Akourdantz...

Romans 8:1-8 [NIV]

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

Romans 8:1-8 [NIV]

This is just some stuff that I was reading the other day that truly spoke to me.  I guess I'd just like to share some of the stuff that resonated inside of me after meditating a little bit on these verses...

Firstly, it seems that God has been constantly throwing me insight about forgiveness and His grace. It is something that I will never understand. However, as much as I try to claim forgiveness and freedom, a lot of the times there is a deeper part of me that just doesn't agree with the reality of it...and so I pray. I pray that the Lord will somehow teach me and reveal to me the truth, being that He seriously, genuinely, and unconditionally loves me and forgives me each time I pursue love with Him by asking forgiveness and living apart from sin. 

The first verse of this section flat out states: "There is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus [...]" (emphasis added). This is a theme that not only God reveals to me but has revealed to the authors of much of the New Testament, so we need to accept its truth. I need to learn from this that, WOW!, I am "in" Christ Jesus...and therefore all of this guilt and agony I sometimes go through must be [IS] a lie from the enemy.

accordance                  n.

    1.  Agreement; conformity

    2.  The act of granting.

Why do I, when making a decision/doing an action, do what I hate and not what I love? This is the train of thought that everyone must have had at some point in his or her life, right? I see all of the things that I do that I hate directly as "what nature desires". I experience this so much, to the extent that much of the time I completely do not realize then when I am living "according" to that sinful, human nature, it means that I am agreeing, GRANTING sin the passwords to control over me! 

It says that the mind of the man with sinful nature controlling is DEATH; whereas, the mind of the man led by the Spirit isn't just LIFE, it's LIFE AND PEACE. I don't know about you, but I can't think of what I wouldn't give to obtain control over the chaos and confusion within my mind and experience and express life through my actions and have peace over my mind. So here is an alternative given, a choice that we should be making. The alternative as presented: live in "accordance" with the Holy Spirit. 

Does that mean that I have to agree that the Holy Spirit is real?  Yep

Does that mean that I have to conform to examples that the Lord has shown us?  Yep

Does that mean that I have to grant the Holy Spirit access to my thoughts and be open to the fact that He may be more real than I ever thought...that His presence may use me above and beyond expectations I've ever had?     Heck yep! (ha...that sounds awkward, doesn't it?)

Later in chapter 8 of Romans... "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 through his Spirit, who lives in you." (v. 11)

So yea...my thoughts on that :)