“In this the power of the Holy Ghost is practically manifested, by a reversal of the relations of the human Spirit and the flesh… The unconverted man has a spirit, but it is carnalized… The spirit is the servant of the flesh.”
“The Holy Spirit, as man’s regenerator, reverses this state of things. He quickens the spirit, and through it quickens the frame, so that instead of spiritual powers being carnalized, a mortal body is spiritualized; instead of soul and spirit being subjected by the flesh, flesh and blood become instruments of the Spirit.”
“O for men on whom the silent verdict of the observer would be, “He is a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost!” Never, perhaps, did earthly eyes see more frequently that we see in our day, men with ordinary Christian excellencies, – men in private life whose walk is blameless, – men in the ministry who are admirable, worthy, and useful. But are not men “Full Of The Holy Ghost” a rare and minished race? Are those who entire spirit bespeaks a walk of prayer, such as we would ascribe to Enoch or to John; whose words fall with a demonstration of the Spirit, and a power such as we conceive attended Paul or Apollos; who make on believers the impression of being immediate and mighty instruments of God, and on unbelievers the impression of being dangerous to come near, lest they should convert them; – are such men often met with?
The Tongue of Fire, William Arthur.
A reversal of roles? That is very interesting. This is similar to what I’ve said before:
Now you are in one of two states. You are either in the flesh and friends with it; or your are out of the flesh and struggling against it. And likewise, you are either in the Spirit and friends with Him, or out of the Spirit struggling against the Sprit of God. The bible says “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh…” (Genesis 6:3) When you are in the flesh, your struggle and fight is against the Spirit of God. When you are in the Spirit, your struggle and fight is against the flesh. The bible says “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…” (Gal 5:17) So which ever one you are in will determine which one you’re fighting against, and which one you’re fighting with. So when a lost person get’s saved, his struggle with the Holy Spirit has ceased and he’s made peace with God. Now listen carefully, a saved person can never get lost. Therefore his struggle with the flesh will never cease and there will never be peace with the flesh, until that glorious day when we lay it down. Bless the Lord. (Read this entire paragraph again)
Think on these things…
But the fullest paragraph in the Bible about horses is found in the Book of Job. And it describes a war-horse! “Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, Ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.” Job 39:19-25
He is ready for battle, eager in fact!
And not the least bit afraid!
And this ultra-complimentary Passage is in Job, why?
The horse is a tribute to the man Job, I think. Who has stood so strong and fought so valiantly! Never cursing God, not once. Though the devil certainly tempted him to do so, or predicted he would!
Oh, to be a war horse for Jesus’ Sake!
Proverbs 21:31 The Horse, Dr. Mike Bagwell
This really brings back to mind that time when The Kids and I trained that horse, ironically named Spirit. We learned so much about horses. We used Clinton Anderson’s Colt Starting and Fundamentals DVDs to do so. And Mr. Anderson lays down a real solid foundation about how a horse thinks, because that is the basis for his program. Everything he trains the horse to do is based on his philosophy on how horses think.
But through all that and in the days to come, I could see how similar the horse is to us. This struggle between the flesh and the Spirit can be demonstrated between the will of the horse and the will of the trainer. Clinton Anderson said at one time, “Horses vote every morning who the leader is going to be.” I remember thinking that that will certainly preach!
So when I read this from Dr. Bagwell, “And not the least bit afraid!” it reminds me about what I learned about horses in those days. Fear in a horse is a natural thing. They are flighty animals. They run run run even at the scent of danger. A horse, in order to get over it’s fears, must be trained to do so.
The horse is always, constantly looking for a place of rest, a place of least resistance, a place where there’s no pressure. So the trainer, through his use of pressure and a release of pressure, will train the horse to trust that doing what the trainer wants will always result in that place of rest. The horse learns that doing what the rider wants to do will always make him feel comfortable, relaxed, and without fear.
The horse’s constant training to trust the rider is why the horse behaves out on the trail or the arena.. or the battlefield for that matter. The horse draws it’s courage from the one that’s trained him, the one who directs him, and rides him into battle. He moves his feet for the rider, because he respects him as he respects the Alpha mare. Jesus said, “I am Alpha…” So you get the picture? A horse is glorious in his strength and courage, as he is directed by his trusting rider.
Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
These are the verses we’ll covering next in Romans. Being that we’ve been going through Numbers and commenting on that whole 40 years of wandering lately, I’ve got plenty of material to draw from. Plus we’ve hit these chapter regarding vows, very mysterious. But vows implies debt and now we hit a verse on debt. Interesting.