YIELDING TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

So far in our study on righteousness we have shown how in the lives of Noah, Abraham, David and other Old Testament saints, there were glimpses of the gift of righteousness from God. Paul gave us the revelation that no man can be righteous through the law, and therefore in the New Testament, God has to reveal the fullness of the gift of righteousness through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. (1 Cor 1: 30)

              Rom. 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

              Now the words much more are important to be considered in as much as we see how sin has dominated this earth. Sin has taken possession of many areas on this earth. When you turn on the T.V. there is sin. You look in the newspaper there is sin. You walk on the street there is sin. You travel all over the world there is the same kind of sin that afflicts mankind. As much as we see how sin and death has dominated mankind on this planet earth, Paul says much more we will see the grace of God abound and affect this planet earth. This has not taken place yet. But more and more in these days as we begin to understand the grace of God and enter into the grace of God we will see how the grace of God affects everything on this earth until the day we meet Him face to face. When the glory of the Lord covers the earth, the grace and the mercy of God shall be known throughout the earth.

              We know from the book of Ephesians chapter 3 that there is a time when grace will abound upon this earth. Even much more than sin abounds. The apostle Paul revealed some of the mysteries that he had revelation of. Eph. 3:8-11 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

              God has reserved a day, a time and a generation when He will show forth the grace of God and the mercy of God.  Now look at Eph. 2:7 that in the ages to come.  Now Paul was looking forward to many centuries ahead into the last days, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You see God has been longing to show His grace all the time in our lives.

              When He made Adam and Eve He wanted to show how gracious, how merciful, how kind and how loving He was. There is a church in Malaysia whose pastor sends some of his church members in the spirit up to heaven from time to time to make study trips, as the Holy Spirit directs him. On one of the visits, angels told them that Adam and Eve lived thirty years in the Garden of Eden before they fell into sin. These Christians had seen the exact replica of the Garden of Eden in heaven and they said that it was so beautiful and heavenly, even more beautiful than many other parts of heaven. God showed His love by creating a piece of heaven here on earth for Adam and Eve. But unfortunately, Adam and Eve made that fatal mistake and that communion with God was broken. God could not show man the same grace that He had in store for mankind when He created Adam and Eve. All through those thousands of years in the Old Testament and nearly two thousand years in the New Testament God has only been showing a small glimpse of His grace. Even Paul says in all the ages before He has never had the chance to do it. Now that Jesus has come, God is waiting for His people to understand the righteousness of Jesus, the grace of Jesus and to partake of the loveliness of His gift for us. It is God’s desire that we simply enjoy His goodness. When God made Adam and Eve He did not call Adam and say, “Adam, come here and give your report. Eve come here and give your report. This is the job description that I have for you. I want you to do all these things. You don’t work you don’t eat.”… All of those things happened only after the Fall. You see, after the fall and the spread of sin and death in creation… the trees were unable to produce as they did before the Fall. The animals began to display ugly characteristics. But before the Fall, all God wanted was for Adam and Eve to just enjoy His creation. Up to this day, God had wanted to show His grace. Even in Paul’s time, he said God has kept it until the New Testament. And in the New Testament, He wants to show His grace but how few understand how greatly God loves us. Oh how He loves you and wants you and I to enjoy Him. Not to work for Him… because no one can really do what He wants. But to enjoy Him and be all that He wants us to be and allow Him through His gift in us to be what He planned for us to be.

              Now there are two verses that I want to bring up at this point because we are going into detail in those areas.  First, Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Doesn’t that sound like a paradox? First, he says that it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me. Then he turns around and says and the life which I now live I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. So here is the paradox.  It is no longer that he who lives but Christ who lives …yet… he says he lives. He is dead and yet he is alive. Paul learns how to yield to the right “I”. There was an “I” where he says it is no longer I who live. Then there is another “I” that says the life which I now live.

              There are several “I”s here. I have been crucified. There is a first “I” that is in the past perfect tense. It is no longer I who live. We see that the second “I” here is the same one that has been crucified. Therefore being crucified he cannot live now; he is no longer living. Then he says but Christ lives in me. Then he says and the life which I now live. So there is an “I” that says I have been crucified. And there is an “I” that says I now live. So what do we see? There were two “I”s. One “I” has been crucified. The other “I” says I now live. Obviously there are two “I”s in that one little passage. One was dead and one is alive. The strange thing is that Paul says both are inside him. He has to consider one dead and the other alive.

