I woke singing a variety of spiritual songs, but the one that got it started surprised me: Sunshine in the Soul (E. E. Hewitt—1887). I don’t think I’ve ever thought of that song except when it is used in a service. I only remembered the refrain: “O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll: When Jesus shows His smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul.” I thought of how we treasure the “peaceful, happy moments,” and I thought longingly of the days when these moments will ne’re be interrupted with sadness, nor will any cloud of sin or worry hide His “smiling face.”

I’ll use Psalm 31:1-3 for Temple worship today.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures in Romans 6-8. The Mind of the Spirit spurred the spirit of my mind at Romans 6:11 and 8:10:

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 8:10 ¶ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Because Christ is in us, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. For that reason, we must “reckon” ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” through Him.

The “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This “body of sin,” the “old man,” is crucified with Christ, so that it is destroyed, freeing us from its service (Romans 6:6). If it’s dead, how then does it live? The Spirit is life—the zoe—of this body. We are “crucified with Christ,” nevertheless, we live, yet not by our life, by His (Galatians 2:20-21). And we live by His righteousness, not ours. His righteousness and His life gives us life by the righteousness of His Spirit that dwells in us.

So, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit in us is life because of righteousness. These are invariable facts; there are no fluctuations in the state of the believer. The body is dead, and that is because of our sin; the Spirit in us is life because of His righteousness, so I live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20-21).

Along the still waters, I concentrated on the exhortation to “reckon” myself to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ my Lord.

To “reckon” is to take inventory and draw conclusions from that inventory. It also means to impute the truth of something to the case at hand. If, after the inventory, I reckon that I have $1400, then I act in accordance with that truth and send it to Calvary for the Home Missions offering. Selah!

Let’s say I am faced with a temptation or a decision, so I take inventory of whether I have what I need to overcome it. I reckon my body to be dead indeed unto sin. I further reckon that the life active in the body is Christ’s Spirit. I reckon that the life in my body is Christ’s life. These are invariable truths; these are the facts that are identified from my quick inventory.

Who or what aspect of my being is doing this “reckoning”? It is the spirit of my mind. My spirit is reckoning through my thoughts, deciding whether or not I will yield the body to respond according to the Spirit of righteousness, or will I grieve the Spirit of righteousness (Ephesians 4:30-31), and usurp His place in His own Temple, and engage the lusts of the flesh of the body and submit to the temptation, draging Christ into sin (e.g., 1 Corinthians 6:15, “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.” See also verses 16-19.)

He bore our sins in His own body on the Cross; must He bear them in this “body of sin” also? Is not this body His, and has He not made it His Temple? Shall we not “reckon” the truth and act accordingly?

In the valley, kneeling in the shadow of His Cross, I acknowledged my duty to humble the spirit of my mind to the Mind of the Spirit. He humbled Himself to die for me (Philippians 2:5-11). I must “deny” myself, and reckon this body dead to sin, and that His Spirit in me makes me alive unto God. He pressed me once again with the all-encompassing call of the disciple: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

I am both dead and alive! Dead to sin; alive to God.

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy appeared and followed us into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v74t1p2-shepherds-pasture.html