Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. - 2 Corinthians 5:16 NKJV
We've all heard the stories of people in a coma, incapable of response, yet fully aware of what was going on around them. One patient tells of feeling trapped inside his body, listening in despair as his loved ones gave up on him and doctors talked about pulling the plug. There's an important survival principle here. When you speak to someone battling adversity or serious illness, speak life to their Spirit. Speak to the part of them that's capable of rising up in faith and responding. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Ro 10:17). How does faith come? By hearing what God thinks, what God says and what God can do when others have given up.
You say, "But the situation looks hopeless." Maybe, but until God has been heard from, the last word hasn't been spoken. God told the prophet Ezekiel to go and stand in a valley full of dead bones (that's about as bad as it gets!) and say, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life" (Ez 37:5 NIV). Now, you can't hold on to a loved one when God in His sovereign wisdom decides it's time to take them home. But until then, speak words of life to their Spirit. And speak them to yourself too.
Faith does not deny the reality of the circumstances - it just refuses to be intimidated, limited or ruled by them. That's why Paul writes, "Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh" (2 Co 5:16). So speak life to their Spirit - and to your own Spirit too!
SoulFood Bible Readings: Gal 5:22, Lk 19:11-26, Ps 36:5-9, Heb 10:19-23
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Ebigambo ebyo birungi nnyo mu kaseera kokulwaaza, naffe nga tuli balwadde oba banafu, yadde nga tuwulira, era tuddamu amaanyi nebigambo ebirungi ebyomukwano. Tweyanze nnyo Taata Tonto.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. - 2 Corinthians 5:16 NKJV
When God speaks to us He often does it through people. The trouble is, our Spiritual ears are not developed and attuned to His voice. In some cases we have become doubting and cynical. What a loss! Your fear of 'getting it wrong' will rob you of vital input only God can give you.
Jacob woke up one morning after having an encounter with God the night before and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it" (Ge 28:16 NIV). You need to wake up Spiritually and, (a) desire above all else to hear from God; (b) eliminate mental clutter, slow down and take the time to understand what He's saying; (c) believe that God will actually speak to you. If you don't, you'll be at the mercy of your own best thinking, or worse, the influence of others just like you. Self-sufficiency is the enemy of hearing from God! As long as you can do it without God, you won't reach for God. Seven times in two chapters of the Book of Revelation God says, "He that has an ear [a Spiritually developed one] let him hear what the Spirit says." Until you hear from God you're working with severely limited information and you'll keep making mistakes, costly ones. Hearing from God must become a priority so great, you adjust your schedule and your attitudes to it every day.
Paul writes, "Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh" (2 Co 5:16). Stop shutting out the people God wants to speak to you through because they are flawed. God doesn't speak to you through their flesh; He speaks through their Spirit - to your Spirit!
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