              Now look at the book of I Cor. 15:10 Here he establishes the same paradox. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. I believe he is talking about the good “I”. Yes, there is a bad “I” and there is a good “I”. As we examine the good “I” its not really the good “I”. It is Christ who lives. It is not only the good “I” but it is the grace of God that does it within him. That causes this good “I” to move, to function, to labor and to do the kinds of things that glorify God.

              In the previous message, we looked at righteousness as a seed and how righteousness grows in our life by yielding to the gift of righteousness and the presence of Christ in us. The key to the grace of righteousness is in yielding and learning how to yield to the right “I” on our inside. Because there is one “I” that belongs to our old nature and there is one “I” that belongs to our new nature. I know there is also a devil and there is also a God. God can speak to us and the devil put temptation on us. But that is coming from outside. I am talking about within. It is more the battle within that is essential to success and victory, than the battles without. If you win the battle within you will definitely win the battle without. And we need to differentiate the two “I”s in order to have that victory. Both “I”s are still somehow within us in some manner… and we are conscious of both of them.

              The secret is in the word yielding. Righteousness or unrighteousness is a matter of yielding to the right one or wrong one on our inside. And the secret of yielding to the right “I” is to let the grace of God inside of us do the yielding. Let the Christ in us live through us. It is no longer our ego, “I” living but Christ living in us. Learn how to yield to Him on your inside and let Him function in you.

              In the previous message, I mentioned two points from the book of Romans. I mentioned the first point is to reckon yourself dead and that’s an important part of yielding. Lets examine the word faith. When I talk about faith, most people remember that faith is believing for things that cannot be seen. Based on Heb. 11:1 faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So our faith and visualization is something produced by God on our inside. Nothing can be seen as yet, and nothing can be touched. It is intangible. But it is there all the same,  and because you hold on to faith, that faith will produce and bring to materialization the substance in the natural realm of what you believe in the spirit realm. So, the substance is there in the spirit realm and your faith materializes it in the natural realm.  You believe it in the spirit realm and the manifestation in the natural realm will result. In a sense, the definition of faith is based on Heb. 11:1 faith is believing something into being. That’s how many people define faith.

              But there is another aspect of faith that we need to make note of. Mark 11: 23-24 says, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” This kind of faith is called mountain-moving faith, based on Mark. 11: 23-24. This is a different aspect of faith! This aspect of faith makes something that is visible… become invisible and disappear.

              The other aspect of faith in Heb. 11:1 is making something invisible to become visible. Can you see both aspects? Faith works both ways. It is believing something that is not there into being in the physical realm. You move it into invisible and then you bring it into the visible realm. The opposite then,  is to handle something that is visible and believe that it will be gone and then it is gone. So it is converting something that is visible into an invisible realm and it is then eradicated. These are two different aspects of faith.

              As we spoke in the last message about growing in the gift of righteousness, I mentioned Rom. 5 that we have been baptized unto death in Christ and raised up alive unto Him. How the old man has been crucified and dealt with. To do that, you need the two aspects of faith. You need the aspect of faith from Mk. 11:23-24 where you have to believe that your old man has been dealt with. And you have to believe even though you feel it sometimes... Even though you feel your old man and old nature saying, “Give in to me. Do this wicked thing. Do that evil work.” Your old nature is saying, “Do wrong, do wrong.” You have to believe that that old man has been dealt with and it has been eradicated from your life. But for it to happen you have to believe that it is done. That is why we emphasize from the book of Romans the other aspect of faith where you reckon and believe the old nature you had is gone. I am not saying that we just play wishy-washy games and do anything we like. I mean you aren’t going to  go to a balloon and say, “Balloon, I believe you disappear,” and you play around like a magician. I am not talking about that. Faith can only function when it comes from God’s Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So then, if God’s Word doesn’t say anything about it then it is just wishful thinking.

              But if God’s Word says that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things are passed away, behold all things have become new, then you must believe that this is true. And faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing by the Word. If the Word of God tells you that your old man has been crucified; the Word of God tells you that your old things are passed away; the Word of God tells you that your old nature has been dealt with; the Word of God tells you that the nature of sin has been dealt with even though you may feel it, and sense  it, you must believe that the Word of God is correct and true.

