and believe in things that you couldn"t have done by your natural self.
I"ve been able to love the many different people who have come out against me. A guy I was witnessing to spat in my face. People have tried to physically a.s.sault me. Some other well-known ministers publicly called me a "cult leader" and "of the devil." A guy stole $20,000 from our ministry. I"ve even been kidnapped and had threats on my life! But in all of this (and more), I can truthfully tell you that I have nothing against any of these people. I harbor no evil thoughts and never spend any time even thinking about them. I"ve completely forgiven each and every one. How? I renewed my mind to G.o.d"s Word and released the love and forgiveness that"s in my spirit. You can do it too!
Releasing Your True Ident.i.ty You can"t please G.o.d if you"re in the flesh! Romans 7 describes living by your own natural, carnal ability. That"s why the results are defeat, failure, and an inability to do the desired good (Rom. 7:19). In your flesh, you can"t overcome, turn the other cheek, or forgive an unlimited number of times. That"s why Paul said of his flesh, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). In other words, Paul asked, "Who will deliver me from this flesh?"
The very next verse contains the answer! "I thank G.o.d through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 7:25). Deliverance from the flesh comes through living by who you are in the spirit! From here, Paul launches right into Romans 8 with "There is therefore." "Therefore" refers back to what has previously been said, which is that the tlesh cannot please G.o.d (Rom. 7). Therefore, you must walk after the Spirit (Rom. 8).
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). Your spirit is the only part of you in Christ Jesus. If you are in the spirit, there is no condemnation to you whatsoever. That"s good news!
Romans 8 is one of the most victorious chapters in the whole Bible! Why? It"s written from the perspective of your born-again spirit. The frustration of living after the flesh described in Romans 7 is not the typical Christian life. Romans 7 speaks of a person trying to please G.o.d through their own natural effort. "O G.o.d, I"m trying to do better. I want to do better, but I just can"t!" Why? It"s impossible to serve G.o.d in the flesh. The word "spirit" is only used once in Romans 7. In contrast, it"s used 21 times in Romans 8. It"s Romans 8 that describes the typical Christian life. You"ve got to get over into the spirit!
This revelation of spirit, soul, and body unlocks so much of the Christian life! How can you live in the spirit if you don"t know that it was your spirit that changed? When you understand that, you can begin comprehending that who you are and what you have in Christ doesn"t fluctuate based on your performance. How can you release something you don"t know or don"t believe you have? Once you do believe, you must reject the flesh and walk by who you are in the spirit. Cultivate a good image of who you are in Christ, and let that become the real you. It"s just a matter of discovering and releasing your true ident.i.ty!
An Extroverted Introvert Through this, G.o.d"s done a miracle in my life! I was extremely introverted before being turned on to the Lord. Because of nervousness and self-consciousness, I couldn"t look someone in the face and talk without stammering. Now, G.o.d has me speaking to millions of people daily through television and radio. I"ve ministered to people face to face in meetings all around the world, sometimes up to five thousand at once. Yet, I"m not afraid because it doesn"t bother me anymore. I"m focused on who I am in the spirit!
My flesh is the same as it always was. I still have a tendency to be introverted. In fact, when I"m not focused on the Lord and someone catches me in the flesh, I still want to withdraw, not exert myself, and just go sit in the background. This natural part of me hasn"t changed.
Most people think they"re improving their flesh when they"re born again. That"s simply not true! You don"t improve your natural self through the Christian life, you just become better at denying it. The improvement comes by choosing to recognize your new ident.i.ty in Christ and letting those thoughts and actions manifest from your spirit.
When I take personality tests now, I always score the maximum in every category for extroverts. That"s who I"ve chosen to be and who I"ve become in Christ. It"s who my born-again spirit is. If you could somehow test me apart from my G.o.dly reactions, you"d find I"m still an introvert in my flesh.
Living from the Spirit The Christian life isn"t your natural flesh becoming stronger in G.o.dliness so that you don"t need the Holy Spirit as much as when you first began. Rather, it"s growing stronger in the spirit and weaker in the flesh. The flesh"s dominance steadily diminishes as you learn to consistently depend on and draw out more of what"s in your spirit.
