Living in the Spirit of Life

22/07/2023

SET YOUR MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE
The direction of one’s thoughts will determine the path, quality, and dynamics of their life. So many lives are affected by the onslaught and attack on their thought life from every direction demanding attention, obedience, reaction, and response to conform and come into agreement. For each disciple of Jesus Christ who has been set free from the bo***ges of religion, cultural norms, teachings of men, worldly principles, and the manipulations of the god of this age, Scripture instructs to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bo***ge” (Galatians 5:1 NKJV). Elevating one’s thought life, discipline, and focus to the things above is a process of capturing godly perspective and a kingdom principled life. Scripture declares that, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2 NKJV).

The direction or focus of a disciple’s thought life is extremely important because it will determine whether one lives and walks according to the dictates of the world or by the principles and truth of God’s kingdom. Romans 12:2 NAS instructs disciples “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” The renewing of the mind alters the way a disciple thinks and enables them to develop a heavenly mindset in accordance with 2 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV by “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Every disciple whose mind is set on the things above will not fall prey to the worldly influence which produces a carnal mindset. Those disciples whose attention and focus are on the things below and engulfed in the worldly system will have a carnal mind which is enmity against God and not subject to the law of God (Romans 8:7). Many disciples lose perspective of their godly position and have difficultly transcending the worldly environment because of a lack of understanding of their placement in Christ. Scripture declares in Ephesians 2:6 NKJV that God “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Since each disciple has been raised with Christ, one must set and focus their mind on the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

“To be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6b NKJV). Therefore, set your mind on the things above, not on the earthly things for each disciple has died and their life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

22/07/2023

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

30/06/2023

God created every individual for a reason with a designed intent and purpose. “In Him we also were made [God's] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will” (Ephesians 1:11 AMP). Spiritual warfare can be described as the god of this age (satan) and his forces attempting and strategizing to prevent, hinder, sabotage or stop the intents and purposes of God whether it be through an individual, a group of people, organizations, churches, and nations. Once an individual accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord they are empowered to step into God’s intentions and purposes with all authority to fulfill God’s plans and destiny. After this transformation occurs, a disciple of Jesus Christ is able to live and walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). Now each disciple is equipped to deal with the god of this age and all his forces. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NAS).

Make no mistake whether a disciple is aware of it or not they are engaged in a very real and pronounced spiritual warfare between two opposing kingdoms. Those who are void of knowledge (Hosea 4:6) and understanding (Jeremiah 5:21) of spiritual warfare are the very ones that are in bo***ge, in captivity, defeated, wounded, broken, hopeless, full of unbelief and lack faith. A disciple is engaged in a spiritual battle of some sort on a daily basis. The various battles of spiritual warfare are fought on different fronts, for different reasons, and with varying degrees of intensity. One must always remember “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He (Holy Spirit) who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 NAS emphasis added). Every disciple no matter what lies before them will prevail in victory. For there is "’No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17 NKJV).

Spiritual warfare is not an option for a disciple nor is it something to be fearful, nervous, anxious or timid about. “Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes’" (Mark 9:23 NKJV). Many in the body of Christ might question whether they even want to engage and fight in spiritual warfare. Not understanding the importance of spiritual warfare will prevent a disciple from being prepared, educated, and equipped to fight and overcome the resistance, attacks, hindrances, and assault on their spiritual life, destiny, positioning in the body of Christ, and relationship with God.

Spiritual weapons are inspired by God, His thoughts and ways. There are many spiritual weapons available for each disciple to utilize in their daily life such as prayer, worship, praise, thanksgiving, one’s testimony, and the declaration of God’s word to name a few. Some of the weapons the Apostle Paul used were a steadfast proclamation of God’s word, prayer, his own testimony, a strong dependence on God, and the demonstration of Holy Spirit. God has provided whatever a disciple needs to be an overcomer and victorious in any spiritual battle or warfare that is in their life.

25/04/2023

04/05/2022

https://youtu.be/vuBkyAKclfY

Filmed live on 5/1/22.Tim Sheets | Senior Pastor, Apostle, AuthorThe Oasis Church, Middletown OhioTo learn more or support this ministry, visit us online: ht...

