This morning I am backtracking a little in Paul's letter to the Romans. That letter is so full, you could study it for years and still be unpacking awesome truths. Today I am focused on the following verses - Romans 8:9-11 NIV:
[9] "You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. [10] But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. [11] And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you."
First, let me say verse 11 is a great promise, and I aim to claim it and experience the fullness of it in my life. I can't even for a moment grasp what it means to have the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead living in me, but I know that I am experiencing far less of the Spirit than is available. He desires to fill us, to give life to our mortal bodies. The Greek word used by Paul here is Zoopoieo and its defined as follows:
1) to produce alive, begat or bear living young
2) to cause to live, make alive, give life
a) by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate
b) to restore to life
c) to give increase of life: thus of physical life
d) of the spirit, quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life
3) metaph., of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up, growing
All of the definitions sound good to me - to have within me the ability to bring life to others, to be restore and invigorated, to receive an increase of life, to have my own spirit quickened within me! Sign me up! The even better news is that I have already been signed up and this is available to me!
If this is what the Spirit wants to do, than I know there must be a way to appropriate this into my reality and experience. God is not one to promise something and then not deliver, He desires us to understand there is more available to us, and desires that we hungrily pursue Him for that more! That is what these type of verses do for me, they open my eyes to the greater dimension of intimacy and awareness that is available to me. If Jesus, living in me, and the Holy Spirit, Living in me, want to give me more life, they are going to lead me to exactly that in my life.
The continued good news is that I don't need to qualify, as Jesus already provided me the qualifying righteousness. It says the Spirit provides this life because of righteousness, not mine but Christ's which is His gift to me, through faith (Rom 3:22, Philippians 3:9). What an awesome opportunity - to experience the life of God poured into us, because of Christ's righteousness given to us through faith. As I wrote that, the thought came to mind that faith is basically the currency we use in our interaction with God. We extend faith (which is also His gift to us- Eph 2:8) and He returns righteousness, life, power, salvation, etc.
Paul writes in these verses that we are in the realm of the Spirit of God who lives within us, which is the result of Christ living within us, which is the result of our salvation experienced through faith, also a gift of God. This is not an option, but the result of our faith. Whether we recognize this and experience it as reality are another matter, but these must be true for us all, if they are true for any one of us, for the Lord is the same, and His word is true. Each of us has the same life available to us and His desire for us is expressed here, that we might have life, to restore, to invigorate, to release, to quicken to see things come to life!
Oh Lord, I can only ask for more! Help me to understand and experience the life you desire to give me!
Amen!
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