Focus on who you are in the spirit by meditating on G.o.d"s Word, and your flesh will bow the knee to the spirit"s rule and reign. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the l.u.s.t of the flesh. For the flesh l.u.s.teth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:16-17). You"ll break the control of the flesh as you base your ident.i.ty and potential on what the Word says about who you are in Christ. Instead of being controlled by your old carnal self, your spirit man will begin to dominate.
My flesh is still basically timid and shy, but my spirit is as bold as a lion (Prov. 28:1)! Some people who travel on airlines push their way up to the counter and make demands whenever something goes wrong. I"m quite the opposite. I actually set my travel agent cards aside because the ticket agents almost never grant me any of those discounts. I"m just not a pushy guy! Yet, I can be very bold and a.s.sertive when it comes to spiritual matters, or anything else of value to me. People have challenged me in services before. It"s like the spirit of might comes upon me, and I just take care of it (Is. 11:2). That"s because I"ve learned how to live more from my spirit than my flesh.
Chapter 18.
Mind Your Spirit Through spiritual dyslexia, most people perceive Galatians 5:16 completely backwards! "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the l.u.s.t of the flesh." They recognize that the flesh and the spirit are contrary but a.s.sume that they"re automatically walking in the spirit if they just deny their flesh. Therefore, they put all of their focus on quitting this and rejecting that, thinking, If I can just stop doing these bad things and having these foul thoughts, then I"ll be in the spirit". Wrong! This verse doesn"t say "Walk in the flesh, and you"ll hinder the spirit" or "Overcome the flesh, and then you"ll walk in the spirit." No, it declares just the opposite: "Walk in the spirit, and you won"t fulfill the l.u.s.t of the flesh!"
Darkness is simply the absence of light. You can"t get rid of darkness by shoveling it out of the room. However, if you turn on a light, it"ll flee! When you walk in the spirit (turn on the light), by default-as a byproduct-you won"t fulfill the l.u.s.t of the flesh (darkness flees). Willpower is the shovel of the flesh. If you feel you can"t really accept who you are in Christ until after you overcome the darkness in your life-drinking, cussing, smoking, or whatever problems you currently have-you"ll just end up frustrated and stuck (Rom. 7). It"s not that G.o.d won"t release His power to you; it"s just that you haven"t yet flipped the switch! Lay that shovel down and turn on the light! Get into G.o.d"s Word, and start recognizing and meditating on who you are in Christ. As you focus your attention continually on the reality of your new ident.i.ty, the brightness of who you are in the spirit will begin to shine in and through you to such a degree that it"ll break the control of the flesh and deliver you from these external problems. Light always overwhelms and chases away the dark!
A friend of mine used to be a well-known secular entertainer who wrote several famous songs. While in this profession, he became born again. After finishing a concert at midnight, he"d hop on the bus with his musicians and start traveling to their next gig. Excited about G.o.d and His Word, my friend actually snorted cocaine off the pages of His Bible so he could stay awake and keep reading about how much the Lord loved him!
Today, this man has been a pastor for over twenty years! How did he overcome his flesh and its bad habits? Did he quit snorting cocaine and all the other unG.o.dly things he was doing first? No! This man didn"t let his vices keep him from beginning to find out what G.o.d"s Word said about him. He centered his attention on discovering who he was in Christ and what all Jesus had done for him. As those things became reality to him, he finally came to a place where G.o.d led him out of that lifestyle.
G.o.d wants you to come to Him just as you are! After you"re born again and changed inside, renew your mind to who you arc in Christ. As you find out who you are in your spirit, you"ll change outwardly as a result. If you"ll just start walking in the spirit by focusing your attention on the things of G.o.d, regardless of what your flesh is like, you"ll break its dominion over you!
Focus: Quality & Quant.i.ty You can know whether you"re walking in the spirit or not by what your attention is on. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:5). What you"re thinking about will tell you whether you"re in the flesh or in the spirit!
Where is your focus? If the doctor says you"re going to die, are you more dominated by his word or G.o.d"s Word? Are you imagining and antic.i.p.ating sickness, disease, and death? Or are you focused on the scriptures that declare He"s taken away all your sickness and by His stripes you were healed of every disease? Are you centered in on the spirit or the flesh?