              And if you line yourself up with the Word of God,  the aspect of faith that believes something existing into eradication and nonexistence takes place. Now the struggle that many Christians have is this… They don’t believe that the mountain is gone. Every time that nature in you says, “Sin, sin, sin,” the old man is still alive in you. You don’t believe that it’s gone because you feel it, you sense  it, you think it. And by acknowledging it and encouraging it, we are using the other aspect of faith to bring it back into existence from nonexistence. But faith requires us to believe that the mountain is gone without feeling because the Word says it, I believe it and that settles it.   Are you getting this?

              In Rom. 6:4 We were buried with Him. We have to exercise faith that our old nature has been dealt with. Verse 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin.  Consider that you are dead even though the passion of sin is still running loose in you. How do I deal with those things? How do I explain this sort of thing? Here’s a good example… Treat them as the echoes of the past that somehow are still resonating on your inside and they come out in your memory and imagination. Sometimes they are recorded in certain parts of your flesh nature. Right now, we all know for a fact that Richard Nixon a former President of the United States is dead. Is that a fact? He is dead physically. If I play a videotape of him on TV, you see him moving and you hear his voice speaking, would it make you think that he is alive? Yes, if you don’t know that he is dead. So what does the videotape represent  and what do those sounds that were produced represent? Echoes of the past that were recorded in magnetic form.  And sometimes on our inside there are little mini tape recorders in our flesh that somehow carries the echoes of the past. And at different points of weakness , the recorded part of past sins and behaviors seem to play out the sounds.

              All the time though, you must believe that your old man is crucified and dead. It has been dealt with. Reckon yourselves dead. Use the other part of faith found in Mk. 11:24 that makes mountains disappear… and not the faith in Heb.11: 1 that brings substance into being. You must believe in the fact that the old man is only an echo of the past. You are a new creation now, a new creature in God, even though you may feel that sin nature in your body or sense it in your mind - you must believe that God is right when He says that you have been crucified with Jesus. The Word of God says it, that settles it, you believe it and this mountain shall be gone. And if you hold on to that perspective of faith, your mountain of sin nature or whatever mountain you have, will be gone.

              There are two parts to yielding. Look at Rom. 6 one part is reckon yourself to be dead, the other as alive to God. One side is the bad “I” the “I” that has been crucified. The other is the “I” that has been resurrected, the one that Christ lives through. The one that Paul says its no longer I but the grace of God. So there are two parts of our being that we need to consider. The word that we want to consider is especially how to regard ourselves as dead and hold on to that fact. If we are not successful in reckoning ourselves dead and that old man is dead, we will not be successful in reckoning ourselves alive… It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in your inside.

              The key word then, is yieldedness.  The word yield is used by Paul in Rom. 6 where he says now do not yield your physical body to unrighteousness but now yield it to righteousness. And he used the word yield several times in that manner. The word yield is the word paristano. Now the word yield or paristano has a very significant root word. The root word means to stand fast. Stand fast in what? Stand fast that it is done. You see part of yielding is not trying to do something. Part of yielding is resting. Resting on an accomplished fact that it has been done and just standing fast on that fact that it is done. Let me point to you some usages of the word paristano. We won’t turn to all the verses. The word paristano has been used in Rom. 6:13 and Rom. 6:16 where it says neither yield your members to unrighteousness. Then he says in verse 16 to whom you yield yourself, that… you will be a servant of.

              Now the word paristano in its other form, paristemi is used in many ways. Like for example in Matt. 26:53, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide (paristemi) Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” Paristemi is translated here as provide. In Mk. 4:29, But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come (paristemi). Paristemi is translated as come because the harvest has come. Then in Mk. 14:69 it is translated as stood by. The word stood by or stand by is used many times. I will just run through these scripture references for you; Mk. 4:29; Mk. 14:47; Mk. 14:69… in these verses, paristemi is translated as stood.

