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Word of Life – Rom 8:11 (29/12/2019 – 12/1/2020)
Post date: 2019-12-28Autor: BCP
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Reflection on Rom 8:11
Post date: 2019-12-28Autor: BCP
Let us be aware that the Spirit of God who dwells in the Father also dwells in us through the saving faith. This Spirit raised the Lord Jesus from the dead when He was dead physically. By the same power by which He raised Christ from the dead, this Spirit of God will now not raise us physically, because we are still in the flesh, but He will give us life already now. What does it mean that He will give us life? This is the crucial question. Our main focus will no longer be the spirit of the world, our selfish interests, or service to the system and spirit of darkness which enslaves man by sin and leads to destruction. He will give us life so that while we are in the flesh, amidst our life’s trial, we may no longer live our own life but rather live according to God’s plan; live a different life, a life for God and for the salvation of our soul and of the souls of our neighbours.
Reflection on Rom 8:10
Post date: 2019-12-14Autor: BCP
Without repentance and without putting God’s Word into practice there is no spiritual life; there is only stagnation because we do not allow the Spirit of God to live in us. Thus at the same time we do not allow Jesus Christ to work in us and through us. The very secret of a victorious life lies not only in the receiving of or the baptism with the Holy Spirit – this is just the beginning – but it is necessarily connected with walking in the Spirit, in the Spirit of truth, who unites us to Jesus through the cross. Then Jesus can live and suffer in us for the sake of the salvation of souls, especially those in our immediate surroundings, so that we may truly become living atoning sacrifices.
Word of Life – Rom 8:10 (15/12/2019 – 29/12/2019)
Post date: 2019-12-14Autor: BCP
“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Word of Life – Rom 8:9 (1/12/2019 – 15/12/2019)
Post date: 2019-11-30Autor: BCP
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
Reflection on Rom 8:9
Post date: 2019-11-30Autor: BCP
Let me ask the essential question: Are these words, saying that I am not in the flesh, really true about me? Does the Spirit of God dwell in me? Is it not the mind and spirit of the world that rules in me? The sign of the Spirit of God really dwelling in me is that I allow Him to work in prayer as well as in decision-making; in other words, I live according to the Spirit. How shall we obtain the Spirit of Christ?
Word of Life – Rom 8:7-8 (17/11/2019 – 1/12/2019)
Post date: 2019-11-16Autor: BCP
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Reflection on Rom 8:7-8
Post date: 2019-11-16Autor: BCP
The carnal mind is synonymous with the mind of the old self. The old self embodies the connection between the carnal mind and mental life, which only affects the horizontal. The old self philosophizes about purely human values and things but ignores or even rejects God’s truths and God’s commandments. The mind of the old self, i.e. of the flesh, revolves only around its own false interests but constantly boycotts the most important thing, namely the salvation of the soul. The focus of the carnal mind is its own human pride, career, self-divinization and practical independence from God.
Word of Life – Rom 8:5-6 (3/11/2019 – 17/11/2019)
Post date: 2019-11-02Autor: BCP
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Reflection on Rom 8:5-6
Post date: 2019-11-02Autor: BCP
We need to realize again that setting our minds on the things of the Spirit and living according to the Spirit is connected with the law of the Spirit. And the law of the Spirit is essentially connected with Jesus, it is in Him. Those who are in Christ are spiritually rather than carnally minded – that means, they do not set their minds on themselves but on Jesus. Their focus is not on their self-realization or their ego but on true good – spiritual good. However, they need not care about obtaining it. Our main concern must be to have a true relationship to Jesus, to love God, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Word of Life – Rom 8:4 (20/10/2019 – 3/11/2019)
Post date: 2019-10-19Autor: BCP
“That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Word of Life – Rom 8:3 (6/10/2019 – 20/10/2019)
Post date: 2019-10-05Autor: BCP
“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.”
Reflection on Rom 8:3
Post date: 2019-10-05Autor: BCP
Invisible spiritual reality which blinds our mind, paralyses our will and drags us to both temporal and eternal destruction is indeed the greatest problem which all mankind and every individual is faced with. The solution to this problem is found neither in Buddha nor in Muhammad nor in Freud nor in Rousseau nor in Zen meditations or yoga practices. The solution is found only and only in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man, took flesh without sin, to carry all sins of mankind to the cross in His flesh and to pay for them with His death. Jesus is not only true man but He is also true God, and therefore He is the only Saviour of mankind and there is salvation in no one else but Him (Acts 4:12). Jesus overcame on Calvary; He conquered sin and the devil, but this victory is in Him alone
Word of Life – Rom 8:1-2 (22/9/2019 – 6/10/2019)
Post date: 2019-09-26Autor: BCP
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Reflection on Rom 8:1-2 (+video)
Post date: 2019-09-26Autor: BCP
These Scripture verses from the Epistle to the Romans are a continuation of the preceding verses where the Apostle cries out: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” In chapter eight we read that those are free who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death. The process of our deliverance in every new situation is accomplished again and again only in Christ Jesus. The law of sin is a machine against which we are powerless relying on our human efforts. The law of the Spirit of life works in those who “walk according to the Spirit of God rather than according to the flesh” (Rom 8:1).
Word of Life – Rom 7:24-25 (8/9/2019 – 22/9/2019)
Post date: 2019-09-07Autor: BCP
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God (for doing so) through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Reflection on Rom 7:24-25
Post date: 2019-09-07Autor: BCP
At the end of chapter seven, the Apostle cries out: “O wretched man that I am!” He says it in the light of God, aware of the law of sin which is at work in us as well as of human powerlessness when we want to do good by our own efforts. Saying this, the Apostle also asks: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” And he gives the answer at once: “Thanks be to God (for doing so) through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
What it means to be in the Lord’s presence (+german version)
Post date: 2019-08-30Autor: BCP
We need to experience what it means to be in the Lord’s presence. It does not mean that we will have a vision, or that Christ will appear to us. Standing before the Lord is very simple: I stop, realize God’s presence and stand in truth, as a sinner, before God. I confess at least one sin to Him, and I am ready to accept that He will expose my other sins too. I am also ready to forgive all who have hurt me, because I want God to forgive me.
Word of Life – Rom 7:22-23 (25/8/2019 – 8/9/2019)
Post date: 2019-08-24Autor: BCP
“For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”