A “not my will” morning. Psalms 31:1-3, 139:23-24, and 123:1-3

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, contemplating my adoption into the Family of GOD. Romans 8:23 is where the Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind:

Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

The adoption refers to our body, whereas the new birth concerns the salvation of our soul (Hebrews 10:39). The soul and the body are not the same (Matthew 20:38).

The Holy Spirit generates the “new man” that is “created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10, 24; see John 1:12-14). This is the “Spirit of adoption” whereby we cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).

The adoption is completed when our body is resurrected and/or glorified to be like His glorious body (Romans 8:23).

Our soul is saved at the moment we believe, and a new man is created in Christ. The body is claimed as God’s possession but not yet made new. It is declared His, made His Temple, and secured to Him as His purchased possession by the earnest of His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Corinthians 6:19). The body is predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:20-21; see 1 Corinthians 15:51-58). This predestination is premised upon His foreknowledge (Romans 8:29).

Along the still waters, I walked with my Shepherd and contemplated all of this. The work of grace by which we are born again, birthed unto God by His Spirit, is a separate work from the work of God whereby our body is made like to His glorious body. The new birth is an act of separate creation: the making of a “new creature.” With this creation of a new man in Christ, He secures the Adamic body to Himself by the earnest (a token of a sign or promise of what is to come) of His Spirit, placing a “seal” or ownership of the body by purchase, with the promise to redeem it at the appointed time. On the day of redemption of this purchased possession, God transforms it to be like His Son’s glorious body and numbers it among His children. We are His by birth, and the new creation is given a new body. The new birth creates a new man, and the adoption makes the old body new.

The Spirit then pressed my spirit with conviction: this body belongs to GOD in Christ, and I am its appointed steward. It is for me to dress it for service: I must “put off the old man” and “put on the new.” To do this, I must remember: “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). Each day I take up my cross, I remember that “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). Indeed, “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).

The secret to putting on the new man and living by the faith of the Son of God is not secret: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, He graciously anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup anew with His grace. Goodness and mercy attended us as we went together into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

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©Jerry Scheidbach—Lighthouse Baptist Church, Santa Maria, CA — 20260201