If your mind is stayed on the things of the flesh, then you"re in the flesh. You cannot please G.o.d, nor will you be able to succeed against this ailment. You"ll die physically even though G.o.d"s healing and raising-from-the-dead power is already inside your born-again spirit. Whatever your mind focuses on determines whether you"re in the flesh or not. It"s really that simple!
By learning to keep your mind stayed on G.o.d, your spirit will dominate and control your flesh. "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom. 8:6). This isn"t just quality time; it"s both quality and quant.i.ty of time spent focused on the things of G.o.d.
Fleshly mindedness is death. "Carnal" literally means "of the five senses." Carnal mindedness is being fleshly, physical, and outward minded instead of spiritually minded. It"s being dominated by your five senses. If your body is facing sickness and you"re more in tune with and sensitive to what you feel (flesh) than what you believe (Word), then you"re carnal. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Whose Report Will You Believe?
You need to get to where you believe G.o.d"s report more than the world"s! You"ve crossed over into the spirit when G.o.d"s Word dominates you more than what you can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. Instead of letting the devil tell you what you can"t do or somebody else saying that you"ll die or your checkbook telling you you"re in deep trouble again, you focus your attention on what G.o.d says about you, what He says you have, and what He says you can do. Once you do that, you"ll find it"ll break the dominion, the power, and the control of the flesh over you.
Physical healing was purchased through Christ"s atonement. It"s not just a "P.S." to forgiveness of sin; healing is an integral part of what Jesus died to produce. In fact, His sacrifice provides physical healing just as much as forgiveness of sin. G.o.d would no more give someone sickness than lead them into sin. Why? Jesus shed His precious blood to completely redeem us from both! (For an in-depth look at healing, I recommend my teaching ent.i.tled G.o.d Wants You Well) Seeing a truth doesn"t mean you"ll automatically profit from it. Actually, conflict will normally arise! Hebrews 10:32 reveals that once you"re enlightened, you endure "a great fight of afflictions." Why? Satan immediately comes to steal the Word before it takes root in your heart and produces (Mark 4:15,19). He attempts to dislodge it when you"re at your youngest, when a truth is still new to you, before it"s rooted and established as part of who you are.
Once I saw in the Word that it"s always G.o.d"s will to heal, the fight was on! Satan came against me, and I started experiencing sickness more than ever before. Immediately, there was intense conflict between my flesh and spirit. The spirit declared, "By His stripes I was healed (1 Pet. 2:24); it"s already done (Eph. 1:18)" and "The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is inside of me (Eph. 1:19-20)." In my spirit, I had this rcs-urrection power, but my flesh kept arguing, "You"re sick! You feel terrible and you"re about to throw up. Admit it!" There was this incredible conflict between what 1 saw in my spirit through G.o.d"s Word and what I felt in my physical body. My flesh and my spirit were fighting each other!
This was just my unrenewed mind, not some old nature inside trying to make me disbelieve G.o.d. For a number of years, my old man taught me how to believe only what I could see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. Anything and everything else was stupid! When he was crucified, my mind was left behind, programmed to sense knowledge. Everything in my physical, natural, fleshly realm screamed, "You"re sick!" My body told me that I hurt. Other people commented on how bad 1 looked. Therefore, it was a real struggle for my mind to believe what I couldn"t see!
I just determined in my heart that 1 would not give up or give in until 1 saw with my physical eyes the truth of G.o.d"s Word manifest in my body. I was so committed to the fact that what G.o.d said about me was true that 1 decided to make myself believe it.
Cracking the Dam At the time, I was living and pastoring a small church in Segoville, Texas. 1 preached healing and had revelation knowledge of it, but I was sick in my body. The devil was fighting me. My flesh and my spirit were b.u.t.ting heads!
Since faith without works is dead, I decided one night not to just lay in bed and act sick (James 2:17, 20, 26). I didn"t want to kill my faith by giving in to the pressure. However, it was physically impossible for me to stand up because I was so ill. 1 had to kneel on the floor in the living room so Jamie could go ahead and sleep. Putting my Bible on the wood floor in front of me, 1 determined in my heart that 1 was going to fight this thing!
I spent hours just quoting scriptures on healing. I didn"t stop because I knew I"d fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion if I did. I"d confess aloud, "By His stripes, I was healed." My body would counter, "Oh no, you"re not!" Then I"d answer, "Yes, I am-the Word says so!" This fight continued several hours while I pushed my Bible along and crawled around the room on hands and knees just to stay awake.
