We had yet another glorious time on Sunday being blessed by the word of God from Pastor as we were reminded of how we ought to live as Christians.

Teaching from Romans 8:12, Pastor reiterated that the reference to the flesh made in the verse refers to the five senses, letting us know that we are not indebted to live according to the human nature. For better clarity, she read the verse from the International Standard version,

“Consequently, brothers, we are not—with respect to human nature, that is—under an obligation to live according to human nature”

That something is known to be poisonous does not mean it has to kill us; Jesus supported this truth when he said in Mark 16:18 “…and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”. We do not owe the flesh anything to live after its dictates, or to respond based on what we see, hear or feel, as Christians, our response should be based on the word of God and so we renew our mind accordingly.

Pastor buttressed this by bringing to our remembrance God’s question to Adam after he had eaten of the tree he was instructed not to and was hiding himself from God,

“…Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat” Genesis 3:11

By asking Adam “who told you”, we are given insight to know what God expected of him, God expected Adam to live only by the information he received from him and not by what he saw, what he heard or even how he felt.

Pastor remarked that there are people who don’t believe in consistent righteousness, their communication being that we are all humans and that the human nature will surely fail at some point, as Christians, we should never forget that we have been called out of the world and it is important that we take our minds off the world for like the bible spoke of the patriarchs in Hebrews 11:15 “And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned”

Pastor went on to show us in the word that the decision to not live according to the human nature is not merely a suggestion from God, instead, choosing to ignore it is a choice that comes with definite consequences,

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. Romans 8:13

Pastor charged us that in reality, there are no options, living according to the human nature leads to inevitable death and so the only available option is to insist on the word of God, Jesus demonstrated this in Matthew 8:23-27, despite the raging wind and the fierce storm, he knew he wasn’t under an obligation to live according to the human nature so instead of responding like his disciples did, he spoke the word and a miracle happened. He responded in a way that the human nature could not fathom. In our lives as Christians, whenever there is a challenge, our first instinct should be to be concious of what God’s word has said so we can insist on God’s word and rebel against the challenge.

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ” Romans 8:15 – 16

Pastor brought to our attention that people only get scared when they think there is no way out and they think they have gotten to the end of the road. A man with a zero account balance may be scared that he might die of hunger, because he cannot reason any means by which money will enter his account, he thinks there’s no way out, another who has been diagnosed with cancer may get scared because he thinks there is no way out, so the spirit of bondage hooks them with fear. The word of God shows us that we don’t have such spirit of bondage, the spirit of God who made the world reminds us that there is a way; Jesus is the way and he lives in us, therefore, we cannot be subject to bondage. Throughout the scriptures, the spirit of God keeps reminding us that there is nothing to fear, because of who we are; children of God, we are not subject to the human nature.

“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” Romans 8:17

Finally, Pastor taught us that as children of God, we are joint-heirs with Christ, Christ is the head and we are the body, as the body has the same identity with the head, we have the same identity Christ has, joint-heirs with him, this points to the fact that we have equal access to all of the abilities in Christ. It does not stop there, by being “heirs of God”, it signifies that God is our inheritance – his ability, resources, name, authority and position is our inheritance. With all of this at our disposal, truly, there is nothing to fear. Having this consciousness, we no longer have any obligation to live according to the flesh and to respond based on our senses no matter the situation.

Pastor concluded the message by challenging us to dare to believe in our divinity. She reminded us that Jesus is our example and he expects us to relate with the Father just as he did. We were made to understand that divinity does not end at keeping us safe against a virus or sickness, the divine life ensures that we reign over death completely. Using several scriptures, Pastor reminded us that Jesus never thought that the Christian could die of old age or disease, he said,

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” John 8:51.

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