God created a revived man
Our desire and prayer is that the Lord most high will revive us. I found out from the scriptures that the man God created was a revived man. He was full of the Spirit of God and all that God wanted to be in him. He created him in his own image and likeness and God even tested him to see if he was the man he had created. He told the man to give the creation names. Names are not just letters of the alphabet but they denote functionality. For every animal that Adam named, it became so. Adam was full of life, power, had authority, could exercise dominion, and all, and God had continual fellowship with him. One day God decided to create a personal assistant for the man. He put him into a deep sleep and created a beautiful creature out of him. When Adam woke up he knew what God had done; he knew the woman had been created from him. this is because spirits do not sleep.
But the man sinned and fell
Eventually the man sinned and died spiritually. Afterwards, when he produced after his kind, the creatures he created were all of the sinful kind. The life God expects us to live is the original life—a man full of power, dominion, and life who does not need revival. God sent his Jesus to rescue us from the death our sin brought. So, to go back to that place of origin, one needs to accept Jesus as his Lord and savior. When that happens, the person is regenerated—born anew after Christ, having the life of God in him. From then, he is able to submit to the dictates of the spirit in him so he can function in nature and character like Christ.
The natural man, the carnal man, and the spiritual man
Man was created in two levels. God created them in his image—male and female. He then formed them out of the dust. Hence, man is a glorified clay inhabited by God’s spirit. Because we are in this state, things tend to get mixed up. So, one day Paul talked about the natural man, the carnal man and the spiritual man.
The natural man is the ordinary man. The carnal man is the one who has received Christ Jesus as his Lord and savior but somehow is unable to submit to the rulership, dictates and leadership of the Holy Spirit but he still behaves like one who has not met Christ. The Bible says it is those who are led by the Spirit who are the children of God. The carnal man is controlled by the flesh and not the Spirit. They serve God on their own terms. They consider themselves and not God. Such lives, according to Paul, are dangerous because he says in Romans that if we live in the flesh we shall die. Carnality is Christianity’s major problem.
Revival places us towards God. In revival, God brings you from that state of carnality towards him. He gives you life again—a fresh start towards God. The man God created was created to depend on God. Man is meant to live eternally but your placement on earth will determine where you spend eternity. What has promoted carnality in us is the worry and anxiety of life. Jesus made mention of it in Matthew—what will I eat, what will I wear, and so on—these things distract us. We are not supposed to worry about them because our father in heaven is prepared to give us everything.
When I was preparing, the Lord dropped something. He said because of this kind of fear, Jesus mentioned it again in Matthew 13.22. The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word so that you cannot be fruitful. This is what creates a needs-based religion. Let’s go back to God. Let’s go back to his model. Let’s seek him first. We have become too materialistic. The carnal man does not yield to the Holy Spirit. It is anti-God. When you love yourself more than God, you are anti-God. I pray the Holy Spirit will begin to make some shifts in our lives this morning. The carnal man does not fear God. He is selfish to the core and that his how he functions but we can come back to God. Paul tells us how we can do it in a beautiful way in Colossians 3.5.
We must put to death whatever belongs to the carnal nature and our new nature must be renewed through knowledge. So, there is hope and in these few days that we are tarrying before God for revival, he will renew us. You must also be prayerful. That is the breath of the spiritual man. It is not about a shopping list.
When God called Moses to come for the tablets with the ten commandments, he was on the mountain fellowshipping with the Lord. So, God showed him his ways while he only showed the people his acts. Fix yourself in prayer. Colossians 2.6-7 says to continue living our lives in Christ Jesus. When you do that the flesh will not dominate you. We are engrossed with worldly stuff. Focus your attention on important things. Set your eyes on things above. Balance your life well.
Walk by the spirit and you won’t gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 3.16). The Holy Spirit is a person just like God the father. Talk to him. he is there to help us. Live with him and let him have control over your life. When you do that you begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
There are consequences for carnality
Hebrews 10.29 says when we decide not to walk by the spirit we are insulting the spirit of grace and the blood that was shed for us. What do you think will happen to such a person? There are consequences for carnality. How severely should someone who has trampled the son of God underfoot be punished? We must pay attention to what we have heard so we don’t drift away for there are consequences for ignoring this great salvation which God through his son has purchased for us (Hebrews 2.1-3).
Main references
Matthew 6.31-34, Colossians 3.5, Galatians 3.16, Hebrews 10.29, Hebrews 2.1-3
