"Why . . . criticize your brother's actions, why try to make him look small? We shall all be judged one day, not by one another's standards or even our own, but by the standard of Christ. It is written: As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God. It is to God alone that we have to answer for our actions. Let us therefore stop turning critical eyes on one another. If we must be critical, let us be critical of our own conduct and see that we do nothing to make a brother stumble or fall."
Romans 14:10-13 (Phillips)
LETTERS
Dear Friends:
Each time my "Triumph" comes I try to find time to sit down and read it, and I take out the sermons for future use.
I have kept the "Triumph" because it contained such good material, but now as I find them (when I clean house) here and there, I shall take them to the nursing home so others less fortunate can share them too.
New York
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Dear Brother in Christ:
This little note is just a thank-you for your wonderful, blessed little paper called "Triumph." It has been a wonderful help to me. I am a widow.
New York
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Dear Brother Gordon:
Greetings in His precious name.
Just want to have a little fellowship with you once again, and also thank you for "Triumph."
It is a small page -- containing a mountain of blessings.
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Romans 12:12.
May the Lord continue to bless you and yours, and the work.
Florida
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Dear Mr. Gordon:
Thank you so much for your many fine messages in "Triumph." This Sunday I expect to use an excerpt from "Shut-In Believer," and use the poem, "Just Think." I hope you like the poem I selected for you. I make it a practice to enclose one to each person to whom I write.
May God richly bless you and yours.
Pennsylvania
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Dear Brother Gordon and Family:
I have been taking your wonderful little paper "Triumph" for two or three years and I have never paid you anything for it and I have never written to tell you how much I really appreciate the paper and your wonderful kindness. I am ashamed to write now, for I still have just a few dollars and more monthly bills to pay. But I am writing anyway to let you know how grateful I am.
I am a cripple. I have been crippled all my life and have had eight operations. But I put my trust in God and He brought me through. He has been so wonderful to me and I can't thank Him enough. I am a widow. Am 70 years old.
I thank God for the wonderful work you are doing in your affliction and the souls that are being saved through your faith in Christ and the little paper you are printing. It is a comfort and an inspiration to everyone.
May the blessings and love of God abide with you and your family forever.
Ohio
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Just think, we were deprived two or three years of this good letter from our friend in Ohio, just because she didn't have a gift to send. I assured her, as I want to assure you all, that letters from our readers are greatly appreciated and are of real encouragement to us, with or WITHOUT a gift. Maybe some others haven't written for the same reason. Please don't feel obligated to send a gift. You will never know what your letters mean to us. This is the only way we have of knowing how God may be using us. If you have received a blessing from our publication, we would like to know it.
The Lord's blessings on each of you. I remain
Your servant for Jesus' sake,
Art Gordon, Editor
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WORDLESS PRAISE
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift . . . " -- II Corinthians 9:15
I cannot find the words to tell of Jesus,
In just the way I'd like to speak of Him;
I only know that in His wondrous presence
The things of earth grow very strangely dim.
I cannot find the words to speak His sweetness;
He's dearer than the dearest e'er could be,
I only know that since of Him I've tasted --
The world holds only bitter dregs for me.
I cannot find the words to tell His glory,
My tongue to this can no expression give,
I only know since I have seen His beauty --
I want this glorious Christ in me to live.
I cannot find the words to tell of Jesus,
And all my precious Saviour means to me;
I only know I could not live without Him --
And I'm so glad He's mine eternally!
-- Yvonne Virginia Smith
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THIS WAY TO VICTORY
By Martin R. DeHaan, M.D.
(THE TWO CREATIONS)
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day (Genesis 1:20-23).
THE STORY OF THE physical creation in Genesis 1 is a picture of the spiritual New Creation. It illustrates the experience of every born-again believer. First, God brings out of the chaos of Genesis 1:2, the LIGHT on the first day. Next He separates the waters in the heavens from those on earth. Then dry land and plants appear, and after this follows the setting of the lights in heaven. Every believer is a new creation according to II Corinthians 5:17,
Therefore if any man be in Christ, He is a NEW CREATION
(II Corinthians 5:17).
