Sometimes we do not realize until we are faced with a particular circumstance, just how much His Word is having its way in us. One of the functions of the Word is to transform our inner man into a person who is following hard after God. A person who, when faced with a decision to make it according to our flesh or the Spirit, has come to the place that it’s no longer a decision at all, instead, it’s a reflex.
You know, if we run a red light and the police sees us or the camera catches us, we have to pay a fine. In my town, that penalty is $325 to $425 depending on the intersection. Now, I remember when that sign used to say “$125”. (Apparently, $125 did not have a strong enough effect on people so they’ve raised it significantly.) The bottom line is the punishment of breaking this law is a fine.
I got one ticket in my life—now that does not speak to me being a really obedient person—I just need to tell you that right now. It just means there was not a cop around! Anyway, I was late for class and so my whole focus was making it to the campus, finding parking, and running to class. I made it to the school, the light was red and I needed to make a right hand turn. Now, typically we can make a right hand turn on a red as long as we come to a complete stop, unless it says: NO TURN ON RED. Well, I came to the light, it was red and I turned right and (without stopping) you know, because I was late for class and the school was right there! I felt like, I’m home free, I’ll make it to class, there’s even parking…and then I see those red lights flash! The cop pulls me over and he gives me a ticket, and I was late for class.
I was 19 years old when I got that ticket and I can promise you that every single red light that I have ever come to since that time, I have come to a complete stop before making a right-hand turn. The penalty for breaking that law did its job, it stuck. I know people who have received multiple speeding tickets—you have the ticket, the insurance rate increase—all that designed to stop us from breaking the law.
There are times that we do not know we are breaking the law and I must admit, I did not know that we cannot make a right turn without coming to a complete stop on a red light at the time—I learned that, that day. However, the Lord wants to come to a place that when we are made aware of our sin, our wrongdoing, we do not ever do that again.
When we break His law, there is no fine. What happens is far more difficult to bear--it’s separation from Him. Sin is that which separates us from God. When we sin, we are separated from Him. Repentance brings us back under His covering.
What about when we are not aware of our sin or it’s not blatant? When we stay in His Word, and spend time in prayer, he refines us, changes our inner man so that when His Spirit presses on our heart and says: That is not of me, that pressing on our heart will have the impact in our lives so that we will never again disobey in that area, ever again. It brings us to a place of such sensitivity to Him, we feel the separation the moment we take that step toward sin.
Now, when we continue to disobey, we face stronger penalties, just like when we speed. Our fine will be in direct proportion to our speed and number of offenses and we’ll continue to incur these expenses until we get it! Do not speed! We have no excuse; the sign is right there telling us how fast to go. We face the same thing with the Lord, He continues to reach out to us crying: Listen! I do not want to have to keep putting a penalty on you! I want you to get to a point where you cry out for holiness in Me, where My Spirit is doing such a work in you that the moment you step outside My will, your spirit will draw you back into my shelter. I wrote My law—My commandment upon your heart that you might obey Me.
The Bible says: I will take My law and I will write it on your heart. I will take out that stony heart and put within you a heart of flesh and I will write My law upon it. That means it becomes a part of who we are! That means with every heartbeat, His Word should be coursing through our veins, bringing us life. But when we disobey, it causes a hiccup in the road and the more we disobey the less that Word flows through our veins. So, every fork we come to, if we obey, His Word pumps more and more through our veins, but when we disobey it is like cholesterol getting around our blood cells. It starts clogging it up. His Word brings life to our soul, to our flesh, to our spirit-man. Obedience allows His Word to do it’s job within us.
His Word is life. That Lord showed me years ago that His Word heals the whole man. Why? Because it is written on our hearts and when we feed that, it courses through our veins and His Word will heal the whole man. He literally showed me His Word healing my mind and emotions. I saw His Word and I saw this eraser. The wounds of my life—the minor ones—with one swipe were being erased by His Word. It was healing me so deeply that some of them were no longer even visible, and I saw that played out in my life, in my responses, in my reactions to people, because His Word brings life to us and when we do not obey Him, His Word cannot bring forth that life. We block it. We set up barricades. It’s like eating bacon every day—kosher bacon (smile). We have been given the task of saving a nation and if we are going to save a nation, we have got to have His Word coursing through our veins.
His Spirit breathes life into us through the Word. Prayer is essential to who we are and what we do, but His Word must be in there and we must understand it. Understanding and studying His Word brings forth the revelation and the knowledge that we need to press on. When we walk after the Spirit there is no condemnation; the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. The Spirit dwells in us. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are joint-heirs to the throne with Christ, meaning we still suffer and will also be glorified with Him. When we obey Him, we receive the Spirit of adoption and cry Abba Father! When we do not, we enter the spirit of bondage.
If we look up “the spirit of bondage” we learn that it’s the spirit of decay, used of a lavish sense of fear. Devoid of a spirit of trust in God. Such is produced by the thought of death. Devoid of spirit and of trust in God. “A Lavish sense of fear”—that is the spirit of bondage. The Spirit of adoption is the power of suppressing evil desires and practicing holiness afforded to you to undergo with patience all persecutions, losses and trials for Christ sake.
The Spirit I choose to walk with is the Spirit of adoption. When we obey and come under the Spirit of adoption and the rule and reign of Christ, God gives us what we need to obey. We just have to listen to it. The Spirit of adoption gives us the power to suppress evil desires, practice holiness and undergo with patience, all persecution, losses and trials for Christ’s sake.
A few months ago we studied how God put within each of us when we were born that thing that would draw us back to Him. That impartation thing that would ultimately lead us to the cross—God put it within each of us a hunger to return to Him. When we accept Jesus, and are brought under the Spirit of adoption, that is nurtured so that we have the power to suppress evil desires. He grants us the ability to endure trials, so every time we are already faced with a decision He put within us what we need to make the right decision. When we do not make the right decision, we are disobeying that which He put in us; it is already there for us to access, we just need to make a conscious decision to follow it. So, when we pray and study the Word, we are feeding and nurturing that which He placed within us to draw us back to Him. We are feeding the Spirit of adoption.
To be continued next week…
Blessings & love,
Ricci Wilson
