GRACE - A MISUNDERSTOOD MESSAGE

There is a lot of talk these days about the message of grace. It seems to be the latest "craze" if you will.  Some ministers have adopted this into their message as though it is a new "focus" or revelation God has given them. Others speak strongly against it, citing that it is a new way to reach the lost with an "easy" gospel; a gospel that accepts any lifestyle as is, without need to change....also touted as a "license to sin" gospel.  I must admit, I understand both sides of this argument.

When I first discovered God's love for me, I was being taught the "message of faith". The rise of this doctrine began long before I began my walk with God but from what I have heard, it mirrors the beginnings of this doctrine of "grace".  I imagine that over the course of church history, there other such doctrinal encounters that swept the nations.  Since I am not a scholar in this regard, I won't attempt to identify any such history of the church. What I do know in my limited understanding is that there are those "for" the faith doctrine and those "against" it.....there are those for the "grace" doctrine and those "against" it.

For folks outside the pursuit of God, church, religion, faith etc., we must look rather strange with our divisions and varied doctrinal leanings. For others who are seeking to discover God for whatever the reason, this could be a point of discussion where "positioning and argument" find its breeding ground.

My heart in posting this blog is to give a little insight from my perspective on what I believe God's heart is towards mankind with the ultimate goal of revealing His undying love for us and to show us that His desire is for us to experience His life....a life of peace, joy and contentment. I'm not desiring to compare any such doctrines or to come against anyone's belief.

I will need to break this down over a series of postings in order that these are not too long for any one sitting. I don't know how many or how often these will come forth but I hope you would find life in these words and encouragement for the day. Please feel free to share these with others that may need a lift.

I will end with the beginning.....an understanding of the word "grace" to springboard from.  The word for "grace" in the New Testament is the Greek word Charis (kar-eece) meaning "the Divine Influence upon the heart of a person and the acting out in ones life because of His merciful kindness toward us.

Get to know this definition for it will be the foundation on which you will discover a fresh perspective on God's love for you!

Jim Donadio
GraceLifeMinistry@neo.rr.com
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WHAT IS FAITH?

Faith.....now here is a word that can bring about all sorts of emotions. To some, faith is a system of religious beliefs...to another it is something that is believed with strong conviction. How we interpret this word AND apply it to our life can make a huge difference in our response to a Loving God.

 The bible says "Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" Hebrews 11:6 The Greek word in this passage is the word "pistis", meaning a persuasion.....especially a reliance upon Christ for salvation..... When I used to hear the word "faith" what I understood it to mean is that it was "my ability to appropriate God's promises, His word over circumstances that may appear contrary to a life of peace, joy, provision, and so on.

 Somehow the emphasis in my mind came back to the subconscious belief that it was based in "my ability". And so, my role was to memorize enough scriptures and strive to carry myself in a manner worthy of Christianity. This would include but is not limited to being kind to all, love my enemies, don't lose my temper,confess a bible verse frequently that pertains to whatever situation I found myself struggling with, remain positive in a negative environment, don't speak ill of anyone, check my giving records because my checkbook truly revealed my heart, reflect on the way I have been treating my wife/children/co-workers/boss and so on and so forth.

 Sure sounds like a whole lot of work and responsibility on my end. And why shouldn't it? I mean think about it, God did His part.....He loved me when I was yet a sinner....He sent His only Son into the world to die upon a cross for me....and then if that wasn't enough, He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in me...to teach me....to guide me...the Comforter as the bible describes Him....One called along side to help me in times of distress.....sure seems as though God has done His part so c'mon.....I have the easy part, all I have to do is believe and behave!

 Yet, at times that can seem to be an daunting task. Why is that? Well I believe that somewhere along the line I came to a fork in the road....and that fork was the understanding and application of FAITH. One way leads to my persuasion in Christ, and the other speaks of my persuasion of self. By what basis am I forming my "persuasion". Remember, faith is a persuasion.....especially a reliance upon Christ for salvation. If my persuasion is based upon my ability to POSSESS AND PERFORM all the characteristics of what we believe Christians should portray constantly, my persuasion is going to falter quite frequently. For to be persuaded of a matter, one must hold no conflict in mind that rises against that belief....in other words, if I believe that God is love and I also believe that God will take a young child from it's mother through disease, then I won't find myself persuaded that God heals. There is a conflict in my beliefs and therefore, my faith or persuasion about a matter is compromised.

