Also “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
How do we as sons relate to our spiritual fathers? Expect a great deal from them but learn from them so you too may walk as a father. Sons, expect more out of yourselves. Expect to learn the voice of God for yourself so as not to put undo pressure on the fathers to do it for you. This kind of demand and expectation produces growth. Paul said to be imitators of him. So must we towards our spiritual Fathers.
Remember the 4th commandment, the only one of the 10 Commandments with a promise: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Exodus 20:12. So also we honor our spiritual Fathers so that we may receive life.
SPIRITUALITY: ROMANS 8
Teaching For Those Born according to the spirit
Romans Chapter 8 is basic teaching for those who desire to walk with God in His Spirit. "God is a spirit and those who worship must worship in SPIRIT and in truth” (John 4:24). It makes sense that if God is a spirit, the only way to truly relate to Him is through the realm where He lives-the realm of the Spirit. Paul teaches in Romans 8 how to do it.
In order to fully understand Romans 8 it is a good idea to read Romans 7 first. In Romans 7 Paul struggles with his own human nature and concludes "...nothing good dwells in me... for the willingness is present in me but the doing of the good not" (Romans 7:18). Then, in verse 24: "wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?” Paul answers his own question: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set [us] free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). The Mosaic Law could not bring righteousness but only God could, under the New Covenant (Testament), through our Lord Jesus Christ (verse 3).
Sometimes we think we serve God with our minds but according to Paul that's not true. He says "the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile [enmity] toward God; for it does not subject itself to...God, for it is not able to do so" (Romans 8:6-7). And then: "for if you are living by the flesh you must die, but if you are putting to death the deeds of the flesh you will live” (Rom 8:13).
In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul innumerates the deeds of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. The deeds of the flesh are: “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Contra, the fruits of the Spirit are: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”.
Paul goes on to identify the Sons of God: "for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:13-14). Walking in sin and in the flesh is death, while the Spirit is alive. The only true Sons of God are those who are totally and completely led by the Spirit of God. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. (Rom 8:10).
Paul goes on to explain the eternal purpose of the sons of God and creation. "For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of He who subjected it in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (the Sons who are being led by the Spirit of God) (Romans 8:20-21).
In speaking of futility Paul is referring back to the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned, were removed from the Garden of Eden, and placed in a world where the ground yielded thistles and where man would live by the sweat of his brow etc. (Genesis 3). Futility (translated vanity in the King James Version) is defined variously as: vain, empty, fruitless, worthless, a nothingness, a worthlessness, devoid of truth (the Devil is the lie), frustration.
That is the state of the Earth currently; that same state of futility. God, through His sons, are destined to overcome this present state of futility and fill the earth with the presence of the knowledge of God. Tall order! So we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and the redemption of our body (v. 23). As sons, God causes everything to work together for good for us called to his purpose (v. 28). Once we are fully manifest, it is we who will release creation from its divinely imposed state of futility.
As proof that we don’t have to wait for this until we “die and go to Heaven”, Paul says the Spirit can even transform our current bodies. “ But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you (Rom 8:11). The same is true of the rapture theory. Why would God take us away from the earth, just at the time we are to do our most important work? Jesus said: “"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Unfortunately this doesn’t happen automatically—it is created by the Sons through faith and resulting works.
Hebrews 11:3 states: “By faith we understand that the worlds [ages] were prepared [framed] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible”. The Sons and the prophets prepare, create and frame the age to come, just as did the men of faith enumerated in Hebrews 11. It does not happen automatically while we are away on a cloud in heaven. It happens because Sons make it happen.
“The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force [not a physical but a spiritual violence] (Matthew 11:12). The Kingdom is coming on this earth and the same will of God will be done here, as it is in Heaven (the Spirit realm where God lives). We, as those here on earth at this time, must make that happen, not be passive bystanders. We are not waiting on the sidelines waiting for the rapture or to die and go to Heaven. We are to be active participants in the bringing forth of the will of God in the earth, at this time.
"For those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" 9v.29). Imagine. We are to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is our first fruits, the first born of many brethren. Hebrews 2:10 says there will be many Sons brought to birth. “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. And this can happen here and now on earth, for all those who walk by the Spirit. We have an overwhelming destiny in Christ. Let's fulfill it together.
TESTIMONY
It seems as if Christianity today has an incorrect, unscriptural view of what real testimony is. Testimony. Revelation 19:10 says: “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Today’s Christians consider testimony to their confession to a believer or non believer about how they were saved and/or were brought to Christ. They go on to describe what they know Jesus and how their salvation experience has changed their lives. Used in this matter testimony becomes a rather benign expression of facts and opinions which do not contain the real power and authority of the spirit of prophecy that has the power to create. Actually it seems as if some use their “testimony” to convince someone else to accept and be saved, or to convince themselves of the validity of their own salvation experience.