You don"t have to do it the way I did, but you will have to overcome the same conflict! You don"t just say, "All right, I see the truth. Flesh, I now renounce you and choose to walk by the spirit!" No, it"ll be a traumatic experience when you turn around and head the other direction. Your mind and emotions have been indulged now for many years. They"ve always said that whatever you see is more real than what"s invisible. There"s going to be a fight, and it probably won"t all happen in just one evening"s time!
That night proved to be a major break for me. I cracked the dam of flesh that held back the flow of G.o.d"s life in me. My spirit began dominating from that point forward little by little. I"m still dealing with these same things, but I"ve grown a lot. I"m seeing tremendous victory in my life, and I"m able to help many other people. I"m still in process, but I"m renewing my mind and winning the battle between my flesh and my spirit.
The Test Recently, I was required to take a treadmill test while receiving a qualifying physical for an insurance policy. However, since I refused to allow them to shave my chest hair, the electrodes fell off after only twelve minutes. Several weeks later, the insurance company called and said they couldn"t insure me. They cited the fact that my readings indicated I had a serious heart problem that surfaced at about the twelfth minute of the test. When I asked them if the electrodes falling off would"ve made a difference or not, they decided to give me another test.
This time I let them shave my chest, but not before informing the nurse that she was removing virgin hair! 1 finished the test without incident and waited for the doctor to review my results. He was fine with my readings up until about the thirteenth minute of the test. That"s when he got a worried look on his face and told me I had a serious problem. This medical professional then advised me of my "need" to see a specialist that very day and began writing out the note for me to give to this other doctor.
I boldly looked this man in the face and declared, "I don"t believe your results!" It was easy to see that he wasn"t used to someone countering his opinion. However, I challenged him to look again at the printout and then honestly tell me that I had a heart problem.
He replied, "Well, this doesn"t really say you have a heart problem. It"s just that your results are completely typical. Since everyone"s heart is a little different, you could be totally healthy. I just think you should go get another test!"
"That"s not what you said!" I thundered. "You told me I had a serious heart problem, not that there"s a small chance and you think I should get another opinion."
This guy backed down and sputtered, "You"re fine... just forget about that other test."
Most people would have taken the word of this doctor over the Word of G.o.d, which emphatically declares that we"re healed. By the time they finished obsessing about it, their hearts would have failed-from fear (Luke 21:26)! The next time you"re faced with a report that"s contrary to G.o.d"s, who will you choose to believe?
Overcome Your Flesh You overcome by being mindful of what G.o.d"s Word says about you-especially the New Testament. When you"re Word minded, you"re spiritually minded because G.o.d"s words are spirit and life (John 6:63). In your spirit, you"re completely changed, eternal, sanctified, holy, and perfected forever. As Jesus is-so are you! If you"d dominate yourself with those thoughts, all it would produce is life and peace.
If you"re having something other than life and peace, then you"re something other than spiritually minded (Rom. 8:6). You may desire the right things, praying and begging G.o.d for them, but you don"t receive victory by desiring or begging for it. You receive the victory He"s already achieved and provided for you by focusing your attention on the spirit. When you do that, you"ll overcome.
In my opinion, you won"t manifest much of the life of G.o.d if you"re plugged into the world through radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. It takes a lot of effort-real effort-to keep your focus on the things of G.o.d. How can you expect different results when you read, watch, listen to, and think all the same things as your unbelieving neighbors? That"s ignorance gone to seed! Sure, you might be able to add a devotion and intellectually know that G.o.d wants you healed, prospered, and delivered from oppression. You may even have a desire for and a sensitiv-ity to G.o.d that they don"t have. But as far as results go, you won"t really experience any more of G.o.d"s miraculous power in your life as long as you continue thinking on the same carnal things that they do pretty much all day long. To get different results, you have to do something differently!
If you mind the things of the flesh, then you"ll be after the flesh; the physical realm will dominate you. You won"t be able to please G.o.d (Rom. 8:8) or experience the victory that"s available to you. In order to release G.o.d"s power and life, you must overcome the flesh by continually focusing your mind on who you are and what you have in the spirit.
Chapter 19.
Time to Leave!
