Living in the Freedom of the Spirit - Week #1

Blessings in the name of the Lord Jesus!...wow, what a name!

Well, we’re into our next book, Living in the Freedom of the Spirit. Thanks to those who made comments on the first two chapters. We’d love to have increasing participation in order that we can all benefit from a variety of perspectives…and don’t hesitate to ask questions, ok?

This week I want to focus on three things that Tom Marshall teaches in these two chapters.

First, he says at the start of chapter one: …knowledge of God comes primarily as revelation to the human spirit, not as information to the mind (I Cor. 2:9,10,14). This is foundational to us even in our reading this book (or any of the others). The human spirit can grasp what the natural mind cannot grasp. This is why the discipline of contemplation is important in the believer’s life – in contemplating Jesus we can receive from Him what our minds cannot compute.

But here’s the beautiful thing – the more I can receive of Him through faith and trust, the more clearly my mind begins to function; and although our human mind in its limitations will never be able to intellectually understand all about God, its capacity will grow as my heart is set on fire. My mind functions better now than ever before in my life, and I’ve watched this happen as my heart has increasingly been made whole and expanded in the love of God. I’m watching this happen with some of our young people here at Bethany now, and it’s thrilling to me.

This isn’t to say that everyone will have the same natural mental capacity, but I do believe that with the healing of the soul and the setting afire of the heart, the mind’s capacity grows.

Many years ago I read from Jessie Penn-Lewis that if you are reading or hearing spiritual teaching that you’re not able to grasp, don’t try to strain your natural mind to grasp it but place it at the feet of Jesus and rest in Him, asking His Spirit to shed light on it when you are ready. That has been a great help to me over the years. This isn’t the same as laziness…

Second, Marshall talks about the “sources of our thought life.” The first three (the world, the flesh and the devil) are more commonly focused on, so I want to underscore the other three that he presents: the human spirit, the voice of God, and the past.

(By the way, I was glad for the observation by one of you that (we)”… have given Satan too much credit for negative thoughts that get into peoples minds. According to Tom Marshall, there are other influences...” It’s true – there are a number of sources for our negative thinking, the devil being only one.)

It’s important that we recognize that the human spirit is a source of thoughts. This will help us as we grow in discerning between the voice of God and our own voice. There’s nothing wrong with my own voice, but I need to learn to know which voice I’m hearing so that I put appropriate weight to it.

The last voice the author speaks of is the voice from our past, and this is often not well-looked at by believers. We are either ignorant of the impact of this voice or are afraid to deal with it or it has been so well buried over time that we are oblivious to it, and yet it is still influencing us, if the sanctifying grace of the Spirit hasn’t been applied to that voice.

I don’t think it’s as commonly believed now (at least not consciously), but we used to say that “time heals”; only the cross of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit genuinely heals. Leanne Payne (Restoring the Christian Soul) says, “Time, a creature, does not erase our sin. Only by our repentance and His blood is sin and guilt lifted from both past and present…”

As is true about other areas of our lives, some things of our past may be instantaneously removed upon initial conversion, but through the process of sanctification, the Holy Spirit lovingly uncovers areas yet to be cleansed that are deeply buried beyond our consciousness. How and when He does this is totally up to Him, but I know from experience that He is very good at this and is perfect in the way He does it.

Finally, in chapter two Marshall talks of the blinded mind and the “enlightened but double mind.” He touches on a very important reality in life, which is expressed in Romans 6:16 – obedience creates authority. “Whatever we habitually obey becomes authoritative in our lives.”

So whatever power we are under has gained its authority over us through our obedience to it, and this is a principle that never changes. So even as believers we can be in Christ and still be double-minded. Marshall says, “Like Lazarus after he came out of the grave, we often remain bound by the grave-clothes. Furthermore, the world, the flesh and the devil are constantly striving to regain ground that has been lost. Thus it is the painful experience of most Christians to find…that many old bondages either persist in the mind, or (through failure to walk in victory) are re-established by the same principle of obedience...There is war in the mind…Areas of the mind are still under the control of the old masters. Into these areas they inject their poison…”

Lord, I rejoice in Your power to save Your children! Thank You for what You are doing and will continue to do…here we are; we love You and trust You. In Jesus’ name.

Next week’s reading is chapter 3 on “The Renewed Mind.” The Lord is with you!