              The part that I want you to turn to is Lk.1:19 remember this is the same root word paristemi or paristano which is normally translated as yield. Now, look at what Gabriel said that will give us the fullness of the meaning of the word yield. Verse 19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.” I am Gabriel who paristemi in the presence of God. Now if you were to put the word yield there it does not make much sense. That is probably why the English translators used the word stand instead of yield. I am Gabriel who yields in the presence of God. That has a certain meaning. But that verse is translated as I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God. That’s the same word translated yield. Here is the point…yielding is not a struggle. Yielding is not trying to do something. Yielding involves being in the presence of God; in the presence of God, you are established fact. You are just positioning yourself in that area… that God has given to you and simply remaining steadfast there.

              Now the word paristemi also has the meaning of to give or to surrender. And yielding is more or less surrendering or giving to God - giving of ourselves to God. And the secret of a Christian life is yieldedness, the surrendered part. For Gal. 2:20 and 1 Cor. 15:10 to take place that is… its no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me. When the grace of God is working in me the secret of letting it come forth is in our surrenderedness. So what must we do? We must give ourselves to God. Then, just remain in the presence of God.

              The same Greek word paristemi is used in Rom. 12:1 where Paul says present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It has the same root word …yield - yield your body as a living sacrifice. That carries with it the definition of being positioned for a length of time not doing anything but just giving ourselves to God. Now you know why many people are not transformed? Why is it that Christ who lives in them doesn’t seem to be alive? They are not spending much time in the presence of God and giving or surrendering themselves to God. The more we give ourselves to God the more chance the seed of righteousness, the grace of God on our inside has to come forth. You see neither you nor I can live the Christian life. The Christian life is an impossible life to live in the flesh with our natural mind and natural strength. The Christian life is impossible to live in our soul. The only way to live a Christian life is to allow the seed of God that has been placed in us to help us live that life. And the only way for the seed of God to live out through us is to give time to allow the seed to grow. And it means paristano or paristemi, which means to yield yourself to God. Every time you spend time with God, something takes place on your inside. Every time you leave the church after worship, you feel different. Every time you leave a prayer meeting, you feel different. What is causing you to feel that difference? In the presence of God that seed on your inside is being nurtured and it begins to come forth...to grow.

              Remember that we have two “I”s - the “I” that has been crucified and the “I” that is new, made alive when we were born again. Every time you paristano in God that new “I” gains strength. And even though it’s still you… it’s not you - its your new nature  within you coming out. But if you never present yourself to God and stand in the presence of God or present your body as a living sacrifice or yield to God, this good “I” is silent and the other bad “I” seems to be dominant and alive. And that’s the struggle many Christians have. The real struggle is not that they don’t have the gift of God or the seed of God on their inside. You know what the real struggle is? They don’t give enough time to God. That makes the Christian life very simple. All you have to do is spend time with God. And somehow, the good “I” on your inside gets ignited every time you do it. Is spending time with God that difficult? No, even if you are a very busy person it is extremely easy, just cancel some of your appointments.

              Spending time with God is not so hard. The difficult part is having the grace and energy to live the life God wants you, garnering the life and strength to do all that God wants you to do and having the wisdom to do all that God requires. Yet the new “I” has all these graces, energy, life, strength and wisdom to do all that God expects. The new “I” has been made in the image of God and has the wisdom of God, the strength of God, the ability of God; the energy of God and the zeal of God – in fact, everything necessary to live a godly and holy life. But if you don’t spend enough time with God that good “I” won’t have enough energy to energize you for Christian living. It is just like putting a motorcycle engine in a Rolls Royce. Imagine a 60 c.c. motorcycle engine in a Rolls Royce. It won’t have enough energy to push that heavy metal car. But if we were to spend time with God, you build up the c.c. energizer and then you find that living a Christian life is easy.

              Many people are mistaken as to where the struggle is. They feel that the struggle is that they don’t have enough wisdom to do what God wants them to do. They complain they don’t have the gifting, the energy and this and that. That’s not the problem. Those things are automatic because they come from the good “I”. It is second nature to you because it is part of your new nature. The problem is giving enough time to allow it to energize. That’s yielding. It is just a matter of having enough time with God in public and in private. And if you are not motivated enough to do it alone, do it in a group. Do it in a church meeting. When people are praying together and spending time with God, you go and spend time there. It does something on your inside.

