Word for Today, The Spiritual Person
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
I happen to agree with quite a lot of what Neil Anderson says in his
daily messages, so I frequently share them with you. His series this
week has been no exception to this. You can always get his messages
yourself from his Web site directly or you can get them through Email
subscription.
The amount of time I've had to compose messages has been limited this
week, and it is limited again today. I would like to share something
with you, so I'm relying, once again, on the good work of Neil
Anderson.
May God help us all as we deal with the issues of the day. May we
develop as the spiritual person, even in the midst of the adversity
and busy stuff that surrounds and sometimes engulfs our lives.
Yours in Christ,
Brian
N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries
June 17
THE SPIRITUAL PERSON
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law (Galatians 5:22, 23).
The spiritual person also has a body, soul and spirit. Yet this
individual has been remarkably transformed from the natural
person he was before spiritual birth. At conversion, his spirit
became united with God's Spirit. The spiritual life which
resulted from this union is characterized by forgiveness of sin,
acceptance in God's family, and the realization of personal
worth.
The soul of the spiritual person also reflects a change generated
by spiritual birth. He can now receive his impetus from the
Spirit, not just from the flesh. His mind is being renewed and
transformed. His emotions are characterized by peace and joy
instead of turmoil. It is our responsibility to choose not to
walk according to the flesh, but to walk according to the Spirit.
As the spiritual person exercises his choice to live in the
Spirit, his life bears the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,
23).
As a spiritual person, your body is the dwelling place of God. We
should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice of worship and
service to Him. The flesh, conditioned to live independently from
God under the old self, is still present in the spiritual person.
But he responsibly crucifies the flesh and its desires daily as
he considers himself dead to sin.
"That all looks and sounds great," you may say. "But I'm a
Christian and I still have some problems. I know I'm spiritually
alive, but sometimes my mind dwells on the wrong kinds of
thoughts. Sometimes I give in to the deeds of the flesh.
Sometimes I entertain the desires of the flesh instead of
crucifying them."
The description of the spiritual person is the ideal. It's the
model of maturity toward which we are all growing. God has made
every provision for you to experience personally the description
of the spiritual person in His Word (2 Peter 1:3). You will grow
as a spiritual person and glorify God in your body as you learn
to crucify the flesh and be filled by the spirit.
Loving Lord, it is liberating to know that Your Spirit actually
dwells in me. I choose to walk as a spiritual person today.
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This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< http://www.ficm.org >.
Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.
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