01/05/2022

Truth and Life Mysteries

Rest is one of the most crucial, vital, and powerful elements in a person’s life. Many describe rest as a state of being refreshed, inactive, time of leisure, peace, tranquility, calm and relaxation. Rest could be one taking a vacation, ceasing from work, participating in various enjoyable activities, and setting aside time to refresh the body and soul. For one to maintain a proper and healthy lifestyle, rest is extremely important and necessary.

God offers a special or heavenly rest to those who have fully surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ and are guided by Holy Spirit. This special or heavenly rest is something that God has prepared since the foundation of the world. It relates to ceasing from one’s own work as God did from His (Hebrews 4:4). God’s rest is released within the inner man affecting the heart and soul which brings forth His peace, calm, refreshing, stability, relief, and freedom. God's rest creates a place where the believer can be a doer of the Word (James 1:22), be a doer of the work (James 1:25), and exercise their faith by works (James 2:17). Entering God’s rest does not mean stopping activities and work but allows the believer to live and walk in the Spirit.

All that is required for the believer is to reach out in faith, believe, and receive what God has for them and enter His rest. Scripture cautions each believer in Hebrews 4:1 that “since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” There are several reasons why believers would come up short in entering God's rest: God's Word does not profit them; they do not mix God's Word with faith; they are disobedient; and they harden their hearts (Hebrews 4:2-7).

So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; for he who has once entered [God's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own. Hebrews 4:9-10 AMP

(This blog post was previously posted in June, 2017.)

10/03/2022

Our spirit or heart contains the life of God. We are born with His life. Every human lives from their spirit even before becoming a Christian. Our spirit is the very essence of our human makeup. (James 2:26) Our spirit is who we are, not our soul. Our soul is the faculty in which we touch the world and the world touches us. Before we are reborn as a Christian our spirit has not received the Holy Spirit and does not have much power over the soul. In most human beings, the spirit is dominated by the soul. Living from our spirit is more difficult than living from our soul. Our soul is built up and strong. Our soul is our flesh, our natural man. The soul reacts quickly. When we are living by our soul, we react with our emotions, our will, our best thinking. Spirit directed people act from more than just affection, sensations, desire, decisions or will. Our spirit is much deeper than that. These faculties of the soul are meant to be influenced from the inside out by our spirit. Our spirit was always meant to control our being. We are the Tabernacle and our spirit is the Holy of the Holies. The Holy Spirit is the Ark. Like in the Tabernacle where the Holy of Holies housed the Ark and the presence of God, our spirit houses the Holy Spirit, the presence of God.
We were never meant to react to just our five senses but to act from our spirit. Our soul cannot represent the real self. We should be able to dominate and control our soul. David knew how to talk to his. He spoke to his own soul. Psalm 103:1 "Bless the Lord oh my soul and everything within me bless His holy name". David here is dominating and controlling the reactions of the soul. He also said in Psalm 131:1 "surely I have weaned my soul as a child".
When we are born again the place God touches is our spirit. This is why Jesus called it being born again. (John 3:3) This event is vastly different than when we were born the first time. When we are born again, we receive more than that initial breath of God, we receive in our spirit the very Holy Spirit as a person. We receive Him as a person not just His energy.
The Holy Spirit is a person who wants us to be in harmony with Him. The challenge comes when we don't know the laws that govern His abiding or residing inside of us. Without this knowledge, our soul continues to dominate our every action and thought. Our spirit is charged and infused by the Holy Spirit in salvation and begins to challenge the domination by our soul. There is meant to be a change. There's meant to be progress.
There are laws to living in the spirit and they must be kept to keep our spirit in domination of our soul. Because we don't know these laws, we may only sense the Holy Spirit when we reduce the power of the soul by outside influence. It may only be when our soul is completely quiet. For our souls to decrease, we usually need some trouble that overwhelms it.
Just like the Israelites needed the Ark present in their Tabernacle's Holy of Holies for the presence of God, so too do we need the Holy Spirit to be present in our spirit. Together our spirit and the Holy Spirit govern our entire being as the temple of God. They guide us during our transformation from one Tabernacle to the next. These laws are the laws of the house referred to in Ezekiel 43. These are the laws that govern our journey to perfection or completion. They guarantee that like the coming of the Ark into the Holy of Holies, the Holy Spirit will be able to continue to thrive and influence us.
We must learn these laws, practice them and maintain them to keep a proper state inside of us so that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us in a dynamic way. No more are we left to fill these laws randomly and experience what seems to be visitations of the Holy Spirit and at other times experience deadness to His presence. With His help, we can end the desert experience for so many. "But who He was grieved with 40 years, was it not with them that sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?" (Hebrews)
The expectation is that we go on to completion and perfection or the promised land of rest. The expectation is that we do not die on the desert floor. We must go on. We must press on to a life worth living!

