Friday, September 6, 2013

DAY 475 - Who Is Controlling You? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


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Today's Reading: Romans 8:5-11


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Please click this link to read Romans 8:5-11
      Paul continues what he develops in the previous passages. If Jesus took us out of the prisoner-of-war camp, then we are free and not live in the law of that camp but live in the Spirit. Not being controlled by those evil spirit(like those German soldiers in WWII) but being controlled by the Holy Spirit. 

Bishop N.T. Wright's says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright):
     The word we translate, here and elsewhere, as 'flesh' refers to people or things who share the corruptibility and mortality of the world, and often enough and certainly here, the rebellion of the world.  'Flesh' is a negative term.  For Paul as a Jew the created order, the physical world, was good in itself.  Only its wrong use, and its corruption and defacing, are bad.  'Flesh' highlights that wrong use, that corruption and decay.
     'Spirit', by contrast, usually refers to God's own spirit, the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes, as in the passage which follows, Paul refers to the human spirit, the inner reality of someone's life.  But the first meaning is the important one here.  Paul is taking the categories of Adam-humanity and Messiah-humanity, the two categories he has been developing ever since chapter 5, and is painting in yet one more colour.  This time he will be able to show that, seen in this light, God has indeed done what the law wanted to do but could not- in other words, to give life.
     This process is already under way in daily Christian living.  You can tell the difference between those who are concerned with 'flesh' and those concerned with the 'spirit': what is their mind focused on?  What are they thinking about most or all of the time? 

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:Romans: Part 1. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.140-141.

     So, who is controlling you daily? What is in your mind focused on all the time? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

Spiritual Journal

     What I heard from Jesus today is: Who is controlling you?

    What I got from Jesus today is another reality check whether we are still being captured in the prisoner-of-war camp or are really out of that camp. How can we know that? Well, it depends on who is really controlling us and what are in our minds focused on all the time.

     Just like if you are in love, all your minds will be thinking of your loved one. If Jesus is really your Lord, then you are willing to be controlled by Him and you let go of your lordship. If not, you are still in the prisoner-of-war camp even though you think that you have been rescued. If so, you are still being controlled by all kinds of worldly thoughts and values. And, you like to take control of everything and you want to control everyone. Sad!

     Who is controlling you daily? What is in your mind focused on all the time?
    
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us be willing to be controlled by you so that our minds focused on you and your Kingdom works all the time. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


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