“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13
Ihave no existence apart from Christ. I am in Him. I am in the beloved One. I do not have a history outside of Him. I dare not consider myself outside of Him, not even a millimeter outside. Everything that is true of Him is true of me. Hallelujah! I relate to myself in the realm of the Spirit of Christ. I can now by that Spirit put to death the deeds, or practices, of the body. I am no longer left to myself to handle those practices.
If however we do not remain in our union with Christ (Rom. 8:9-11), and we instead indulge in the practices and conversation of the flesh, eventually not only will we be relating to ourselves from our flesh, but we will also be relating to others in the same way. In other words, when we do not exercise ourselves to remain in the realm of the Spirit, we are left to the realm of the flesh and the self. In this realm there is no capacity to receive ourselves or one another. But through many failures in the realm of the flesh, we learn to quickly get to the Spirit. We learn to quickly get through all the mire of thoughts and feelings. We go directly to our spirit-union with Christ. We do not solve problems. We are not concerned about answers. We do not stay on that level. We go directly to Jesus.
Satan wants to have long, drawn-out conversations. He likes to talk things out, to reach a compromise — whatever allows him room to live in us, nullifying the cross. That is his realm. But God’s realm is the realm of the Spirit where the cross is. You always know when you are in the reality of the cross, because the cross is always quick. It works fast. If what you are doing is prolonged, if you yourself are trying to live a crucified life, it is probably not the cross. The cross is in the Spirit, and when you touch the Spirit, there is a quick cutting off of the flesh. It just happens. A quick circumcision of the flesh takes place. When we identify with Christ’s death in the Spirit, we will live.