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the difference between your soul and your spirit. Remember the day of salvation, a time you felt His presence. What was the condition of your soul and spirit? Seek to sense His presence throughout the day. He's there inside you!
Taken from
The Life Worth livying series
The Two Tabernacles
Chapter 14

04/03/2022

Truth and life ministries

God has placed inside of each disciple of Jesus Christ all one needs to achieve and fulfill all of God’s purposes and plans. The anointing of God is the empowerment and activation of what God has placed within each disciple to shape their inner being according to their heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1), develop as instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:13), and sanctify as vessels of honor (2 Timothy 2:21). Scripture declares that all disciples are anointed, “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things” (1 John 2:20 NKJV). Each disciple should seek God to discover and unlock His anointing in their lives then allow or facilitate the flow of His anointing which will bring forth His presence and power to accomplish His will.

In my own life upon being regenerated and brought into God’s kingdom, I realized that God had imparted giftings and a call for my life; however, I did not know or understand how or what to do with that which was given to me. With great zeal, passion, and hunger for the things of God I tried everything I knew to do and talked to countless ministers and various individuals on how to accomplish what God imparted in me to no avail. I sought the Lord as to why I was not experiencing fulfillment in my spiritual walk. I learned that my natural or fleshly efforts would not produce a spiritual result or fulfill God’s calling. The key to developing and unlocking God’s anointing was and still is an intimate relationship with Holy Spirit for only He knows the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10) and only through Him can one’s anointing be activated and released. Once my relationship with Holy Spirit was established, I gave Him free rein to change, mold, and shape my life according to the Father’s plan. God’s anointing was released in my life.

There are many disciples who have received various giftings, God’s call, a prophetic word over their life or specific instructions from God’s word. However, because of the lack of knowledge and understanding of God’s anointing, the purpose of His anointing or how His anointing flows, they will be hindered from experiencing the full measure of spiritual fruit in their lives. Each disciple must learn that only through Holy Spirit can one unlock and release God’s anointing in their life. God’s thoughts and ways of bringing about His anointing, power, and presence are far different than the human mind can conceive. "’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV). God’s anointing will empower, activate, and bring forth what God has placed in a disciple’s life and will flow outwardly as rivers of living water (John 7:38) affecting many lives.

But it is God who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us [enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit]; [He has also appropriated and acknowledged us as His by] putting His seal upon us and giving us His [Holy] Spirit in our hearts as the security deposit and guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise]. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 AMP

21/02/2022

https://youtu.be/9piJKyzi910

Filmed live on 2/20/22.Tim Sheets | Senior Pastor, Apostle, AuthorThe Oasis Church, Middletown OhioTo learn more or support this ministry, visit us online: h...

18/02/2022

For disciples of Jesus Christ understanding what matters most to God should be what matters most to them in their daily lives. Every disciple must choose what is important, has value, has benefit, has preference, has influences, and enhances their life. Spiritual priorities will determine whether one lives according to the flesh or according to Spirit (Romans 8:5), one’s mind is set on the things above or things on the earth (Colossians 3:2), one is conformed to this world or transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2), and one’s life is filled with darkness or filled with light (John 8:12). Setting the proper spiritual priorities will bring assurance and stability.