              Turn to II Cor. 4… it talks about your new man. The whole key lies in the new man coming out. II Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. It says here the inward man is being renewed day by day. The word renew is the Greek word anakainoo. The word ana means again. The word kainos means new, not recent but different. When you put it together it means to be made new again. And how often does it say? Day-by-day it is being anakainoo. That means every day it is made new. It is renewed, refreshed. Take for example, some of us have gone without sleep when we work very hard. Some have actually gone for twenty fours without sleep. Our body is made in such a way that it needs physical rest. You can go for a period of time without sleep but don’t try to push it too far. When you push it, you break natural laws. It’s nice when you have worked very hard and every part of your body energy is drained so you just lie down and sleep. And the next morning you get up refreshed. That’s the physical part.

              In the spiritual realm, our inner man was not created omnipresent and omnipotent. That is the only part of us that can’t be like Jesus. We are like Jesus in every way except those omni(s). Our inner man was created with a dependency on God. And Paul says that the inner man is anakainoo everyday. Your inner man needs energizing. It needs to get into the presence of God. It needs to wait on God. Then the fresh grace of God will enter your inner man.

              Now lets analyze Paul’s statement in Gal. 2:2 when he says its no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. How did Paul allow Christ in him to live? Paul spent time with God. He believed that his old man had been dealt with, crucified with Christ. As he spent time with God, the new man in him was energized and because of that he can then go out on his labors. I Cor. 15:10 he says he is what he is by the grace of God. And that he labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I but the grace of God which was in him. How did he have the grace to labor? By spending time with God. And as he waits on God, the energy comes from his inside. Then, living a Christian life is not difficult if you spend time with God. What do you do when you spend time with God? You present your body as a living sacrifice. Remember Rom. 12:1 you paristemi  (yielded) your body.

              We need to examine the process of paristemi further by looking at some translations of the word paristemi. It has been translated in Rom. 6:13 as yield yourself to God, verse 19 yield your members, Rom. 12:1 you present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Then Rom. 16:2, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. Paristemi is translated as assist. Isn’t the word paristemi a big word? It’s translated as yield, stand, assist, give, and all these shades of meaning contribute to the root meaning of the word paristemi. So one translated word in English is not enough to convey the Greek word paristemi.

              Then the word in II Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The word present is the word paristemi. So paristemi in a sense is waiting on God. But it is not just spending time on God and waiting on God. No, there is a process taking place as you wait. As you yield to the consciousness of His presence working on your inside, something begins to take place…this process begins. All these words, stand, yield, present, give, assist tell you something about the words paristemi and paristano. I place emphasis on the first part that is spending time with God. But what do you do when you are spending time with God? I know what we all will normally do - pray, praise, read the Word, meditate, confess, etc. All these are different things that you are doing. But what is the state of consciousness when you are spending time with God? And that’s important. The state of consciousness is a state of consciousness of yielding to the one on your inside. This means that you consciously draw strength in your inner man. You consciously draw the renewal in your inner man. You don’t just pray. You don’t just praise. All these you should do because they have a role to play. When you pray it has to do with petition and intercession. When you worship God, it has something to do with entering God’s presence. When you read the bible, it has to do with feeding your spirit and also gaining the knowledge and wisdom from the Word of God. But there are more things to do. We must consciously be drawing strength from God. That is the word paristano – you are consciously yielding to God.

              Let’s say you are getting ready to punch me on my hand. I consciously tense my hand. I am conscious and I am tensing my hand. It is a part of my concentration to absorb that punch. I am conscious of my muscle tensing to absorb the punch that is coming. Now if I don’t get ready and you give me a punch, it would be dangerous for me wouldn’t it? Even magicians and stunt men are able to manipulate their bodies to squeeze themselves out of tight situations. Even Houdini, the famous magician, had the ability to contract his body to absorb punches. He could escape all kind of chains and keys by twisting and turning his body in a way that most of us can’t. Not only that, he has trained his body in such a way that he can absorb very strong punches. You could punch his hard and he could take it. Do you know how he died? Some person heard about his ability to take punches. He surprised Houdini by suddenly saying, “I heard you have this ability to take punches,” and gave him a punch before he was ready. And he died. He was not ready for that punch. If he were ready, it would have been a different story.  In the same way, I am talking about a consciousness of yielding. You deliberately make yourself conscious of yielding to God to receive anything from God. There is such a thing as developing a consciousness of yielding to God constantly.

