Dead Things Cannot Lead the Living
We cannot bring the flesh into the Presence of God. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24
One Important Truth about God that many of us know and yet so often forget is that God is Holy and God is Spirit. And these attributes of God, comes with its ramifications. It impacts how we are to relate with God and what God expects from those of us who call ourselves His Children. A Child knows their father and interacts with their Father based on what they know of Him. The same is expected of us in our relation with Our Heavenly Father.
God is Holy (1 Peter 1:16) and God is Spirit (John 4:24). The Book of Revelation (one of my favorite books in the Bible) gives a different insight of God that He is not just Holy, He is “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Rev. 4:8). Meaning the highest possibility of Holiness that can be imagined, God is that, plus more.
Because He is Holy, He cannot (not will not, He cannot) commune with or be united to the fallen nature of the flesh(our sinful, carnal nature). Why? Because the flesh is always in direct opposition to God’s holiness and righteousness.
Romans 8:7-8 states, “..the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
For this reason, God, the Righteous and Holy Judge condemned the flesh to death. And in His Justice, Love & Mercy sent Jesus to pay the penalty.
Through the cross, the flesh was crucified (Galatians 5:24; Romans 6:6). Christ’s death marked the end of the rule of the flesh for those who believe. Yet, even though the victory has already been won, we are called to live that reality out daily. We live out this reality daily by the choices we make.
In my last post, I shared with you why your daily choices matter. We are to choose daily to walk not by the flesh, but by the Spirit (Romans 8:12–14). This is why Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “…I die daily”.
We are no longer to operate from the influence of the flesh, because it is a dead thing.
To be led by the flesh is to resist the very life of God that dwells within us.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The flesh cannot worship God, cannot please God (Romans 8:8), and has no place in intimate fellowship with a Holy, Set-Apart, and Righteous God. Our communion with Him must come from our spirit, where the life of Holy Spirit governs every part of us.
Therefore, as followers of Christ, we are called to live from the finished work of the cross, from the posture of having died to the flesh. Only then can we truly walk in step with the Spirit and experience the fullness of God’s presence and power in our lives.
Key Scripture References:
1 Peter 1:16 – “Be holy, because I am holy.”
John 4:24 – “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Romans 8:3 – “God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.”
Galatians 5:24 – “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Romans 6:6 – “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with.”
Romans 8:12–14 – “…if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”
Romans 8:8 – “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
With Love,
Ejiro