The principles of life and death are more prevalent than what we may grasp, but they are there nonetheless. In Adam, we are all born into death, corruption and darkness but thank God through Jesus Christ we have the way of escape from death into the light of life eternal. I was just now impressed upon by the Spirit concerning the matter and the manner of life verses death in that death itself is...SELF! It is the manner of life that is only and always inward looking and self seeking. It is selfishly ambitious in all it does. Rarely is a person ever able to think, speak or do anything which is entirely void of self! I had an experience once where I was caught up in spirit, where I do not know, but I had the most amazing experience with the Lord in which He saturated me with Himself, with eternal life and as I felt myself being saturated, I felt a transformation occurring so that all corruption was gone and there was no longer any SELF in my person! It is impossible to relate this because no one can know what this would be like without the experience. In any case, it is very easy for me to see, as a result of that experience and more, just how evil (wrong) is this selfish, soul life which we have in Adam. We think it is normal but only because it is all we have known and it is common to all but I can assure you...this is not the normal which God has intended for men! It is difficult to relate this but everything we think, speak and do in self ends in death. It is like throwing a boomerang...we may throw it out as hard and straight as we can, with the best of intentions but it always returns from whence it came. It is like a water hose that runs backwards. You can point it in the direction of that which you wish to water but it will never work because the flow of water is inward. The Lord has ordained that eternal life must always flow as a stream. If we are proper with the Lord and all men, we will be a channel for that living water with no thought of self! Self is that which impedes and stops the flow of water. This is why we are told to consider others as more important than ourselves! When we begin to live according to this principle of life, seeking the benefit of others over and before self, then we find that we ourselves also are watered and nourished. Why? Because as we set our hearts and souls to water or to benefit others, that living water will pass through us so that we receive of its benefit as well. (A word of warning here is very important in that we must realize that not all supposed good works are based in the tree of life.) Eternal life is administered to us as salvation coming from the tree of life as the antithesis of death, darkness and corruption! How we may wish that death was entirely swallowed up with life at the instant of our new birth but this is not the way. Rather, it is necessary that we CHOOSE, to turn from self and to deny self by the grace of god in faith so that no man may ever boast in himself ever again. As a matter of fact, I have often thought about how it was that I was even caught up in spirit to be with the Lord on that occasion and I am always reminded that it happened as I was starting my day and began to think about the days cares when I suddenly stopped and turned to the Lord. It was at that very instant, that I was caught up in spirit! This is the key principle in the matter of receiving or gaining the Lord; it is in the turning from self in repentance unto God to no longer live according to the selfish, soul life, the flesh and its preoccupation with the Lord and unto the Lord in our spirit to be led by Him and to walk with Him.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 04:41:19 +0000
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