When you make Jesus Christ Lord of your life by truly believing on Him, an instantaneous change takes place. This change occurs in your spirit, not your flesh-body or soul. Whether the change ever manifests itself in your physical realm depends on what you think.
The flesh, your natural self, pulls in one direction, and your spirit leads you in another. How you think determines what you experience. If your mind stays only on physical things-not even necessarily sinful things, just physical-then you"ll be limited to and dominated by your flesh. You might even be a very moral person, but you won"t experience the supernatural life of G.o.d.
The only way you"ll experience the power of G.o.d within you is to walk in the spirit. Believing to raise someone from the dead goes beyond just living a good life. You must believe in something that has no proof or evidence in the physical realm whatsoever. You have to get beyond the physical and acknowledge that there is a spiritual world. As you recognize your true power and believe, the spiritual realm will become more real to you than the physical.
This applies to prosperity too! There will be times when there"s no basis for faith in your physical facts. Your bank statement won"t prove it. Everything in the natural may be coming against the Word, but if you stay in the spirit, fixed on what His Word says, you"ll be able to see yourself prosperous when everyone else tries to repossess your house, car, etc. As you hold on to G.o.d"s Word, your spirit will overcome your flesh and break its dominion. That"s when you"ll see the Word manifest!
Peace You can be spiritually minded! Whatever you continually think on will dominate you (Prov. 23:7). If it"s who you are and what you have in Christ, then that"s what will eventually manifest itself in your physical life.
One-third of your salvation is already complete! Your born-again spirit isn"t in the process of growing or maturing. Right now in your spirit, you are exactly the way you"ll be throughout eternity (1 John 4:17). You have a physical body and soul that haven"t been changed yet. They are subject to change and can change, but it"s not automatic. However, the change of your spirit at salvation was total, complete, and automatic.
Whether you ever see your true spiritual potential released into your physical life or not depends on what you think (Rom. 12:2). If natural things-either sinful or just plain carnal-dominate and control your thoughts, you"ll shut off the flow of G.o.d"s Spirit through you. But if you dominate yourself with the truths of His Word and get beyond the natural limitations of your five senses, you can start releasing the supernatural life that"s inside you.
You"ll be able to experience a peace that pa.s.ses understanding. Even when it seems like everyone"s against you and everything"s crashing in the physical realm, you"ll enjoy G.o.d"s supernatural peace as long as you stay focused on the Word. "And the peace of G.o.d, which pa.s.seth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7).
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in G.o.d, believe also in me" (John 14:1). To the natural mind, this sounds unreasonable in light of the situation. Their Messiah, the One they loved and worshiped, was about to be executed. There"s no natural way they could have peace in the midst of something like that, but Jesus had given them His Word. He"d told them many times, "I"ll be crucified, but I"ll rise again on the third day." If they had meditated on and dominated themselves by what Jesus had said, they would have released the supernatural peace of G.o.d they needed for that trying situation. (Christ"s last minute instructions to His disciples for overcoming crisis situations are thoroughly unpacked in my teaching ent.i.tled Christian Survival Kit.)
What Will You Think?
If you want to experience G.o.d"s best, you must understand these truths concerning spirit, soul, and body. You have unlimited potential, but it"s all in the spirit. The victory G.o.d"s given you isn"t in your flesh, it"s in the part of you that"s been born again. As you mature in the Christian life, you don"t become less carnal; you just let less carnality dominate and manifest because you"re yielded to the spirit instead.
Through G.o.d"s Word, concentrate on seeing who you are in Christ. Spend less time feeding the flesh and focus on the spirit instead. Surround yourself with people who speak faith, are positive, and center in on the potential we have in Christ instead of those who gripe and complain. You"ll develop an entire mentality based on your new ident.i.ty in Christ as you dominate yourself with what you see in the spiritual mirror of G.o.d"s Word.
Nothing can separate you from G.o.d"s love because your born-again spirit has been sanctified and perfected forever. G.o.d is a Spirit, and He sees you in the spirit (John 4:24). He fellowships with you Spirit to born-again spirit. G.o.d doesn"t give you what you deserve based on your thoughts and physical actions in your flesh; rather, He deals with you in the spirit realm. That"s why He"ll receive you at any time, in any condition-you"re His beloved child!