 So how can we please God by our faith? Our faith must be founded in God's word, not man's circumstances or experiences. If if you say that God's word seems to contradict itself, simply look at the Gospels and the life of Jesus.....Jesus said, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father". I don't recall any time that Jesus took a life....or refused to heal, deliver or provide for anyone He came across. Start there....start by trusting in Him.

 He didn't come to this earth to teach us how to live....He came to offer Himself as the wages for our iniquities so that we can boldly come to God's throne of Divine Influence (Grace) and receive help in time of need.

 God loves you....be persuaded of that fact today!

New Updates To Be Installed

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Our heart is like our "operating system". Much like your personal computer or your mobile phone, each one has an operating system which enables the device to work as it was created to function. I like the "Easy To Read" bible version of this verse of scripture, "Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life". What we believe will form how we function. If our heart (our belief system) understands that our Creator is a Loving Father who created us in His image and likeness, in order that we may experience the Life, the Peace, the Joy that He has in His Son and the Son has in the Father, we will operate in the design He purposed for us to experience. This is called the ZOE or GOD kind of life. That life was given us as a free gift...breathed into man at the time of creation...intended for us to experience for eternity. Then the deceiver came along and told Eve that if she and Adam would eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they will be "like God". At this point, man had determined by eating of the forbidden fruit that he would experience the God kind of life by knowing good and evil...by knowing what is right and what is wrong,purposing in his heart to do what was right and avoid that which is wrong. Adam believed that he would be able to "perform" correctly and thus be like God. In short, this belief is still prevalent in the church today. The enemy wants us to believe this so that our consciousness is focused on our sin...our performance... or our ability to do right and avoid wrong. But One greater than Adam came.....the last Adam Who would defeat death.....who would put an end to what Adam had done, forever defeating the law of sin consciousness by fulfilling the law on our behalf and thus establishing a new law....the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:2) For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.(Rom 5:19) So, if we believe in our heart (our operating system) that God is love.....that He lures us into this ZOE life by His love, freely giving us the life He designed us to experience....a life filled with His peace......His Joy.... despite what circumstances may appear to say....if this is the design of our operating system, we will then be able to function as He designed us to function. It is from this platform that His love will work in us and flow through us to a lost and dying world. This is the Good News that we are to preach to all the world! The news that One came to restore man to the operating system by which he was originally created. A system free from viruses....a system that includes " de-fragmentation software" which will sort out those fragments (pain, hurt, disappointment) accumulated in our hard drive by the experiences of this life and rearrange them into healthy segments that empower us to operate more efficiently. His design is one where we can rest in Him...the True Developer of a life where we can fellowship with Him in the cool of the day...where we can tap into His unlimited potential by GRACE (by the Divine influence in our hearts). So.....check your operating system.....what version are you running? The old version that says "By what I do, I will become" or the New Invitational Version that says, "By What He has done, I have become"! Click here to upload......

Forgiven!  

 

 

 When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he wrongly assumed His God would be angry but instead God came looking for Him to take His regular evening walk.

When Abraham sent his wife, Sarah, into Pharaoh's tent to protect his own life by allowing her to have sex with another man, God told Pharaoh that he was on dangerous
ground and that he'd better get her out of there right now. The next words out of God's mouth to Abraham were to reassure him of the covenant He had made with him. Not a word about his sin.

When Elisha was depressed and afraid and angry and prayed to die, God sent an angel to feed him so that he might regain his strength. No shame or blame.

When Peter denied Jesus, our Lord made sure when he arose to mention Peter by name and said to make sure he knew Jesus was alive. No reference to what Peter had done.

