I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Be in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:5-6

Today a lot of Christians battle with different question like; how to keep a pre-marital relationship clean? How to keep away from adultery? How to manage a troublesome spouse? etc. The truth is that we rarely hear straight answers to these questions but I believe there is something responsible for every one of these problems.

After I gave my life to Christ, I fell in love with the first scripture listed and it formed my very being. It is not just another faith boosting scripture or a declaration of faith, rather it is the reality of Christian faith that we must experience and live in the understanding of, so that the “I” in this passage of the scriptures refer to you. Today I join my voice with this man of a great God to declare that I have been crucified with Christ.

If indeed we have been crucified with Christ how is it that our flesh still yearns for carnal things. How is it possible that Christ lives in you and at the slightest opportunity you give in to the temptation around you?

If the life we now live is based on faith in God and the work of grace through Christ, why are we battling so much in our relationships? Jesus Christ our greatest example managed every relationship intelligently and we see that even when He was brought before the judges of this world, they found nothing in Him. If we have faith in Him, where are we missing it?

I write today not as one immune from all these but as a fellow who has gone up and down and understands better now. The source of any Christian is his or her relationship with God. When this goes down, all other things go down with it, no matter how much progress you appear to be making while you are far away from God.

Many times we say He has been faithful even though I have been unfaithful. What we fail to understand is that what we call faithfulness of God is really crumbs. So here we are celebrating the fact that we got the crumbs of the toast when we could get the toast itself.

What is the application of this powerful scripture, I have been crucified with Christ, so I do not live anymore, old principles need to be verified against the word of God and confirmed fit. Whatever situation you find yourself, look into the scriptures for answers. Don’t wait for situations to come before you get prepared; get a study Bible, read about the life of this man called Jesus, become familiar with His ways, because this will be your new lifestyle.

I have discovered by experience that my best times in life were those times when my relationship with God was at its peak. I express love to my husband the more when my heart is right with God. Here is another secret, God is Love, before we can love like God wants us to, we must encounter the heart of God. The ordinary man is incapable of loving as described in 1Corinthians 13.

It is disturbing and mind bugging when I see a child of God in an unequally yoked relationship, it tells me that it is either such a person has never been a Christian or has a crisis that requires urgent attention. If you are truly a friend to such a person, it is time to have a heart to heart discussion. And if you are that person it’s time to check yourself and address the issue. Find you way back to the Father’s heart.

Let me ask a question – Can a spirit filled brother or sister be asking for sex before marriage? If the answer is no, why do we hear of Christians being bugged by this phenomenon so much that people come to the conclusion “ no one is real in church anymore, so let’s go outside at least there I know what I am going to get” . Really such conclusions are indications that the so called Christian here is just fishing for a spouse through Christianity. Thank God likes will always find themselves.

Can a spirit filled husband beat up his wife, go without providing for his home, put down his wife at every opportunity and fail to consider his wife’s feelings? or can spirit filled wife nag at the slightest provocation, deny her husband the attention he requires, take out her frustrations on the children, in-laws and everyone around?

The answer is no! The spirit within us will not allow such behaviour, the Bible tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance Galatians 5:22-23.

The Spirit of God in us, empowers us to live the life we have been called to. Bible tells us in Proverbs that counsel in the heart is like deep waters and but a man of understanding will draw it out – Proverbs 20:5.

As Christians we are empowered to have solution for every matter, inside of us are answers as we plug into the Spirit. God has poured out His Spirit on us.

We need to move to the next level where Understanding is the order of the day. Reach deep inside of you.

I love you.

omolola ezeifeoma