What Manner of Spirit are You?
Jesus our master and savior knows how to mold and shape each of his disciples into his image.
In Paul, James and John, and Peter we have men who had the spirit of the sons of thunder. Their thought processes were worldly and carnal and not on the things of God. Saul (Paul) delivered on his murderous threats, James and John seriously wanted to rain down fire on the Samaritans and incinerate them and were jealous over others calling on the name of the Lord besides them and Peter forcefully took Jesus aside and rebuked the Son of God for revealing that he was going to Jerusalem to be killed by the gentiles. In each of these events, the Lord showed his wisdom in dealing with each of them, whether it was a sharp rebuke or blinding light he knew how to get through to them to redirect their thoughts and actions to do his will.
Examine their attitudes in these verses. Act 9:1, Mar 9:38, Mat 16:23, Luke 9:53-55. Their manner of spirit was worldly, thinking only from the human viewpoint, they could’ve easily been influenced by the evil one while walking according to the flesh (Eph 2:1-3; 6:10- 13). That should make us stand up and take notice, they were with the Lord and were still carnal minded and/or influenced by the evil one.
Thankfully the one whom they called "Lord" is stronger than he who is in the world. Unfortunately Judas Iscariot, who was very carnal minded, never changed spiritually and his faith and life was influenced and destroyed by Satan. We as humans have so many obstacles to overcome to be faithful to Jesus and be led by the Spirit, but God is faithful!
The greatest challenge to our faith is what baggage we carry around with us from our lives prior to becoming Christians. Also our own frailties and weaknesses and lack of biblical knowledge are hindrances too. It is only through prayer, reading and studying God’s word, being a part of a body of believers, and keeping God’s word at the forefront of our thoughts that can remedy this. We need to carry our cross daily as we go through our lives so as to influence our decisions and actions that we can be the clay that’s set apart for noble purpose for the Master Potter to transform us into something special. If we will believe we’ll be set free by his words and if we reject him we’ll be judged by Jesus' words.
"So, Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.' "
"There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day."
Let us be ready. — Jim