These were giants in the Bible - giants who made horrific choices. In each instance, the love of God swallows up their sins and foolishness in one great gush of grace. It's absurd. What have you done that causes you to think God may be disappointed or perturbed toward you? Whatever it is, you need to set it aside because that's what He has done. As absurd as it sounds, God isn't interested in what you've done in the past. He lives with you in the now and wants you to live in this moment of grace and accept His forgiveness.

Jesus showed us our Father's heart when He had the Father of the prodigal son throw him a party when he returned home without so much as a mention of what the boy had done. That's your God.

Refuse to accept His acceptance and you'll lock yourself inside a prison of your own making. Accept His acceptance and you'll run in the joyful freedom only known by those who know their sins never appear on God's radar-- never.

You've messed up? Welcome to the world of great children of God. It happened. So put it aside now. Don't insult the finished work of Jesus on the cross by insisting on trying to share in dealing with it through your own gnawing guilt and spiritually suicidal self-consciousness. You are forgiven. You are free. You are one with the One who keeps no record of wrongs and promises to never remember them again.

So dance. Run. Laugh. Play. Celebrate. That's what the Father, Son and Spirit are doing and He asks you to join in right now.

This is a repost from "Grace Walk" by Steve McVey.  It was so good I thought I would share it.  

WHAT IS THERE TO BE JOYFUL ABOUT?



Psalm 100:1-4  Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 
Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

Verse 5: For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.


We should start by reading verse 5 first. For once we get a revelation of this verse, will we freely, out of our own heart and not as an act of obedience, do verses 1 thru 4. 


The revelation I am referring to is a deeper understanding of the Hebrew in this text.


Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is GOOD (Hebrew word for good is"tob": meaning bountiful, cheerful, at ease,  (causes us to be in) favour, graciously, joyful, kindly, (full of) kindness,  merry,  most, pleasant, (full of) pleasure, precious, prosperity, sweet, wealth, welfare, (be) well ([-favoured]).


His MERCY is everlasting (Hebrew word for mercy "chesed" meaning  (His)  kindness; piety  (loyal reverence to a person or thing) beauty: - favour, good deed (-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-) kindness, merciful (kindness),

His TRUTH endureth to all generations. Truth is the Hebrew word "emunah" meaning firmness, security, moral fidelity (the quality or state of being faithfull; exactness), faithfulness, stable, steady.

So, in context, we could read verse 5 this way:

Psalm 100:5  For the Lord is bountiful, cheerful and at ease toward us, He causes gracious favor to be upon us because He is kind, most pleasant; full of pleasure and prosperity. His mercy, His loyal reverence to His children and His loving-kindness is everlasting, without end. His truth; that is His firmness, His security His quality or state of being faithful to us; His exactness) in being stable and steady endures to all generations.

And with this understanding we will :

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

So be it.

Romans 14:12 - So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God.

When I used to read this scripture, it made me a little uneasy.  Kinda like, "Oh no, what have I done that God is going to question me about when I get to heaven". I'm sure there have been many things that I have said or not said, done or not done that I would not want reminded of on that Great Day when I stand before God.  In fact, I could see this process taking a long time as God rolled out my "laundry list" of failures. I pity the fool who is in line behind me that day.

The GOOD NEWS of God's Mercy (His unmerited favor toward me and you) and His Grace (His Divine Influence in our heart) tells of a different story.  You see, when you look at this scripture in the original text, the Greek word "account" is actually the word LOGOS. 

Logos: something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ):

This word LOGOS is also found in the first chapter of the Gospel of John 1:1; In the beginning was the LOGOS (word), and the LOGOS (word)  was with God and the LOGOS (word) was God.... vs 14 and the LOGOS (word) was made flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us....

See, when you look at the 14th chapter of Romans and read from verse 1, Paul is talking about Christians judging other Christians for their beliefs about what they eat or don't eat or different days they celebrate or don't celebrate.  I believe there are even more distinctions today that can fall under this category, but the bottom line is that one day we will all stand before God and give a "reasoning", a "computation" about what we did or didn't do in our body....and the Good News is that the reasoning is CHRIST!  All of our deeds and misdeeds have already been judged in Jesus Christ!  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

Does this give us a license to sin or to act anyway we want with no consequence?  That is the fear that many Christians and Pastors experience preventing them from preaching this Good News. I look at it this way, there will always be those who, when confronted with someone gracious and kind, that will want to take advantage of that kindness. I, like many of you reading this feel compelled to love and serve that person more freely.