GROWTH IN GRACE
The Christian life is a growth and development which begins on the day of conversion when God says, "Let there be light." The new-born believer must now learn SEPARATION from the world first of all. Then he is to become fruitful and reproduce his kind in winning others for Christ. Then he becomes a shining light seated like the stars in the heavens but shining on earth. All this we have covered (in previous lessons.) But there is still more. A Christian may be separated from the world and be a soul winner and a testimony and yet lack the absolute victory over the world and sin and self which God has purposed for him. Too many Christians go along defeated and anxious, weak and struggling, up one day and down the next, instead of soaring up into the upper atmosphere of victory in Christ, even as a bird defies the pull of earth's gravity and soars into the blue and breathes the pure ozone of the firmament far, far above the din and turmoil of this old earth. God did not save us just to deliver us from Hell and take us to Heaven when we die. Many folks think of salvation as an act of God whereby they are saved from going to Hell and finally go to Heaven when the end comes. But God had a higher aim than that in salvation, and the saving from Hell was merely incidental in this plan.
The goal of the Christian is victory. We are to grow in grace until we rise above every circumstance of life. Like a bird we are to defy the forces which would bind us to earth, and rise upon wings of faith into the heavens.
THE FIFTH DAY OF CREATION
And so on the fifth day of creation we have the life of victory set before us. On that day God made FISH and BIRDS, two of the strangest of God's creatures. A fish has the power to defy the forces of nature. It can sink into the depths of the sea where the water pressure is so great that it would crush any other animal, and then rise to the surface and be just as comfortable, just by adjusting its air-bladder and its cell pressure. It defies the pressure of matter and conquers the death-dealing force of these tons of pressure. But a bird is still more wonderful. It is a creature made up of elements heavier than air. Hence the gravity of the earth holds it down and binds it to this old earth. But a bird can overcome this pull of the earth by a very unique method. It can permit another force, an unseen force, to overcome this gravity and lift it up against gravity far up into the heavens. This other force is the air, and all the bird needs to do is to spread its wings and permit the wind (which is air in motion) to get under its pinions and the wind carries the bird up and away from the earth. Now a bird never really flies. Instead it just leans on the wind and lets the wind do the lifting. No bird can fly a foot without wind, any more than you can. Unless there is wind to get under its wings, it must too be bound by earth. And so on a day when there is no wind, the bird MAKES ITS OWN WIND. It begins to flap its wings to produce wind; that is, its own wind, and flies away. But it soon tires when there is no wind, and presently comes down to earth again. But on a windy day all is different. Now watch that seagull take off. It will just lean into the wind without moving a feather, and soar and soar and soar without any effort except spreading its wings and letting it bear it away. I have watched eagles that soared for hours in the blue heavens without moving a feather. You have all seen hawks and buzzards do the same thing. The same principle applies to flying. The airplane produces its own wind by rapidly whirling the propeller, resulting in an airfoil which provides the lift; but when there is enough wind a glider can stay aloft for many hours without mechanical power, in fact as long as there is enough wind.
THE WIND AND THE FLAPPING
Now the more wind there is, the less flapping is necessary, and the easier it is to rise. The less wind, the more flapping and effort and work, and the sooner the bird will tire and come to earth again. Now all these things have a lesson for us. In the new creation we find the exact counterpart. God wants us to fly above the din of this old world. He wants us to have victory over the pull of this world and dwell in the place of freedom and liberty, and we accomplish it in the very same way.
WIND AND SPIRIT
Notice carefully a very unique thing in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament Hebrew the very same identical word is used to denote WIND and SPIRIT. The Hebrew word is RUACH. In some places this word RUACH is translated WIND and in other places SPIRIT, as the context may indicate. In the New Testament Greek the same is true. The same word is used for "wind" and "spirit" here, too, and the word is PNEUMA. In some places PNEUMA is translated WIND and in others SPIRIT. Spirit means breath, moving air or wind. Let me give an illustration. In John 3 we read:
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the SPIRIT (John 3:8).
