Romans 8:12-14 says:

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Before we are ‘born-again,’ we are spiritually dead. We are like dead fish floating with the current of the streams of life. At the end of that stream is destruction, but there’s nothing we can do about it because we have no way to understand this or even get up and start walking the other way.

Once we are born-again, there is a spiritual birth that takes place so that we become alive to God. We begin to see what’s ahead and are enabled to stand up and begin walking against the current. It’s not easy, but it’s the path that leads to life, so with the desire of the new man, we walk. There are times when we get stumbled by the current and we lose ground, but we’re always able to get back up and continue to walk because we are alive and God has enabled us.

The Lord enables every believer with the power to walk against the current of this life and in ways that please Him. All who are made alive in Christ begin walking in newness of life, becoming more and more Christ-like, for this is what separates the worldly from the children of God. Those who have been renewed are walking toward the shores of heaven rather than drifting with the current of life and transformation is taking place with every step.

As born-again believers, let me encourage you to continue walking in newness of life. If you’ve been drifting lately, let me exhort you to stand up, look to Christ, and walk toward Him. Don’t become complacent lest you find the current of life pulling you further and further downstream and toward destruction. Any dead fish can flow downstream, but those who are alive to God have the awareness and the power to overcome. So, let’s get up, fix our eyes on Jesus, and keep walking. Those who are born-again are able to put to death the deeds of the body as they are being led by the Spirit of God… and these are the sons of God.

-Pastor Troy Neeley

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

~ Romans 8:14