It is the love of God that brings men to repentance (turning and going in the opposite direction of our sin). Be encouraged today that when you stand before God on that day, you will be able to say, "I'm with Him (Jesus). He paid to get me in.  Hallelujah.

Resurrection Empowerment

Resurrection Empowerment

The greatest thing that keeps people from understanding and accepting God’s grace (His Divine Influence in our hearts) is the mentality of “What I Do I Will Become”.  This idea has infiltrated the church in so many ways.  It has been called the “Law of Moses”; Laws which govern the church; or even more recently, “Spiritual Principles”.

The Good News is that we don’t have to live by spiritual principles but we can live by the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said He came to fulfill the law and so we no longer live under a set of “do’s and don’ts”. We simply identify ourselves with Christ and the finished work of the cross, realizing that He has redeemed us from destruction or from eternal damnation. The word “redeem” means to “buy us back”. When Adam sinned, man became separated from God. As the bible says in Romans 5:15, by one man’s offense sin entered the world, so too by one man’s obedience (Jesus’ sacrifice) many were made righteous.

What empowers us to live a godly life is not accomplished by us exercising our will to modify our behaviors. If that had been so, man could have accomplished this by simply being obedient to the Ten Commandments and Jesus wouldn't have had to shed His blood for us.

No, God did not give us the Ten Commandment to make us live holy but to show us our inability to achieve righteousness through our human effort, yet churches today seem to emphasize the need to live by “spiritual principles”. The Ten Commandments were called "The Law Of Moses". The bible tells us that Christ came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it. (Matt 5:17)  We must acknowledge the need for a Savior, Jesus Christ to satisfy or complete the law on our behalf.

Through faith in Christ, as we accept Him to be our Lord, the One who we believe in, rely upon and trust in, leaning our entire personality on Him, then and only then are we empowered to see ourselves as righteous in God’s eyes, enabling us to be influenced more and more each day by His will and His Presence. He becomes greater in us which in turn will diminish our focus on our humanity in exchange for His Divinity. Don’t get caught in the trap of “doing the do’s” or avoiding the “don’t's”. This is the basis for “self-righteousness” and we know that the bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags. Walk in the power of knowing that God loves you beyond your wildest dreams and He has exchanged your sin for Jesus’ righteousness!

Let the Resurrection of our Lord empower you to walk in the righteousness purchased for you by Jesus Christ. Happy Easter!

Understanding Faith

 When I first came to know Christ as my personal savior, the word "faith" was exciting! God had performed a new work in my heart and I watched how God turned my life upside down for the good.  Then, as I walked with God and was being taught "the word of faith" I ended up hearing so many different "reasons" why faith wouldn't work for some as it would for others. Or there we be some new revelation on how to work the principles of faith.  

I came to the place where hearing the word “faith” would make me tired.  It left me feeling like “faith” was something that I had to DO… a muscle I had to grow.  I was taught from the word that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  This message was pounded in me many times over the years. Some preachers took this scripture to the point of saying, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing….” In other words if we heard “enough” someday our faith meter will rise to the top and we will finally receive what we were believing for.  This can tire a soul out. 

 Well, I was one of those people who "heard and heard" to know avail. It seemed as though repetition didn’t work for me but because well-intentioned preachers of the bible taught this, I believed it was true.  When my faith seemed weak, I took on the responsibility…the blame.  I would think things like "I must not being hearing enough" or " I need to study God’s word more".  "I need to meditate more in His word" and so on.  Well, after 26 years in the word, I have discovered that faith is not what I thought it was.

Faith is a persuasion. Faith is not some sort of resource that grows with the advent of repeating and repeating a verse of scripture.  It is simply coming to a place where we are persuaded about a matter... fully persuaded. 

