Christian Tips with Michael Adegoke​ My Weekly Newsletter where I Share Tips from my Journey with Christ

My Subject line sounds interesting, right?

It should because as a Christian, you don't want to live for a second in carnality.

But the first question is - what is carnality?

Let's take a simple look at this without going the Greek and Hebrew word route.

In Romans 8:6, Paul says:

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

In verse 7, Paul explains that the carnal mind is that which is not subject to the law of God thereby leading to enmity against God. So we can say that the -

The carnal mind is a mind that produces thoughts, words, and actions that are not subject to the Word of God. So what we know as sin is under this category but there are other actions that are not sin and they are not carnal.

For instance, you can be praying and your mind is thinking about the food you left at home before joining the prayer. That thought is carnal.

Carnality is anything that doesn't align with the will of God, this includes:

1. our actions
2. reactions
3. spoken words
4. thoughts
5. feelings/emotions
6. gestures (non-verbal expressions)
7. Desires/Ambitions

So back to the topic of today, how do we know when you are carnal?

The direct simple way is to see what God says about a situation and check if you're acting accordingly but I have a shortcut...lol

You see, unbelievers are not Christians (that sounds dumb right?), because they are not Christians they don't have the Spirit of God so they are not enabled to respond according to the Word of God. That means by default their actions, reactions, and every other thing I mentioned above are carnal. When you see yourself acting exactly as an unbeliever is acting in a situation then that your action is still from the regular human you and not the recreated human in Christ and that is what carnality is. Acting from the flesh.

I'll give you an example. There is a fire outbreak, everyone is panicking, running helter-skelter, that means as a Christian you are supposed to do the opposite. That response of panic and worry is carnal because the word of God says to rejoice at all times.

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Phil 4: 4

If you say that scripture is not for such situation, well what about the fruits of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22? Is panic one of them? it is not and it cannot fit in, because God has not given us the Spirit of fear but of love and a sound mind.

Does this sound abnormal to you? After all, there is no normal human that won't panic in such a situation.

Yes, that's the point. We are not normal humans...we are supernatural. We have an ability to respond in a different way from other humans.

Back to the story, so if you don't panic what are you to do?

1. You stay calm
2. If you are losing your calm as your mind is trying to overpower your spirit PRAY IN TONGUES. This helps your Spirit suppress your mind
3. At the moment of calm, you think clearly and you know what steps to take. This can be calling for fire service or doing anything else that the Holy Spirit directs you to do

Once the issue is resolved, you'll see that there was no need for panic.

So how to know you're not carnal is when your response and actions are not common ones.

If unbelievers fall sick and are scared of death then as a Christian when you fall sick, you should be full of hope and rejoice because Jesus already paid for your healing. Getting scared like the unbeliever is carnal.

If unbelievers are insulted and they return the insults, then you should not return an insult.

In fact, being Spiritually minded always involve doing things in the non-natural or logical ways.

The flesh has been trained in the way of sin but the Spirit is righteous, learning to constantly superimpose the desires of the Spirit with that of your natural mind is what makes you spiritual annd that is what walking in the Spirit means.

Our lives as Christians are the exact opposites of that of the unbelievers.

Not to make this long, let stop here today.

May the Holy Spirit brood over these words in your heart.

I am open to questions and opinions from you.

See you next time.

Reign in Life.

Michael Adegoke.