UNDERSTANDING THE SPIRIT

Posted on Oct 27, 2020 by Shane W. Roessiger | Comments (0)

This is an especially important thing: to understand the things of the Spirit. Many do not understand it. We are spiritual or we are not! The Church is supposed to be spiritual, but it is and has become more carnal! The carnal will always have a reason for doing things! We must do things being led by the Spirit of God and not by the carnality of man.

We say things like, “They are just like that,” but we must be changed from a carnal person to a spiritual person. The old man must be renewed! Read Romans 6:5-7. The old man has been crucified with Christ, but we can resurrect it by giving into our flesh. Time and time again, the Bible talks about this. Why? So that we can believe it. Since the beginning of time, there is new and old: new wine, old wine, New Testament, Old Testament, new man, old man. This is what we want to see: new creation, not hybrids. The Word of God is power!

Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 – We must know not to know anybody by the flesh. We have known Christ in His flesh, but now we must see Him in His resurrected body. Now we must know Him and understand Him by the Spirit!

Read Ephesians 4:21-23 – We cannot just sit in the building and try to be good, but you must be renewed in the Spirit of your mind. In Colossians 3:1-11, it says we must seek things from above. We must seek spiritual things. We must understand spiritual matters. We are not to be earthly but spiritual! Jesus did all that He saw the Father doing in the spiritual realm. The Pharisees could not understand the Spirit because they were not born again!

We must put off the old nature, the old desires and lust, and put on the new man which is renewed – going through a process – daily! So, we clearly see the old man and a new man – we can clearly see the difference between those who are being renewed and those who are not, between those born again and those who are not! Many men with an old-man nature are walking in the Church. The carnal church caters to the soul and neglects spiritual matters.

We cannot work our way to God. We cannot be work-orientated. We must have works that make our faith real! Many people can and will do good works but works alone do not save us. Works cannot justify you or your guilt, but faith and the power of the cross are the only things that transform us. And the works we do seal that we believe and they show our faith!

Guilty people try to do more that is “good” to cover their guilt! This is the law! We see a soul who is bargaining. You are still trying to do it in your strength, and it is still law! We see people trying to work off their guilt. Religion builds a tower to God, but in a relationship, God lets down a ladder to you.

Read Romans 8:5-9 - A carnal person cannot understand the things of the Spirit, nor do they have an appetite for that which is of the Spirit! Born again people walk not after the flesh. If we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are not of His! This is a serious letter to the Church. Can it be fully grasped?

You can say a prayer, but if God does not connect you to Himself, you are still lost; you are still an old creation, an old man! Only the power, a miracle from God, can make that happen. When you are born again, you have an appetite for the things of the Spirit. In the Spirit, we should be

so hungry as we are in the flesh. The cravings for junk food must be changed for spiritual food. When you are born again, you have a spirit connected to the Spirit of God; not just your mind is connected to Him.

Walking outside the Spirit means walking in the flesh. Many did not know Him. Many did not perceive Him. Looking behind the flesh – there is where the kingdom of God is. There is where Jesus lived! Not by observation but within. All the religious scholars could not understand Jesus, but the little children could.

Read Luke 17:20-21 - The kingdom of God is not seen by the natural eyes. You must see it with the spiritual eyes. It is within you! The hope of nations dwells inside of you! But there is no way to understand things by the carnal eyes! The kingdom of God showed up: His name is Jesus! Behold! Carnally minded people have their own pride, stopping them from seeing Him and His kingdom!

Because we have religion and idols in American Christianity, they do not understand the things of the Spirit! Everything still consists of works! But if we do not submit to one Spirit, we submit to our own spirit or demonic spirits - the spirit of the age! We become a slave to emotions, to attitudes, and to superficial Christianity! But God is deep, and the deep calls to deep! The Spirit is so deep, and the Spirit calls unto your deep! Psalm 42:7

The Spirit connects us to God. Deep calls to deep. Religion calls to the flesh. CONNECTS TO! Joins to! God wants Christ formed in us. Religion wants to please a man and entertain dead works! The blind lead the blind! Good is not always righteous because good still holds an opinion. Righteous holds the Truth.

Those who see will offend many who are blind! Look at Jesus. He offended so many, but He was clean! People did not understand Him because He was deep! So, in that, was He crazy? Was He wrong, or was He just too much?

