Crystal Rivers | Open Book | Jun 17, 2025
Your spiritual journey begins the moment you enter into covenant with God through Jesus Christ. This covenant isn't merely a transaction—it's the starting point of a transformative process designed to take you from spiritual infancy to full sonship. Understanding how sonship, priesthood, covenant, God's word, and the Holy Spirit work together is crucial for your spiritual development.

## The Foundation: You Are Spirit, Not Flesh

You must first understand a fundamental truth: when you became a believer, you became a spiritual being. The Old Testament law was spiritual, but it was given to people who were spiritually dead—carnal beings who couldn't fulfill spiritual requirements. This is why the law failed to produce the righteousness God desired. However, through Christ, you've been given the Holy Spirit, enabling you to fulfill what the law demanded but couldn't accomplish in carnal humanity.

The moment you received Christ, you entered a river of spiritual development. This river has one direction—toward the Father. Jesus declared He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Your entire Christian journey is this movement toward the Father, guided by His word and His Spirit.

## Stages of Spiritual Growth

Your spiritual development follows a pattern similar to natural growth. You begin as a spiritual baby, feeding on the milk of God's word—learning basic doctrines, understanding right from wrong, and developing spiritual discernment. During this stage, you may still exhibit carnal behaviors: envy, strife, quarreling, and divisions. These are evidence of spiritual immaturity, not spiritual death.

As you continue in God's word and yield to the Holy Spirit, you progress through spiritual adolescence into young adulthood. Each stage requires you to put away childish things—malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. This isn't automatic; it requires conscious effort and daily practice.

Eventually, you reach spiritual maturity where you become what Scripture calls a "son." In ancient Israel, though someone might be born into the priesthood, they couldn't function as a priest until they reached a certain age and maturity. Similarly, though you're born again into God's family, true sonship comes when you've gained the knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual authority of your Father.

## The New Creation Reality

The most transformative truth you must embrace is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." This isn't merely positional truth—it's your actual spiritual reality.

When Christ died, you died with Him. When He was raised from the dead, you were raised with Him as a completely new creation. The old person who could be sick, defeated, fearful, and sinful is dead. You now possess the same resurrection life that flows through Christ.

However, experiencing this reality requires more than intellectual understanding—it demands daily practice and declaration. You must exercise yourself in this truth until it becomes your conscious and subconscious reality.

## Moving Beyond Carnal Thinking

One of the greatest obstacles to spiritual maturity is continuing to regard yourself and others "according to the flesh." This means viewing circumstances, challenges, and people through natural, worldly perspectives rather than spiritual truth.

You must identify areas in your life where you still think and act like a natural person. Do you fear financial loss? Do you respond to sickness as if you're merely human? Do you harbor unforgiveness or operate in pride? These are areas where your flesh is still loud and your old nature appears alive.

The prescription is clear: daily meditation on and declaration of your new creation identity. Just as someone might declare healing over sickness for years until it becomes reality, you must declare the truth of who you are in Christ until your mind, body, and circumstances align with spiritual truth.

## Practical Application

Begin each day declaring: "I am in Christ. I am a new creation. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new." Don't wait for feelings to confirm this truth—feelings follow faith, not the other way around.

Identify specific areas where you've been living according to flesh rather than spirit. Create a conscious plan to "eat up" these carnal strongholds, just as Joshua declared the giants in the Promised Land would be devoured rather than feared.

Remember, the just shall live by faith. Your new creation identity isn't activated by emotions or circumstances—it's activated by your agreement with God's word through consistent, faith-filled declaration and action.

The goal isn't merely to know these truths intellectually but to become them practically. As you exercise yourself in this reality, you'll move from glory to glory, eventually operating in the full authority and nature of your spiritual inheritance as a son of God.

Your journey toward sonship isn't optional—it's your destiny. The word of God and the Holy Spirit are your guides, the covenant is your foundation, and your new creation identity is your present reality waiting to be fully experienced through faithful practice.
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