              Let us look at Romans and examine the consciousness of yielding. Rom. 7 talks about this struggle between the good “I” and the bad ”I”. In Rom. 7, he makes this statement here in verse 15 notice there is a lot of “I” in this passage here. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  Now look at him, he said it is no longer I who do it. If I am doing the bad thing, it is sin that dwells in me that causes me to do it. Then verse 18 For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  Then there is another one that wants to do good. For I (this is a different I,) delight in the law or God according to the inward man. Did you see the inward man there again?   

Remember the inward man is the part where II Cor. 4 is renewed everyday. This means that yesterday’s renewal is not good for today according to the inward man. Now he is pointing to the good “I” the inward man. Verse 23 I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Please note there are the body, the mind and the spirit. The spirit is the inward man. The body is where sin dwells. Then between them is the mind, which is the conscious part of our being. And he says I see another law in my members,  - now the word members refers to the body. That, that body is warring against not the spirit but against my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

He says O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. What he is talking about is the inward man is good. Now he says our physical body needs constant guarding over. And he says that with the mind he continues to serve the law of God. In other words, that the law of God is continually active in his mind while the law of sin is still active in the physical body. That is why this physical body cannot go into heaven. We need a new body to enter into heaven. This physical body is too defiled although now it can be preserved as the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is why there is a consciousness of sin and yet there is a consciousness of righteousness, and both of them are battling against each other.

The center of the battle is the mind, which is the conscious part of our being. If the mind doesn’t submit to that body of sin, then you have won and the Spirit can flow out. Now Rom. 8 develops this subject further. Verse 5 and 6 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. I tried to find the word “set”. The word “set” is not actually in the Greek. It is combined with the word mind. It actually says for those who mind the things of the flesh are fleshly and those things of the Spirit they become spiritual.

Paul uses the word phroneo and the word phroneo is not talking about the mind, brain or organ of thought. The word phroneo is more of a process or work. For example, the word think refers to a process of the mind and not just the mind. The word brain refers to your physical biological mind. The word mind refers to your soul part of your think tank organ. The word think refers to the process.

Now the word phroneo is not just the word mind. It is a process. I define that process to be consciousness. Whatever you think of, you then become conscious of it. If you think about roast turkey almost immediately you will salivate. Even though that roast turkey is not physically present, yet by saying that word, a consciousness of that roast turkey comes to you...You may even be able to smell and taste it in your rememberances.

Now to insert this meaning of consciousness into the word phroneo into Rom. 8:5, we may paraphrase this verse as, For those who live conscious of the things of the flesh are fleshly. And those who are conscious of the Spirit are spiritual. For to be carnally conscious is death, to be spiritual conscious is life and peace. What is this consciousness? Remember the word consciousness is the same word that has been translated conscience. You may be conscious of the idols in your life or you may be conscious of God. Now that word consciousness is the main player in the middle between your body and the spirit. Therefore one purpose of spending time with God everyday in prayer, reading the Word, etc is to allow your consciousness to settle on the spiritual and to renew your inner man. Many times people struggle with that because their minds are not trained. Their minds are conscious of the natural world. But that’s where the secret of the Christian life lies. That’s where the root of our problem in Christianity lies - the flesh consciousness versus the spirit consciousness. And if we could remove our consciousness away from those fleshly and worldly things to the consciousness of God, then the inner man will be relieved and renewed and the Christian life will be a breeze.

Therefore part of paristano, is being conscious of God when you are spending time with God and standing before God.  I have reduced a big theological truth to a simple fact. What do we do when we paristano and wait on God and spend time with God? We allow the inner man to rise up on our inside with the gift of righteousness and the consciousness of Christ and allow the old nature to be reckoned as crucified and dead to sin.

How do prayer, praise, reading the Word and other devotions help us? Now these spiritual exercises help to bring our consciousness to focus on God. If you could develop your consciousness to be conscious of God every time you spend time with Him, you are renewing your inner man and allowing God to flow through your being.  You become more conscious that it’s no longer you who live but Christ who lives on your inside. You are conscious of your inner man becoming alive with the gift of righteousness. When you develop such a consciousness, your spirit man will grow in energy, holiness, wisdom, grace, zeal, strength to overcome the daily challenges and temptations of your Christian life.

