Tuesday 11 August 2015

How to Be Lead of the Spirit Series- Series 6



Presenting the Body
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
—Romans 12:1

It is the inward man—not the outward man—that becomes a new creature in Christ. We still have the same body we had before we became a new creature. What we must learn to do is to let that new man on the inside of us dominate. With that new man, we control the flesh and do something with our bodies.


Let's look again at Second Corinthians 5:17 which says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." One translation reads, "If any man be in Christ, there is a new self...."

Sometimes in churches we hear people talk about "dying out to self." There is no such statement in the Bible. We don't need to die out to self if we have become a new self. What we need to do is crucify the flesh. The Bible does talk about that.

Crucifying the flesh is not something God does for you. It is something you do for yourself. "I beseech you therefore, brethren," Paul wrote to the Church, "by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies ..." (Rom. 12:1).

Who presents your body?
You do.
Who is you?
That's the man on the inside who is born again, and has become a new creature.

You do something with your body. If you do not do something with it, nothing will ever be done with it.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:27
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway [disapproved].

Here Paul is talking about the fact that he does something with his body. "I keep under my body. I bring it into subjection."

Who is I?
That's the real man—the real Paul—the man on the inside who has become a new creature in Christ Jesus and is filled with the Holy Spirit. "I do something with my body. I keep it under. I bring it into subjection."

What did Paul bring his body into subjection to?
To the inward man. Instead of letting the body dominate the inward man, Paul saw to it that the inward man dominated the outward man.

Now notice this. Here is this great apostle, this holy man of God, this man who wrote half the New Testament, a man who is a spiritual giant—yet evidently his body wanted to do things that were wrong. If it hadn't, he would not have had to keep it under. He would not have had to bring it into subjection.

Just because your body wants to do wrong, doesn't mean you are not saved, or that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. (If that were the case, Paul was not saved.) You will have to contend with the body, the flesh, as long as you are in this world.

"Brother Hagin, I want you to pray for me," one man 26 How You Can Be Led By The Spirit Of God

said. "What for?" I asked. I like to know what I am praying for.
A look of seriousness, even tears, came to his eyes, "I want you to pray that I will never have any more trouble with the devil."

I said, "Do you want me to pray you will die?"

"No, no, I don't want to die."
I said, "The only way you won't have any more trouble with the devil is to get out of here and go on to Heaven."

You will have problems with the devil as long as you are in this life. You will have problems with the flesh as long as you are in the flesh. But, blessed be God, the means, the ability, and the authority have been given to you through the Word of God to deal with the devil and to deal with the flesh.

Paul did not let his body dominate him. The man on the inside that was born again and filled with the Holy Spirit—must dominate the outward man.

You can do it. What I want you to see is this—you are the one who must do it. Paul did not say God would do it for you. He did not say the Holy Spirit would do it for you. He said, "You present your bodies." He said, "You be not conformed to this world." He said, "You be transformed by the renewing of your mind." You present your body. You do it. You get your mind renewed with the Word of God. You do it.

The life and nature of God is inside your spirit. Let that man on the inside be the dominant one. Listen to him. It is the spirit of man that is the candle of the Lord. It is through your spirit that God will guide you.

Source: How-to-be led-by-the-holy-spirit by Kenneth E. Hagin