For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)

There are only two ways in which a human being can live. One way is after the flesh. The other way is after the Spirit of God.

To walk after the flesh is to occupy the great bulk of our life with the things of the animal creation. The animal eats. The animal sleeps. The animal works. The animal plays. The animal reproduces. This is the life of the animal.

The human body is well pleased when we eat, sleep, work, play, and reproduce.

In the American culture, the ideal life is that of laying on the beach, soaking up the sun, perhaps drinking beer, viewing half-naked people playing volleyball, and also watching a program on a portable television. American people are willing to work hard so one day they can live in Florida or California laying on the beach without having financial worries.

Or, they may choose to travel around the country in a mobile vacation home enjoying the change in scenery and location.

This is the American way of life. This is the life of the adamic, animal creation. This is the way of spiritual death.

While the things we have mentioned are not always considered to be sin, they always lead to sin. Satan and his demons have a picnic when people are living in the appetites of the flesh and having "fun." Whenever the demons choose they provoke such vacationers to fornicate, commit adultery, kill someone, lie, cheat, steal, gossip, slander, imagine vain things, dwell on that which is morally filthy, and otherwise break all the commandments of the Lord.

There is nothing we have to do in order to live in the flesh. Living in the flesh is the natural life of the adamic man. The adamic man is a double-minded moral weakling, a coward, a glutton. He is filled with self-love, self-centeredness, self-seeking, self-will, self, self, self! He is covetous and filled with malice and bitterness.

However, there is much we have to do if we would live in the Spirit of God. We must say with our mouth that Jesus is our personal Lord. We must greet each new day with the determination to walk in the will of God, to abide in Christ, to bring every thought into captivity to Christ.

We must spend some time each day meditating in the Scriptures. We must take some time each day to wait on the Lord. We must never get so busy there is no opportunity during the day to look up to the Lord and seek His face.

We must attend the assembling of fervent Christians on a regular basis. People who claim they can stay home and worship God are deceived. We must worship with other Christians. Fervent Christians not just pew-warmers.

We must give generously of our means to the work of the Lord. We must desire the gifts of the Spirit so we may minister to our fellow members of the Body of the Christ. We must always be ready to obey the Lord whenever and wherever He calls us.

We must present our body a living sacrifice in order to prove the will of God for our own life. We must refrain from being conformed to the world but must be transformed by the renewing of our mind. This means we must very carefully guard what we see on television and the Internet, what we hear on the radio, what we read in books and magazines.

We must be quick to confess our sins to the Lord, and to one another when indicated. We must seek the face of the Lord each day, always pressing forward toward a greater knowledge of Christ.

We must be willing to carry our part of the load of the sufferings of Christ.

We must remain in the prison in which the Lord places us, for in order to break out of God's prison we have to break God's laws.

We must read the words of Christ and His Apostles and go to the Throne of Grace constantly in order that we may receive wisdom and strength to overcome the evil of the day.

We must do all things without murmuring and complaining, striving to keep peace and unity among the members of our assembling.

We must awake to righteousness and cease our sinning! The Spirit of God will help us when we resolutely determine to do this.

We can see from the above that it requires no effort on our part to live after the flesh, after the adamic, animal personality. But to live after the Spirit of God demands our full attention at all times.

To be continued.