Now examine what Paul says in Rom. 7 he says the law of sin is fighting against the law of the mind. That’s why Paul says in II Cor. 10 that our battle is not with flesh and blood. A lot of people think our battles are out there, fighting against flesh and blood. Our battles are not there. Our battle is not with carnal weapons fighting against flesh and blood. But it is with spiritual weapons taking every thought captive on to Jesus Christ and replacing all consciousness of carnal things with consciousness of God. And when we succeed in the consciousness of God the inner man is able to take on sin, temptations, challenges and problems.

It takes effort. Concentrating on tensing your arm muscle takes a conscious effort. Some areas of our lives are involuntary and some areas are voluntary. God will protect us from areas that are involuntary to us. For example, God commands His angels to watch over us against demonic attacks in our work, in our sleep, in our daily activities. We may not be aware that there are some spiritual battles by our angels against some demons while we carry on our lives blissfully.

But in areas that are voluntary that have to do with our will, we have to choose to be conscious of God. It is more like resting in God, sensing God’s presence, meditating on His presence and being conscious of His presence renewing you on your inside. The next time you spend time with God try to feel God not with your physical being but with your spirit man. Remember God is there. He is tangible…you can feel and sense Him. Now when I use the word feel, it is not the outward feeling, like with your hands, by touching. It is more an inward sense of God. God is a person and He can be sensed through your internal spirit man.

You may not know where to start. Are you wondering whether you should visualize God’s presence in you? Don’t try to visualize anything. God is already in your inside. There are many spiritual exercises you can do, like praying in tongues. And as you are praying in tongues, you try to sense the bubbling of energy, the infusion of divine light, the flashes of divine revelation, the impartation of wisdom, the empowerment of strength and grace. When you are praying in tongues, your spirit prays. And as you began to sense these spiritual energizings coming, it gives you a consciousness of God’s presence in your spirit man. We need to sense that presence of God in our inside. We need to sense it each time we spend time with God. The moment you make contact, the energy from the Holy Spirit flows into your spirit man. Can God be felt? Yes, with your spirit not with your body. You say, “I have been a Christian for so long and yet, I have never felt God.” Then you need to pray until you do. Or you need to get into a prayer meeting or church service where there is a strong sense of tangible anointing. That may help you sense God. I know faith is above feeling but we are talking about feelings of the natural being. There must be a sense of God on our inside quickening our spirit man up. That is paristano.

The moment you can sense Him then only, are you able to yield. You yield to Him, you yield to that sense of well being, the sense of goodness on your inside that flows forth. There is a sense of God that we develop in paristano and that is the key to the word yieldedness.

Let me summarize what we have been talking about …Righteousness and grace are living forces on the inside of our spirit man. They dwell in our spirit man. We need to stir up our spirit man to make a conscious effort to contact God. If your spirit man hasn’t made contact with God, you haven’t started the real walk with God yet. For example: a soldier in a war needs to keep contact with his commander. The moment the commander loses contact with his soldiers, he has lost the war. We need to stir up our spirit man to make contact with God. When your spirit man does so, you can start yielding to God’s presence in your spirit man. When you paristano and yield to God’s presence and the gift of righteousness, your spirit man begins to absorb that grace, the wisdom, the revelation, the divine light, the strength from the Holy Spirit. In this way, you are renewing your spirit man on your inside. Every morning when you wake up you know what to do, make contact with God. The first thing you do when you wake up, because your spirit man must make contact with God. Use whatever method that works for you. Some people start with prayer. Some with worship. Some people start with reading the bible. You use different applications. And when you make contact with God, yield to Him and let Him take over. The spirit man on your inside is anakainoo and is made new. Your spirit man has the wisdom to guide you in your profession, whether you are an architect, engineer, medical doctor, anything. Your spirit man has enough wisdom and all these things have been stored on your inside. Proverbs 2: 7 says “The Lord stores up sound wisdom for the upright.” When you yield to God’s presence, yield to His gift of righteousness, you become upright. Then the sound wisdom that the Lord has been storing for you will come in like a flood and you will have good success in life. In order to be successful with this we NEED to make contact with God.