Early in my life many priorities were taught and set by family, various individuals, educational system, business, personal self-help development, and general observations on what it takes to succeed in life. Over the years I became very disciplined in goal setting, did the right thing, treated people right, fulfilled life’s responsibilities, loved the Lord, and attended church; however, very seldom did I accomplish what I set out to do or arrive where I wanted to be. One day I discovered that I was making my plans and setting my priorities then asking God to bless them and help me succeed. My focus and attention were on my life instead of being concerned and inquiring what was on God’s heart and His plans for me. When having the wrong focus, life’s priorities will be misplaced and out of order. Looking to make an adjustment and change focus, I sought the Lord and His word. Matthew 6:33 gave me the answer which changed my life—“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” When one seeks God’s kingdom first, everything else will fall into place with the proper priority.

There are many disciples who have been diligent and faithful in handling life issues, church attendance, work responsibility, and family life but have not progressed in the most important area of life--the spiritual side of their life. The good news is one’s progress in their spiritual life can be changed in a very short time. One must get beyond the falsehood that if one focuses and prioritizes the spiritual aspect of their life everything else will suffer or fall apart. The truth is when one sets spiritual priorities and focuses on God then He will give wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and grace to handle all the other issues of life. Spiritual priorities are established as one seeks the kingdom of God (Luke 12:31); loves the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37); and trusts in the Lord with all your heart and does not lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Spiritual priorities are deeply rooted and solidified in life when one learns to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, and does not quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19).

04/02/2022

God established standards thru His word and Spirit for all of creation to direct, govern, and guide mankind and their cultures according to His will, purposes, and plan. These standards would require mankind to align, agree, follow, and conform to God’s voice, word, instructions, and commandments. Life without standards would be full of uncertainty, anxiety, confusion, mediocrity, and no direction and adrift with no anchor and blown about with worldly winds and issues.

The quality, strength, and stability of any individual, organization or nation is established by foundational standards. Standards are established by an authority as a rule, model or principle that are used as the basis of measurement, judgement or grade of the value, merit or quality of life. Standards also include the establishment of morals, ethics, habits, guidelines, rules, and principles which aids and promotes a righteous and wholesome lifestyle. For all believers of Jesus Christ, the Bible is the standard of truth in which one views and evaluates all things according to the word of God. Every believer has the responsibility to prove everything they see and hear by the word of God and by the witness of Holy Spirit. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard” (John 16:13 NLT). It is prudent for all believers to prove, examine, and discern all things carefully and hold onto and possess that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Currently in all levels of society and culture the standards that God has established to guide, direct, and assist mankind have been weakened, discarded, cast aside, and in many cases outright rejected. Standards illuminate the gateway and path which leads to life as described in Scripture, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 NAS). In today’s culture individuals, organizations, governments and even churches have chosen the broad way with no enduring, abiding, and steadfast standards. It is apparent in today’s culture that there is the same mindset and philosophy that was prevalent in Israel’s time of the judges which was “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6 NKJV). A return to unified foundational standards based on God’s word would limit and correct the self-centered approach to life for the greater good and glory of God. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12 NAS).

Every believer of Jesus Christ should understand the importance of applying the proper standards in their daily activities. “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:17 NAS) and “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31b NAS).

(This blog post was previously posted in October, 2018.)

02/02/2022

God's Intention for His People
God's intention is that the Holy Spirit should be as "rivers of living water." In everyone that believes and receives the Holy Spirit as the River of Life. That is the mind of God. Anything other than that is either short of or contrary to, the mind of God.
God's mind is that which is meant by rivers of living water, it is the flowing of God’s thoughts in and through the believer by the river from within, the Holy Spirit.
I see so many people struggling with the problems of this life we have in the world system, running to and fro from one place to another and from one person to another looking for answers to their problems. For the believer in Christ,
this should not be so.
God's mind for the individual believer is this: "If any man thirst... He that believeth... out of him shall Flow Rivers of living water..." That is in the singular. The thought of God for us, individually, is that out from us shall flow rivers of living water.
The individual side is so clearly noted in the Lord's talk with the woman at the well of Sychar – Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:13,14

John 4:13,14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

There is within every believer a source that is outside of this world system we live in, that source is the Mind of God in Christ in us by the Holy Spirit.

Let the River Flow, blessing to all who believe and receive.Amenp