Now the same word PNEUMA is translated first WIND and then at the close of the verse it is rendered SPIRIT. But they are the same word, and it would be more correct to read the verse thus:
"The SPIRIT moveth where He listeth, and ye hear the evidence of Him but know not whence He cometh nor whither He goeth: so is every one that is born of the SPIRIT."
Or take Acts, chapter 2, where we read:
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind (PNEUMA), and it filled all the house where they were sitting (Acts 2:2).
The word translated wind is PNEUMA, the same as the word for SPIRIT, and it would be just as correct to read, "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty SPIRIT, and He filled all the house." It was the Spirit who came and filled the company in the upper room, not WIND. So the Spirit is to the Christian what the wind is to the bird. It is the Spirit alone who can give us victory over the forces of the old nature which keep pulling us down and holding us to the earth. All we need to do is extend our wings of faith, yield to that heavenly Wind, and literally lean on that heavenly zephyr, the Holy Spirit, and then HE lifts us up into the life of victory.
We said that the less wind, the more flapping the bird will have to do, the more wearying and discouraging the process will be, but the more wind, the less flapping and the higher the flight. Yes, thousands of churches and individuals still need to learn this. The more of the Spirit there is in a church, the less need there will be for all the fleshly methods which need to be employed to keep our people happy. The more flesh in our worship, the more flapping. We have to keep our people all pepped up by unscriptural programs to keep them interested. We fill our assemblies with social parlors, pool rooms, moving pictures, church suppers, and cast-off clothing sales, Halloween parties, and Father and Son banquets. My, what a busy program we have! What a complicated organization. How many boards, and committees. Just look at the calendar and see all the doings. See the weekly bulletin and look at the activities. And yet nothing or little is produced in the way of fruit or victory. It is months since a sinner was saved. And many folk think that all this activity is spiritual service. Listen, my friend, the more of the Spirit in the meeting and the church, the less of fleshly flapping there will be. The more the SPIRIT is the organizer of your program, the less of organization you will need. The more the Spirit directs the work of the church the less of the human directors you will need and the more we are led by the Spirit, the fewer the committees and boards and intricate, cut-and-dried programs. The more wind the less flapping, and vice versa. Do not mistake activity for victory.
TRUE PERSONALITY
And what is true of organizations and groups is true of each individual. The more we yield to the Spirit, the less of fleshly struggle and effort there will be.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
Do you have a struggle rising like a bird above the circumstances of life? Then turn it over to Christ, and let Him take control. Paul cried out:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24).
And immediately gave the answer:
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord . . . (Romans 7:25).
Listen again to Paul as he seeks to teach us how to fly:
. . . yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13).
I saw the lesson of yielding to the Spirit illustrated some years ago in a very graphic way. We were at a cabin way up in the wilderness of northern Michigan. Each day a huge bald eagle would perch on the top of a dead pine just across the little bay. He would sit there for some time, eyeing the sun, and then stirred by some strange impulse he would take off. He seemed to wait for just the right wind, and then he would spread his great wings and just lean upon the wind without flapping or moving a feather and spiral up and up. There was no effort -- the wind bore him up as he simply leaned upon it, as he rose in even, heightening spirals into the pure ether of the azure blue. Smaller and smaller he became until at last only a speck was left, and then strain the eyes as I would, he was swallowed up in the heavens. No effort, no flapping, just resting as he ascended up and up to be lost in the cloudless heavens above, far above the screaming of the clumsy loons and the chatter of the earth-bound chipmunks. And right there I found something. I said, "O God, in Jesus' name, I am weary of the struggle. I too want to dwell where the petty things of life and the fretful flapping of men trouble me no more." And the words came like the soft peal of an evening bell:
Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him; fret not thyself . . . (Psalm 37:5,7).
And then:
Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the PEACE OF GOD, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6,7).
