Have you noticed that Romans 8 doesn’t seem to give us any definite instructions? There is no instruction but a kind of description. To say, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” is not an instruction; this is a description. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Neither is this an instruction; this is a description. Another description is in verse 4: “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to spirit.” Verse 5 reads, “For those who are according to flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Verse 6 goes on to say, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Again these verses are not a kind of instruction, but a kind of description. A description is just a view. You have to have a clear view. In Romans 8 is a clear view of the processed God who, after being installed into us, becomes the law of the Spirit of life. This God now is the law that operates in us not by activities but by the natural principles. You need to see such a view.
Don’t just try to learn the way. I have mentioned many times before that when I was young I read a lot concerning the way to do certain things. Eventually, I discovered that none of those ways worked. We have one small booklet entitled A Simple Way to Touch the Lord. We need this way. We don’t need another way. We need the way of contacting the Lord. But Romans 8 doesn’t give you a way; it gives you a clear view. You must be desperate for a clear view. You must believe me that you don’t yet have such a clear view. I too was like this for years, and even now sometimes I’m still like this. Although I got the view sometime ago, occasionally it seems as though suddenly the view is lost. When you are in the view everything is fine. When you lose the view you become another person. You need a view. You need a view to see that God has gone through all His processes.
Today we are not in the age of Abraham. At that time God had gone through nearly no process. By Abraham’s time God was not incarnated; He simply was God. At David’s time it was nearly the same. But today we are even much later than Paul. We have to realize that God has gone through all the processes. Not only has God done everything needed for our redemption, but He has also gone through all the processes. He has gone through incarnation, through human living, through crucifixion, through the tomb, through Hades, through all the things related to death, and He has entered into resurrection. Today He is still in resurrection. He is now the very God whom we serve and in whom we believe and who is now dwelling in our being. We have such a God indwelling us as a law working by principles and not by activities. He is within us as the law of the Spirit of life. The law within us is not the law of letters, nor the law of commandments, but the law of the Spirit of life. Life and Spirit are the elements, the constituents, of this law because this law is God Himself. Many things are included within this law: God’s divinity, humanity, death, resurrection.
We must have a clear view that such a God today is this law within us. Such a God as a law doesn’t work in us and for us by activities. He does not work in that way. Today He is the processed God as a law to you. Have you ever had a specific prayer to thank Him that He is now the law to you? We need to have such a kind of prayer. I’m afraid we still pray in the old way asking the Lord for His help in our weakness. We still ask the Lord to help us not to lose our temper. This means we still do not have the view. The “electricity” has been installed, so there is no need to kneel down and pray to the “power plant” to do something for us. We need a view! Of course, our habit is a big problem. We are used to praying in that old way. Since we became Christians we have been charged and taught and even disciplined to pray in everything. But it is so strange that although this chapter tells us that there are two intercessors—the Spirit and Christ—it doesn’t charge us to pray. But it shows us that we have two marvelous intercessors praying for us. Because we have two such marvelous intercessors within us, we surely don’t need to pray so much in that old way. Do you really realize that you are in Christ? And do you really realize that God has been installed into you as the law of the Spirit of life? Do you have such a clear view? If we could see such a view, we would realize we don’t need to pray that much. He is working within us by a law, not by activity. What we need to do is to cooperate with Him.