Romans 9:1… I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, (NKJV)

I would be sure most of you have heard the expression…“Let your conscience be your guide”…  Or how about this expression… “You must follow your heart !!”… These sayings would be absolutely 100% correct; if our conscience and our heart were being either 100% controlled by, or filled with the Holy Spirit…  The opening scripture written by the apostle Paul…has him saying that he is going to tell the truth, “in Christ”..

There is much in the Bible in the way of scripture verses with the words “in Christ” in them…  I used one a few days ago in describing a person who has died to sin (self), when they became a Christian who has been made alive “in Christ”…Romans 6:11… Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (NKJV)

And how about this pertinent piece of scripture; written by the apostle Paul, in…Romans 8:1… There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  (NKJV)

When someone is “in Christ”, or walking in “the Spirit”…this means they are being controlled by the Holy Spirit… This is the only way a person can trust what their conscience is telling them… Paul teaches us as Christian’s, that we need to re-think the way our old sinful minds use to work, when we were living in the world…and transform them into the mind of Christ, which we were given when we were filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation…

Romans 12:2… And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  (NKJV)   …This renewed mind given to us by God, is the mind of Christ…1 Corinthians 2:16… For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.  (NKJV)

But we as Christian’s, can’t just go to church once a week, and expect to be able to remain filled with the Holy Spirit… Our minds have to be continually fed by reading the Bible, for us to grow in spiritual wisdom and knowledge… Jesus Himself tells us this, in…Matthew 4:4… But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”  (NKJV)   

God’s words can now only be visually seen, not heard…by reading His written Word, the Bible… But as I have written before; God talks to us through His Word… The Bible, as I mentioned the other day, is the only offensive part of the 6 pieces of the “Whole Armor of God” that Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:10-20… By reading the Bible, we learn how to put on all of God’s spiritual armor to protect us from Satan’s fiery darts; and all of his other tricks that he and his demon friends will use to tempt us into sinning… Here is a link to read about God’s spiritual armor…   http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV

With God’s spiritual armor held firmly in place by prayer…the Christian can remain Spirit filled, by regularly confessing and repenting of any sins as they occur (multiple times daily if needed)…1 John 1:9… The Spirit filled Christian’s conscience will work at peak performance in this Spirit filled condition…  If we fail to feed ourselves by reading God’s Word to grow spiritually, our spiritual armor will not protect us from Satan… This will lead to our conscience getting mixed signals…some from the Holy Spirit and some from Satan…

When we continue to sin without repenting (to regain our righteousness in God’s eyes and be re-aligned again with Him)…we will get to a point in our life where our conscience becomes seared…and we will be headed away from the Lord without any help from the Holy Spirit to keep us from sinning…1 Timothy 4:1-2… Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, ² speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, (NKJV)

As Christian’s, we must stay spiritually strong by reading God’s Word as part of our regular spiritual diet… Anything less, can and will cause our conscience and our lives to be less than Spirit filled; and make way for Satan and his temptations to wreak havoc in our lives…

Heavenly Father, I pray this scripture from Your Word will be used by You, to impress upon those who have read today’s thought, of the importance of spending time daily to be fed by Your Word… I pray Lord, that everyone can keep their conscience totally clear…as they learn to successfully live in Your will and Your ways… I pray for this filling of the Holy Spirit for all of our lives…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills

P.S.  Praise the Lord for His grace and His infinite mercy !!  10 years ago today, at 11:45 A.M. God welcomed me into His family as one of His children…