Oh, Christian, there is victory for you if you will turn yourself completely over to Him, even as the eagle rests upon the wind and permits IT to do the lifting. do you want that victory? Then just where you are, tell Him about it. Say to Him, "I denounce all my own efforts and confess that by myself I am unable to conquer this thing that holds me down and I am turning it all over to Thee, and trusting, leaning on Thee, resting on the Spirit's power."
As it was the Spirit that brooded upon the soul at conversion, so it is the Spirit who must continue the work until victory is achieved.
(Copyright 1962, Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, MI, Reproduced by permission.)
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TODAY'S ARITHMETIC
I give this day, dear Jesus,
To be used alone for Thee,
MULTIPLY Thy presence richly,
ADD Thy likeness, Lord to me.
SUBTRACT self and sin's folly,
Each moment, each hour DIVIDE
That the total may amount to
JESUS GLORFIED.
For Jesus' sake,
Amen.
-- Yvonne Virginia Smith
AT CLOSE OF DAY
The day is over and I look for rest,
For I am weary from the tiresome road;
And so I speak to Him Whom I love best,
And understanding all, He takes my load --
Of cares and problems that the day has brought,
And all the things that weigh upon my soul;
And drawing near the one His blood has bought,
He keeps my heart and life in His control.
And thus the One I love I find so dear,
And there is very little I can say,
For he becomes so real, so very near,
And everything I need at close of day.
-- Yvonne Virginia Smith
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GOD'S WAY IS BEST
By Lois M. Ruden
DO YOU EVER feel bitter and discouraged because you have tribulations, trials, or disappointments? There must be a reason for them. It seems as though we all have hardships in this day and age, for we are living in a very troubled world.
All of our difficulties are different. How often we complain, "Why did the Lord let such a thing happen to me?" Christ has a reason for permitting our disappointments and troubles. Our trials ought to draw us closer to the Lord and teach us to look to Him for wisdom in solving our problems.
First we must invite Him into our hearts. We must confess our sins, receive His forgiveness and accept His will as ours. When we completely surrender ourselves to Him, He often speaks to us, revealing His purpose for the difficult things which trouble us. It is a precious experience.
You see, I am quite handicapped, for I was born with a physical affliction. My family has taken me to many doctors, who suggested various kinds of treatments. I worked very strenuously with them, for I wanted to overcome my condition and be like others. I have improved, but I have been disappointed so many times, for they had given us such high hopes of complete recovery which have not been fulfilled.
However, I have not become bitter or discouraged over my condition and the many disappointments. I have put life into the hands of my loving Heavenly Father. He has taken care of me all these years and I am trusting Him to continue to do so.
Won't you trust Him in your times of disappointment and distress? Trust His love, His wisdom (He knows what is best), and His power.
When we rebel against His will, we are miserable. When we accept it, we can be at peace. If we learn from the trial what He wants to teach us, then we shall be brought out into the real joy of living. We shall understand that God's way with us is best.
The following note from Miss Ruden will introduce her to the readers of TRIUMPH: "I am quite handicapped. I received an injury of the motor brain at birth which caused Cerebral Palsy. I received the desire to master the typewriter some years ago. It seemed as though Christ directed me as to just how to do this. It was to strike one key at a time with a rubber-tipped pencil. I hold the pencil between my first and second fingers of the right hand and curl my thumb down around the pencil. I believe being able to type this way is truly a gift which Christ has given me. I want to use this gift to His honor and glory, therefore I also believe He has called me to write articles of inspiration."
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SERMON SERIES
Romans 8
No. 4
WHERE'S YOUR MIND?
"For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh cannot please God." -- Romans 8:5-8
THE PREACHER of Proverbs wrote: "For as he (a man) thinketh in his heart, so is he." And the reverse is true also. As a man is, so thinketh he in his heart. A man's true character will always show up in the things upon which he centers his aspirations and desires. That which fills his mind is what he really is, and that which he is, fills his mind.
We shall see more of this principle in our lesson which sets before us two departments of life, two determinations, and two destinies.
TWO DEPARTMENTS OF LIFE
"They that are after the flesh . . . they that are after the Spirit" (5).
