Day 136
Over the last 3 days we have examined the Work of the Holy Spirit to mortify or kill the deeds of the body that are not pleasing to Him according to Romans 8:13: "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." Today we want to address your responsibility in the process. We have seen that the Holy Spirit will put abounding grace in us to change us; however, this must never be understood that God will force you against your will to do something that you do not want to do.
He does the work in such a manner that our obedience is still required. He does the work in you so that your own liberty and conscious are not violated. God will not turn you into a robot in this process. Those that have His Spirit desire to be more like Him and open themselves to this process of mortification. Just like some open themselves to be possessed by evil spirits and perform evil unspeakable. We may open ourselves to be so possessed by the Holy Spirit that He will cause us to want to obey Him and perform righteous acts.
You see, it is all in who you obey. Romans 6:16 makes it clear: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" The Brethren NT Commentary says of this verse: "It is still true even under grace, that every one becomes the servant of him whom he serves, of sin unto death, as well as of obedience unto righteousness." So who are you serving today? Allow the Holy Spirit to radically transform every aspect of your life. Let Him mortify the practices of the body that are not pleasing to Him. It may hurt a little but the end result is always worth it.
He does the work in such a manner that our obedience is still required. He does the work in you so that your own liberty and conscious are not violated. God will not turn you into a robot in this process. Those that have His Spirit desire to be more like Him and open themselves to this process of mortification. Just like some open themselves to be possessed by evil spirits and perform evil unspeakable. We may open ourselves to be so possessed by the Holy Spirit that He will cause us to want to obey Him and perform righteous acts.
You see, it is all in who you obey. Romans 6:16 makes it clear: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" The Brethren NT Commentary says of this verse: "It is still true even under grace, that every one becomes the servant of him whom he serves, of sin unto death, as well as of obedience unto righteousness." So who are you serving today? Allow the Holy Spirit to radically transform every aspect of your life. Let Him mortify the practices of the body that are not pleasing to Him. It may hurt a little but the end result is always worth it.