The word “faith” found many times in the gospels where Jesus was referring to "one's faith" that made them whole (Matt 9:22, Matt 15:28) is the Greek word “pistis” which means persuasion; credence, moral conviction of the Truthfulness of God, especially the reliance upon Jesus for salvation; a steadfastness of mind professing our reliance upon Jesus. These women identified in the above scriptures were “fully persuaded” of what God was willing and able to do for them through Jesus.

  What enables us to have faith is the level of persuasion we have about God’s truthfulness…God’s perspective of a matter.  When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the bible tells us that God’s voice from heaven was heard saying, “this is My Son in Whom I am well pleased”.  Jesus was persuaded of the fact that He was the Son of God.  He was full of faith and never doubted Who He was.  So when Satan came to Him in the desert and three times attempted to get Jesus to DO something to prove He was the Son of God, He didn’t respond to Satan’s request.  He knew He was God’s son and didn’t need to do anything to prove it. God’s word spoke it and He believed it….end of subject.  He was fully persuaded of Who He was.

So how does this impact our ability to believe or have faith today?  Well, Jesus was called the “Lamb of God”.  In the Old Testament, once a year, the High Priest was commanded by God to pick out a lamb that was without blemish. This lamb was to be sacrificed for the sins of the people. The High Priest would lay his hands on the lamb signifying that the sins of the people were being imparted to the lamb and the perfection of the lamb was in turn being imparted to the people. Then the lamb was slaughtered as was the sins of the people along with the lamb. This ceremony was a “type and shadow” of what was to come.  Jesus was the one True Lamb Who Took Away The Sins of the World.  Our sins were imparted to Him and His perfection was imparted to us.  So now, when God looks at us, it is Christ’s faith He sees, not ours.  In other words, Jesus’ perfection has been imparted to us and when our faith is based in Christ, we will experience His victory. Our righteousness or right standing in God is in Christ and so too our ability to receive all of God’s promises are in Christ.

 However, if we are looking at our righteousness or what we do or don’t do as a “qualifying factor” in receiving from God, then our faith is not founded in Christ. It is founded on our ability to believe we have “performed well enough to qualify for God’s promises.  This is a form of “self-righteousness” that we are looking to…and faith established on our performance will always bring about doubt and unbelief. 

So when it comes to faith, our ability to access the promises of God is based our how “persuaded we are in what God has freely given us through our faith in what Christ has accomplished on our behalf at the cross.  We must come to the place where we are seeing ourselves qualified through faith in Christ.

You might say, "Why is it so hard to have faith? Well, I can tell you that we can make our faith “inactive” when we have a competing belief; two or more thoughts about a matter that are in conflict with one another. These incongruences can steal away our ability to be fully persuaded.

For instance, we read in 1Peter 2:24  “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed”.  We know this scripture having heard it for years.  Then suddenly circumstances come against us in the way of sickness,. Maybe we get a bad report from a doctor. First thing that happens is fear grips our hearts.  Then we pray and meditate on 1Peter 2:24…some time may pass and we don’t see any change.

 Lo and behold we come across a message from a minister who takes Isaiah 55:9 “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” and he states that it may not be God’s will to heal us.  He will say that we aren’t to question God because His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts Higher than our thoughts.

These competing beliefs produce doubt in our hearts… to the extent that we are no longer fully persuaded. Our faith turns into hope and over time, the bible tells us that "hope deferred makes the heart grow weary".  We have these competing issues which feed doubt and unbelief in our hearts. Well, in God’s economy, faith in Christ and what He has accomplished for us through His death, burial and resurrection is what enables us to receive what God has provided for us.

So what do we do?  We look to God for His Grace.  Grace is the Greek word “charis” which means “especially the divine influence in our heart and its reflection in the life of the believer including gratitude”.  We ask God for His grace….His influence to flow into our heart in a greater way as we keep in mind that our ability to believe and trust Him is based on what Christ had done for us.  We must take every thought captive…those thoughts that would be in direct contrast to the work of the cross and bring it into the obedience of the Gospel (which means GOOD NEWS) of Christ.

Let this word grow in your hearts!  You already have enough faith to move mountains when your faith is based in Christ and your identity is found IN HIM.

Blessings.