Here are two distinct spheres of life. Everyone belongs to one of these two spheres. There is no middle ground. You are in one or the other. "After (or according to) the flesh" or "after (according to) the Spirit."
We are born into these two spheres of life. Everyone knows this to be true of the natural or physical sphere. But what is true of the natural is also true of the spiritual. To enter the spiritual realm of life, we must be born into it. We must have a second birth, a spiritual birth. That is what Jesus told Nicodemus the Pharisee one night, when Nicodemus came secretly to question Jesus on His revolutionary teachings. "Ye must be born again," said Jesus pointedly. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Nicodemus asked "How?" this could be. We might ask "Why?" Jesus explains. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." There are two realms of life, Jesus is saying. There is natural life and spiritual life. There is the life of the flesh into which we are born by natural birth, there is the life of the Spirit into which we are born by spiritual birth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; nothing more, nothing less, nothing else than flesh. Flesh produces its kind on the level of flesh. Adam was flesh, so are all his children. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, so are all the children of God who are born of the Spirit.
Some folks have the mistaken idea that they can by some means other than birth enter the spiritual realm of life. Somehow they believe they can work their way into the higher level, or that they can evolve into it. This was Satan's delusion. He said, "I will be like the most high." He thought he could attain the plane of God's life by self effort. We are following in his deceived footsteps when we think we can attain the spiritual through the efforts of the flesh. There is only one way to attain the spiritual and that is by being born into it.
But now we come back to Nicodemus' question. How can this be? What must we do to have this new birth? The answer is simple. Faith. Our part is to believe. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." "As many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." When we put our trust in the Son of God as our Saviour, God performs the miracle of the new birth in us, thus making us His children, giving to us eternal and spiritual life. "Them that believe" -- "born . . . of God."
In our text the two spheres or departments of life are placed side by side, with the personalities involved -- "they that are after the flesh," these are once-born individuals, having only been born into the natural realm; and "they that are after the Spirit," these are twice-born individuals, having been "born again" of the Spirit into the spiritual realm. The question is: have YOU been born again? You cannot see or enter God's kingdom unless you have been. You may be among those, however, "that are after the Spirit," if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Him as your Saviour.
THE TWO DETERMINATIONS
The people who live in the lower, fleshly realm of life, "mind the things of the flesh;" the ones in the higher, spiritual realm, mind "the things of the Spirit" (5). The word "mind" includes more than just our thinking mechanism. What is meant is that those who are according to the flesh cherish, desire, are occupied with, and absorbed in, talk of, think of, follow after, "the things of the flesh." There determination is fleshward. Their time is consumed in fleshly pursuits.
What are some of these "things" belonging to the fleshly level of life? The Bible elsewhere calls them "lusts." There are physical lusts such as gluttony, uncleanness, slothfulness; soulical lusts such as mental delights, pleasures of the imagination, esthetic indulgences, or "tastes" such as art, music, sculpture, or what not; and spiritual lusts such as pride, envy, malice, avarice, etc. And besides the unclean things, there are the clean things used by unclean persons (i.e. persons not cleansed by the blood of Christ) which fall into the category of "things of the flesh." Then, too, there is the religion of the flesh, which includes everything that is not of and in the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, those according to the Spirit discern, value, love, are absorbed in, "the things of the Spirit." These things of the Spirit are only discernable by the Spirit Himself, and those twice-born people to whom the Spirit reveals them. What are some of these "things" belonging to the Spirit of God and the spiritual level of life? They are salvation, the person and work of Christ, the fellowship of the saints, the Word of God, prayer, praise, prophecy, the blessed hope of Christ's coming, walking as He walked before men. It is the born-again man's determination to have and to hold these spiritual verities, and as we said, a determination born and nurtured in him by God the Holy Spirit. Oh, it's true sometimes we have our attention momentarily turned elsewhere, to lower less worthy things, things more befitting the old life from which we were saved, but not for long, this is the exception rather than the rule. The Spirit-born and Spirit-controlled life is the one which habitually sets its affections on "the things of the Spirit."
