Giving your life over to living according to the Holy Spirit is the way of submission. As you submit all seven areas of your life over to Jesus, you will be living according to the Holy Spirit. In these Submission Courses Part One, Jesus is leading you into submitting your emotions, your attitudes and character, and your body to Him. In the Submission Courses Part Two, Jesus will be leading you into submitting your thoughts, choices and decisions, will-power, and your life to Him. The Strategy Courses were step one; and, these Submission Courses are step two in living according to the Holy Spirit.

Rom 8:1 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Condemnation is a powerful emotional issue; it is a feeling that you have done “something” to separate yourself from God. However, both in Romans chapter seven and in Romans chapter eight you start out with a clean, perfect record with God. You have fulfilled the requirements of Romans 10:8-10: But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is IN your mouth and IN your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you WIL be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and ARE JUSTIFIED, and it is with your mouth that you confess and ARE SAVED.

Rom 8:1-2 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life SET ME FREE from the law of sin and death. Here is your second emotional support! The law of sin and death REQUIRED you to use human effort to do good and stop doing bad. BUT, the law of the Spirit of life set YOU free from the law of sin and death. So, let Jesus empower you to apply The Six Biblical Principles to this truth.

1. DESIRE: Ask Jesus to empower you to WANT to be free from the law of sin and death.


2. STUDY: Ask Jesus to empower you to STUDY and learn how to be free from the law of sin and death.


3. PRAY: Ask Jesus to empower you to PRAY and ask for all those things that will help you to be free from the law of sin and death.


4. BELIEVE: Ask Jesus to give you faith to BELIEVE He HAS given you freedom from the law of sin and death.


5. LOVE: Ask Jesus to empower you to LOVE others enough to be willing to share these truths with them so THEY can be free from the law of sin and death.


6. FAITH-ACTION: Ask Jesus to join you so you can take FAITH-ACTION and live on the basis of the fact that you ARE free from the law of sin and death.

Rom 8:3-4 (NIV) For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, IN ORDER THAT the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Here is your third emotional support! In the previous textbook and workbook, Jesus empowered you to DESIRE to live according to the Spirit, STUDY these verses so you could know how to live according to the Spirit, and PRAY and ask for the power to live according to the Spirit. NOW, you are looking to Jesus to give you the faith to BELIEVE you HAVE the power to live according to the Spirit.

The righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in YOU because you, do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. HOW? You got a clean, perfect record with God; that CREDITED the righteous requirements of the law BEING fully met in YOU because your perfect record says YOU do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. So, you start out with this requirement CREDITED to your record with God.

1. DESIRE: Ask Jesus to empower you to WANT to accept the fact that the righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in YOU because you do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit, based on your clean, perfect record with God.


2. STUDY: Ask Jesus to empower you to STUDY and understand the Scriptures that say the righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in YOU because you do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit, based on your clean, perfect record with God.


3. PRAY: Ask Jesus to empower you to PRAY for God’s power to accept the fact that the righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in YOU because you do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit, based on your clean, perfect record with God.


4. BELIEVE: Ask Jesus to give you faith so you can BELIEVE the fact that the righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in YOU because you do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit, based on your clean, perfect record with God.


5. LOVE: Ask Jesus to empower you to LOVE others enough to be willing to share these truths with them so THEY can BELIEVE the fact that the righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in THEM because they do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit, based on their clean, perfect record with God.


6. FAITH-ACTION: Ask Jesus to join you so you can take FAITH-ACTION and live on the basis of the fact that the righteous requirements of the law ARE fully met in YOU because you do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit, based on your clean, perfect record with God.

The righteous requirements of the law CAN BE fully met in YOU because you can stop living according to the sinful nature and start living according to the Spirit. HOW? As you start TAKING ADVANTAGE of your clean, perfect record with God, you use your DIRECT access to Him and get His power to be sanctified. These courses and these prayers are to be used by Jesus to empower you to ACTUALLY live out the righteous requirements of the law BEING fully met in YOU because His Holy Spirit is giving YOU power to not live according to the sinful nature but according to Him, the Spirit. So, you start out with this requirement CREDITED to your record with God; then you go through The Six Biblical Principles and start growing spiritually (being sanctified).

1. DESIRE: Ask Jesus to empower you to WANT to start living out the righteous requirements of the law so they can be fully met in YOU because you are BEING empowered to STOP living according to the sinful nature and START living according to the Spirit.


