That is why natural and spiritual
connections does not work; one person hears God and the carnal minded person
cannot hear God because they are too busy listening to their own selfish mind!
They do not even understand the things of God! This is what Romans
8:6-8 says about the carnal or fleshy mind:
6 Now the
mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death
[death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and
hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both
now and forever].
7 [That is]
because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is
hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.
8 So then
those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and
impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or
be acceptable to Him.
God is a Spirit and we must not only worship
Him in Spirit (by the Spirit – allowing the Holy Spirit to make a spiritual
connection between God and ourselves) and Truth (Jesus – allowing Jesus to save
us and bring us into right fellowship with the Father) but we also MUST
walk in the Spirit so we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (old desires of
the old man – old human nature – carnal self) (Romans
8:5-14 – I will write these Scriptures out at the end of the message –
also I suggest you read the complete
chapter). From these verses in Romans we see God does not operate in
the flesh so in order to hear God and obey Him, we must have a spiritual mind –
we must not be caught up in our own ways of thinking, behaving, etc. Whatever
God does, it has a Kingdom purpose! God connects us with Kingdom minded people
for Kingdom purpose!! The people who God connects us with (this includes
marriage) has a like spirit to ours and in some way, have the same type of
ministry – passionate about the same things we are. In order words, the people
God connects us with are compatible with us.
God ask the children of Israel a
question in Amos 3:3: “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”
– NKJV.
The Message Bible’s translation of Amos
3:3 say: “Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to
the same place?” WOW! That says it all – plain and simple!! In verse
7 of Amos 3, after the various scenarios (verses
4 to 6), it says: “The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing without
first telling his prophets the whole story.” If we do not take time to
listen to the “whole story” from God, we will get in trouble by running with
part of the story – we must get the full revelation of what God is saying to us
– this comes from the Holy Spirit.
Unless we walk in the Spirit, we will
NOT be able to hear the “whole story” from God!! Remember, God is a Spirit and
unless we walk in the Spirit, we cannot hear what He (the Holy Spirit) is
saying to us! God does not communicate naturally with us but spiritually (not
that He can’t – God is God and can do what He want to do).
This is what Paul told the Galatians
in Galatians
5:16-18 & 25-26
– I suggest you read the complete
chapter of Galatians 5:
16-18 My
counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you
won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful
self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit
is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so
that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how
you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so
escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
25-26 Since
this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make
sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our
hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means
we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and
another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each
of us is an original – biblegateway.com – The Message Bible.
God bless,
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks
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