Putting To Death The Sins Of The Flesh

All who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. That’s what it says. Do you really believe that you can be practically led by God’s Holy Spirit each day? It’s true, you can be.

For me it happens very naturally, as long as I’m praying in the morning, doing my devotions, reading the word, and thinking about God and His will throughout the day, I’m nudged by God during the day, and he helps me do His will.

What is His will? It’s little things. It’s praying for someone who comes to mind. It’s stopping to minister to someone who is having a hard day. It’s seeing an old friend and going and talking to them at the store. It’s calling up a family member and praying with them. It’s buying a Bible for your neighbor whose in the hospital and bringing it to them. It’s little things that are actually big things.

Similarly, it’s rejecting temptations when they pop up. When you see that beautiful woman jogging, you look a different direction. You see that handsome guy at work, you decide to not even look that way. It’s refusing to gossip about someone you’re mad at. It’s saying no to the drama in the break room. It’s not cheating on your taxes. Simple things that are big things.

Now, you may be thinking, "Oh my, I have to put to death the misdeeds of the sinful nature. If I don’t I’m in trouble. If I live in sin, I’m in danger!" You're tempted to feel fearful and concerned.

I think it’s good to be concerned, to care enough to take action, to want to be free from sins in your life. But, at the same time, we aren’t to be fearful slaves. We are God’s children.

Romans 8:15 says, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

We are not fearful slaves terrified of God. We do have a healthy fear of the Lord, don’t get me wrong. I do tremble at my heavenly Father’s might and power, but no, instead, we are adopted as God’s children. So we call God “Heavenly Father.”

Don’t be afraid. God is helping you every step of the way to be free from sins, to live holy. He desires your holiness. Through the Spirit he helps us to live it. And we do not tremble as slaves, instead, we stand with dignity as children.

Verse 16, “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” We can know in our hearts that we belong to God, because the Holy Spirit inside us, will join with our spirit, and confirm you are a child of God!

And lastly, verse 17-18 “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”

This is just astonishing what is said here. You are His heirs. Do you understand what this is saying? God is your Father, you are his daughter, his son, which means you will inherit his kingdom. What that means exactly, we don’t know, it’s huge, bigger than we could imagine!