Who are the sons of God? Those who are led by the Spirit of God in every aspect of life. It takes a while to grow from a child of God to a son of God.

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? It means to walk in the prophetic milieu.

What does it mean to walk in the prophetic milieu? It means to remain in a prayerful state at all times, being aware of the will of God, speaking in tongues often if you are given to that sort of thing.

To the young Christian such an environment may seem impossible to attain. Not at all! We attain the prophetic milieu a little bit at a time. We just take every opportunity to bring our mind back to God and Jesus at each point of the day and night.

It is good to have a phrase or word that we can repeat because our mind runs off in so many directions, like a tree full of birds when a shotgun goes off. We have to keep corralling our thoughts or soon we are dwelling on dreads, worries, lusts, daydreams of some kind all sorts of baggage that go nowhere.

I like to say or think, "God, cause your perfect will to be done." I may say this over and over during the day and at night. It is so hard sometimes to keep your thoughts on profitable areas that a sentence such as the above helps.

When your head gets full of mush you can just say, "God, help!"

All of this may sound weird or impossible to you, but it is very practical and soon becomes a way of living.

You don't get there all at once. But the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. God wants all men to live in the prophetic milieu, and in the world to come all saved people will.

There are only two ways in which you can live. One is in the flesh. The other is in the Spirit.

But how does this resolve the problem of "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death"?

You will notice that the preceding verse says, "If you through the Spirit put to death the deeds of your body you will live." And then, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The sons of God are led by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body. If you are a son of God you will continually be putting to death the deeds of your body through means of the wisdom and strength of the Spirit of God. This is why the two verses are together.

As you put the fornication, murder, drunkenness, jealousy, dissension to death by the power of the Spirit you are preparing yourself for the coming of the Lord. When the Lord comes He, having seen your faithfulness in overcoming the works of the flesh, will remove the sinful nature itself from your personality every possible trace of worldliness, lust, and self-seeking. Then He will clothe you with the body from Heaven that has been formed by your faithfulness in putting to death the deeds of your body.

To be a son of God you must be born of woman, born of the Spirit, and then raised from the dead. Your inward nature must be born of God. Your outward nature must be adopted by the Lord.