God is always too much to the shallow but to the deep He is: A rewarder - A friend - A desire - A fountain - A need - A breath - A must - A passion - A fire. Jesus always saw behind the flesh, behind the natural!

Somebody that is born again seeks Him like in Psalm 42:1-4 – like a deer. Once you drink from Him, you won’t want any other kind of water! Jesus had meat we knew not of – that was said 2,000 years ago, but there was a day that HE sent the Holy Spirit! Many from different denominations do not have the baptism of the Holy Spirit because of the wrong doctrine. They were told they have it but they do not. You know they don’t! Because if you are not alive, then you do not know who the one alive is and who is alive with Him and in Him! If you cannot see, you cannot know what “to see” really looks like! So, a blind man tells what he sees in his own religious opinion or letter, but the Spirit knows the Spirit! Without the Spirit, we cannot understand spiritual things. It is like we have a veil hiding spiritual matters.

God has laid this on my heart: “Many attend church but they have not become a living stone and have not even been born again!” So, they come to church with the mindset of Nicodemus! Read John 3:1-13. Let’s think about the young ruler in Mark 10:17-27. Was he a good guy? Did he do good works? Did he try to follow the word? It is not about knowing the word by the law and

the letter but about being one with the Word and one with the Spirit. We are the tabernacle of God!

Except you are born again, you will never be able to understand the Bible – the word of life, because they are Spirit! Nicodemus could not understand spiritual things – He knew the written word but never could understand the spiritual. Jesus was trying to explain something spiritual to someone that was carnal. Nicodemus looked so spiritual, but he was so carnal. “Don’t you read the word, Nicodemus?” Jesus was showing him that it was not about knowledge but about understanding the Spirit. Many understand earthly things but never heavenly things. It is possible that you can know the letter without ever having a relationship with the Spirit! This is what Jesus was saying to the woman at the well. God will have a people who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

Read 2 Timothy 2:11-19 – It is impossible for one being carnal to understand the things of the Spirit until this one is born again! The problem is that flesh and Spirit are at enmity with one another. So, the carnal mind is at enmity with the mind of Christ! Argument stops and transformation begins when we start seeing things in the Spirit! Jesus said: “Blessed are those who can see and those who can hear.” He never said, “Blessed are those who can read the Bible and memorize scriptures.”

Read 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 - The Spirit searches all things, all things hidden of God. We must be one with the Spirit to understand Him. Seek God out. Seek the Spirit out. You cannot test the Spirit if you don’t have the Spirit. The natural man cannot understand anything of the Spirit because spiritual things are foolish to them! Because they are not born of the Spirit!

A carnal man cannot receive, can’t discern, and can’t understand the things of the Spirit. Only those who have the mind of Christ, a born again, a renewed person can! So, speaking spiritual things to a carnal man is like talking physics to a 4-year-old! They pick up the words because they know English but there is no understanding!

Therefore, we pray for understanding! See, His sheep hear His voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow! Why? Because Spirit has a voice! The Spirit bears witness that we are the sons of God. We should bear witness if we are born of God ourselves!

Read Romans 8:16-17 - Certain denominations have done some significant damage to those who want to be saved and follow Jesus! Therefore, they speak of these doctrines of man, religion, and the devil! Because they are stumbling blocks to enter in! Pride is religion outward, not inward!

We have this spiritual banquet to feed ourselves with. Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-2. No matter how intelligent one may think they are, they are still blind and will end up in a ditch! God speaks about two wisdoms: the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God! You must know the difference. Many a Nicodemus has the wisdom of man. One wisdom comes from the Spirit! The other comes from the carnal! One comes from the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The other comes from the spirit of man! One is heavenly! The other is earthly. One bears the fruits of righteousness. The other bears the works of the law!

“Father, we just thank you because you are the Spirit, and we must live by you. We will not eat from the wisdom of man but of your wisdom. We will understand the things of the Spirit more than ever! Because anyone in Christ is a new creation! Father, we ask you to feed us! We pray for every hearing ear, that they will seek you and encounter you. Their spiritual eyes will be open, and they will see. Their minds will be renewed, and they will get the mind of Christ! Deep calls us to understand the things of the Spirit! Yes, be open! Ears and eyes be open! In Jesus' name! Amen.” Shane Roessiger

UNDERSTANDING THE SPIRIT

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