God's Attitude Towards Us

One of the most well-known verses in the bible is John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Not only does God love us but 1 John 4:8 states that ..."God IS love".  It is one thing for Him to love us, but it is yet another for Him to actually BE love towards us.

What is the bible definition of LOVE? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity. but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

In the past, when I read this passage, I always looked at it as instruction on how I was to act towards others. I don't believe I ever gave much thought about these characteristics as ones that describe God's love toward me but God is love and Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit described God's love.

God suffers long toward us...toward our inability to "get it right" the first time...the second time...the third time. He is kind toward us. This word in the Greek means to be benevolent or one who is disposed to doing good. God is disposed to doing good to us and for us. We are talking about the Creator of the Universe ... disposed to doing good toward us. Wow!

Here is some more good news. God is not provoked towards us. That means he is not incited to anger towards us. No sir, He is not. He does not rejoice in our iniquities or shortcomings, but rejoices in truth; the truth that we are His children and that Jesus Christ Who IS Truth, dwells in us.

Finally, God's love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The bible says there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Nothing we did, nothing we didn't do....nothing can separate us from His love.

Once we understand the Love of God towards us, we can then display that love which dwells IN us. We don't have to work at loving others. We simply seek to know His love for us and then we are empowered to express that love, a genuine love towards others.

Walking in the Spirit

Today's scripture reference is Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Did you know that  you can walk in the spirit all day, every day?  Does that sound like a daunting task to you?  It used to sound that way to me.  Of course the reason why it did was because I misunderstood what walking in the flesh and walking in the spirit meant.

I used to think that walking in the flesh pertained to sinning. In other words, if I had a sin of commission ( I did something wrong) or a sin of ommision ( I didn't what God's word instructs me to do ) I was walking in the flesh.

Furthermore, I thought walking in the spirit meant that I went through my day with an attitude of love, peace and joy. That I would have a positive attitude in all my communications with those I came in contact with; that I would pray many times during the day in the spirit as I felt led and that I was disciplined in all matters or cravings of the flesh.   So for me, to avoid walking in the flesh meant to avoid walking in sin and walking in the spirit meant to be this victorious Christian, always being polite and positive, fully displaying a Godly attitude.

Of course, I am not suggesting that we can walk around any way we desire but now you can see why this seemed to be such a daunting task to me. Basically, I never felt like I qualified for being able to walk in "no condemnation" as verse 1 states. When I looked further into this verse I found out what "walking" in the flesh means which set me free.

The Greek word here for "walking" is the word "peripateō" which means "to be occupied with". Paul is talking about us being "occupied" with the flesh and the spirit.

 If we read further in this passage of Romans, the apostle Paul goes on to say, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,

Basically what Paul is telling us is that walking in the flesh is walking around occupied with the matters pertaining to the law; the system of do's and don'ts, which leads to death.  Paul said in 2 Cor 3:7 that the law engraved on tablets of stone was the ministry of death. And so when he says that Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death, he is saying that Christ fulfilled what the law couldn't do...he condemned sin in the flesh and made us righteous by His blood. 

So walking in the flesh is walking around being occupied with the law of do's and don'ts. On the contrary, we are to be occupied with the fact that Christ has qualified us in every aspect of our life through His sacrfice. This is summed up in verse 9 of this text, " But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." 

When you and I accepted Christ as our personal Savior, His spirit came to live in us. We need to be occupied with the fact that Jesus lives in us and we in Him. As you and I become more mindful of this fact, we are empowered to display the fruits of His spirit, which is love, joy and peace.

The works of the flesh demand that we "do" .  The works of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus dictate who we are.We are not to struggle in and of ourselves to "do" love, joy and peace, but to "be" love, joy and peace.  We are not human "doings" we are human "beings"

We are who God says we are and the more we can see ourselves as God sees us in Christ, the more the light of the gospel will shine in our lives.  As we occupy ourselves with the mindset that we are in Christ, this is what it means to walk according to the spirit. When we are occupied with being justifed by what we do, then we are walking according to the flesh. 

It is through this revelation that we can walk in a knowledge that "there is therefore now no condemnation for us who believe on Jesus Christ, the Messiah!