2. STUDY: Ask Jesus to empower you to STUDY and understand the Scriptures so they can tell you HOW to start living out the righteous requirements of the law so they can be fully met in YOU because you are BEING empowered to STOP living according to the sinful nature and START living according to the Spirit.


3. PRAY: Ask Jesus to empower you to PRAY for God’s power to start living out the righteous requirements of the law so they can be fully met in YOU because you are BEING empowered to STOP living according to the sinful nature and START living according to the Spirit.


4. BELIEVE: Ask Jesus to give you faith so you can BELIEVE the fact that the righteous requirements of the law CAN be fully met in YOU. That He will teach you how to START living out the righteous requirements of the law. This will START them being fully met in YOU because you are BEING empowered to STOP living according to the sinful nature and START living according to the Spirit.


5. LOVE: Ask Jesus to empower you to LOVE others enough to be willing to share these truths with them so THEY can BELIEVE the fact that they too can START living out the righteous requirements of the law. This will START them being fully met in others because they are BEING empowered to STOP living according to the sinful nature and START living according to the Spirit.


6. FAITH-ACTION: Ask Jesus to join you so you can take FAITH-ACTION and live on the basis of the fact that the righteous requirements of the law are STARTING to be fully met in YOU as you GRADUALLY stop living according to the sinful nature and GRADUALLY START living according to the Spirit.

Sanctification (spiritual growth) is a PROCESS; it is a GRADUAL change in your ACTUAL behavior with yourself, other people, and God. Salvation and justification are an experience, an event, a moment of birth. Just like you have a moment or time of birth recorded on your birth certificate, so it is with God when you were born again. But, sanctification is like your natural growth. You have to “do what it takes” to mature, grow, and stay healthy physically. And, you have to “do what it takes” to mature, grow, and stay healthy spiritually.

You have been living your life in the realm of Romans chapter seven. You are either a new or untrained Christian; when you struggle with winning over various problems in your life, it is because you haven’t fully learned how to live in Romans chapter eight. This doesn’t mean you won’t have the problems that everyone else has, it means you will be able to face them with the power of Jesus and His Holy Spirit. It means you win over them in many different and powerful ways. Jesus said in John 16:33 (NIV): “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you WILL have trouble. BUT TAKE HEART! I have overcome the world.”

Rom 8:8 (NIV) Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. What actually pleases God? You may have some sort of image of God being One Who has set up some rules that only He can appreciate. However, God set up rules that we all appreciate. Whether God is dealing with money, sex, business, friendships, marriage, emotions, lifestyles, physical issues, or spiritual issues, He is only dealing with what is good for YOU and those AROUND YOU. If money, sex, business, friendships, marriage, family, emotions, lifestyles, physical issues, or spiritual issues are hurting you or those around you, then God labels them sins. If they are blessing you or those around you now but NOT later, then God ALSO labels them sins. If they are blessing you and those around you now AND in your future, then God labels them righteousness.

Rom 8:9 (NIV) You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. It would be easy for you to misunderstand this word “control.” Since you have a God-given free will, you are ONLY controlled by the Holy Spirit when you allow Him to. You have to ALLOW Him to control you moment by moment and issue by issue. As you are going through your day making decisions, you must decide, at that moment, whether or not you will allow the Holy Spirit to control you. If in that issue you DECIDE to allow the Holy Spirit to control that thought, feeling, word, or deed, then at that MOMENT you are controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Rom 8:12 (NIV) Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. In Romans 7:15 you had the power to do what you wanted even though it seemed like you didn’t. Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. Your ONLY problem was that you were “trying” to live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit would speak to your conscience and you would “do your best” to obey Him. You would read the Bible or do a study like this and think YOU were being asked to make the spiritual changes. However, the more you tried to do spiritual things, the more you failed.

The only freedom you experienced in the Romans chapter seven life was freedom from guilt and sin; this freedom came by you receiving a clean, perfect record with God. Even though you failed to do what you WANTED to do that was good and failed to stop doing bad things you HATED, you were still in a right relationship with your heavenly Father. Through grace and mercy, God ALLOWED you to use your God-given free will to WANT and to HATE. And, as long as you used your free will to do that, He kept CREDITING your record with purity and perfection. That kept giving you DIRECT access to God. BUT, NOW you are wanting to ACTUALLY think, feel, say, and do the right things. AND, you are wanting to ACTUALLY stop doing the wrong things; that takes sanctification (spiritual growth).