As was stated at the beginning: what a person thinks, he IS. Where is your mind? Upon what do you habitually think? Where do your affections lie? What is the secret longing of your heart? I'm not asking if you go to church, if you act decently, if you give to charity, or anything like that. I am asking where your interests are centered, what is the object of your affections, what occupies your mind?
If your determination is on the natural level, then very evidently you are on the natural level -- only born once. If your determination is on the things of the Spirit, then very evidently you are of the Spirit a twice-born person.
"But," you say, "it doesn't make much difference to me which sphere I'm in. I'm just living for today. Let tomorrow take care of itself. Live and let live," I say. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." And that's just it; you hit the nail on the head: "tomorrow we die." Tomorrow you must die. This fact should make a difference. And this brings us to the next consideration in our text.
THE TWO DESTINIES
"The mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace" (6). Two distinct destinies face the two types of individuals inhabiting the two spheres of life.
Those who throughout their lifetime concentrate their attention on fleshly things, must realize that these things all perish with the using. What is it you cherish in life -- your wardrobe, your car, your house, your crops, your body? Moths eat your clothes; rust your car; termites your house; locusts your crops; and eventually worms will eat your body. Do you cherish your religious system with its many ornaments and observances? It will pass away. And so with everything in the natural realm -- destined to die. Everything here below is tarnished with and under the curse of our sin, and all is slowly but surely giving way to death.
But death means basically separation from God. "The mind of the flesh," then, is separation from God. And the reason for this is: "Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (7,8). The flesh hates God and works against Him. It has its own god, of course, that is, a god of its own invention and imagination. There are gods many and lords many, as the Bible says. Each person living on the natural plane has his own idea of what God is like, and he willingly bows to that image, but to the true and living God of heaven, the One who demands holiness and provides it through the sacrifice of His Son, the One who declares "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" -- to this God, the God of the Bible, the natural man will not bow. He hates this "narrow-minded: God who says no one can come to the Father except through Christ. He is not -- and cannot be -- subject to God's law. Rather, he is subject to the flesh and sin and Satan the god of this world. He is determined to pursue the things of the flesh even though these things issue in death, not only death here but death in eternity: physical death and eternal death. Such is the destiny of the man "after the flesh" whose mind is centered on "the things of the flesh."
But when a man through faith in Christ is born of the Spirit, and enters upon a new and spiritual life, things are different. This life issues in just the opposite. "The mind of the Spirit is life and peace."
Basically, life and peace are not so much an experience, as they are a Personality. Jesus said, "I am . . . the life." And it is said of Him, "He that hath the Son hath life." "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The Holy Spirit, as Jesus testified, came to reveal Christ to us. So, you see, "the mind (determination) of the Spirit is Life and Peace" -- Christ. He stands ready to thus reveal Christ to you. May you not resist His ministry.
This life issues in everlasting life with God in heaven. No separation from God forever. Once we were alienated from God and strangers to His grace, but now in Christ Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are made nigh to God, brought into sweet fellowship with Him. Death no longer has a claim on us. We are looking for the Upper-taker, not the Undertaker. Death has had to release us to the quickening power of the Holy Spirit.
The peace we have passes human understanding. So why try? Just enjoy it. And enjoy it we shall, forever. Once enmity against God; now friends of His and in fact children of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. At peace with Him, and His peace flooding our hearts. Our circumstances may be anything but peaceful, but we aren't living under the circumstances, our circumstances do not dictate our inner state, we live by and under the control of the Spirit and our hearts are filled with God's peace even in the midst of adverse circumstances, because our hearts are filled with Christ.
There are two departments, two determinations, and two destinies. You must decide which it will be for you. The choice seems easy, yet the majority doggedly "mind the things of the flesh," determinedly turning their backs on "the things of the Spirit." May your choice be wiser than theirs.
Let me ask you again: Where's Your Mind? For, what you think, you are. And what you are, determines what you will be. "Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth."
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