The Standard of Life and Peace

The standard set forth by Romans 8:5,6 for the one who has the Spirit of Christ is the sense of life and peace.

"For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." (Rom. 8:5,6)

When a person first turns to Jesus Christ to be his or her Lord and Savior, that person will first experience "life and peace".

Because God is happy, THEY TOO will be happy.
The sense of well being - "life and peace" is a reflection of God's happiness WITH that person.

Let's say on Thursday a man finally gives in and asks Jesus Christ to come into their life. Soon, perhaps immediately he will sense something has changed within him. There will be a sense of a load taken off of his back. There will be a sense of deep relief that he has never had before in his life.

This is the beginning of him being guided by God by the sense of "life and peace".

God places no other requirement upon him perhaps in those few days. The mind set newly and for the first time is to the man "[divine] life [and a heavenly] peace".

Guaranteed, he will not remain at that level of life and peace as the Holy Spirit seeks to deepen His influence over the man's soul.

On Friday the Holy Spirit may say to him as he is on his way to do something he use to do which was unclean or sinful -

"No" says the Spirit of Jesus in his heart, "Don't do that today."

If he obeys, he grows stronger spiritually. And the sense of life and peace expands and deepens a little. Finding greater JOY in obedience he goes on realizing that he is changing the way he lives.

If he disobeys the sense of life and peace will be bothered. His conscience will protest. He eventually has to confess his sin. The cleansing blood restores the enjoyment of peace. But the Lord will not go away.

The next time he is confronted with that temptation, the Holy Spirit will again say "No, Don't do that today..

The main point here is that no Christian EVER graduates from this cycle. That is the deepening of life and peace at the obeying of the leading of the Holy Spirit.

In the same chapter Paul says to be LED by the Spirit brings the children of God into being more mature sons of God.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Rom. 8:14)

A book which was singularly helpful to my life after I had read many other books was "The Experience of Life" by Witness Lee.

I recommend it here by showing just the Table of Contents of its chapters.

The book was "The Experience of Life" by Witness Lee. Look at the chapter headings. And I may quote some portions of it related to this thread.

The Experience of Life

CONTENTS
The First Stage—In Christ
Regeneration
Clearance of the Past

The Second Stage—Abiding in Christ
Consecration
Dealing with Sins
Dealing with the World
Dealing with the Conscience
Obeying the Teaching of the Anointing
Knowing the Will of God

The Third Stage—Christ Living in Me
Dealing with the Flesh
Dealing with Self
Dealing with the Natural Constitution
Accepting the Discipline of the Holy Spirit
Dealing with the Spirit
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

The Fourth Stage—Christ's Full Growth in Us
Knowing the Body
Knowing the Ascension
Reigning
Spiritual Warfare
Full of the Stature of Christ

In natural life a child is born. And the child grows by eating and exercise. Other things are involved of course.

In the spiritual life a child is also born again - regeneration.
This regeneration is distinct from THE restoration or THE regeneration which the NT calls the time following the second coming of Christ (Matt. 19:28)

This regeneration of being born again is an individual regeneration (1 Pet. 1:23) when the Spirit of Christ become "one spirit" with the quickened and enlivened human spirit.

"He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17)

"The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God." (Rom. 8:16)

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

"That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh; but according to the spirit,

For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit the things of the Spirit.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." (Rom. 8:4-6)

Originally posted by @sonship
A book which was singularly helpful to my life after I had read many other books was [b]"The Experience of Life" by Witness Lee.

I recommend it here by showing just the Table of Contents of its chapters.

The book was "The Experience of Life" by Witness Lee. Look at the chapter headings. And I may quote some portions of it related t ...[text shortened]... re of Christ
[/quote]

For further reading -
https://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?id=24D0[/b]

I. REGENERATION IS:

1. That Part in the Experience of Salvation Which Is a Matter of Life
The story of how we were saved is the story of how we experienced God’s salvation. God’s salvation is exceedingly full and complete. It includes forgiveness of sins, cleansing, sanctification, justification, freedom from bondage, regeneration, etc.—all these are parts of God’s salvation. Of all these parts, only regeneration is the part of life. The forgiveness of our sins is not a matter of life; neither are the cleansing of our sins, our being sanctified, and our being justified matters of life. Even our being set free from bondage cannot absolutely be a matter of life, since part of this experience has to do with release from the law and another part with freedom from the bondage of sin, and these parts are not entirely of life. All these are only what God has done upon us. Only regeneration is the part of life in God’s salvation. Therefore, when we experience God’s salvation, only regeneration is the experience of that part which is of life.

2. The Center of the Experience of Salvation
Since regeneration is the part which is of life in the experience of salvation, it is then the center of the experience of salvation, because the central purpose of God in saving us is that we may have His life. It is for this that He has forgiven our sins; it is for this that He has cleansed us; it is for this that He has sanctified us; it is for this that He has justified us; and it is for this that He has set us free. He has done all these for one purpose—regeneration. Regeneration, therefore, is the central part of God’s salvation, and it is also the central part of our experience of God’s salvation.

3. The Beginning of the Experience of Life
The first experience of life is regeneration. Without regeneration we have not yet begun our experience of life. When we are regenerated, we then begin to experience life. Therefore, from the standpoint of experience, regeneration is the beginning of the experience of life.

4. The Entering into Us of God’s Life
Since regeneration is the obtaining of God’s life in addition to our original life, the moment we are regenerated is the very moment God’s life enters into us. Regeneration, therefore, is the entering into us of God’s life.

5. The Birth of Christ within Us
Regeneration is not only the entering into us of God’s life, it is also the birth of Christ within us. As God’s life enters into us in Christ and regenerates us, it is on one hand God’s life entering into us, and on the other hand it can be said that Christ is born in us. The birth of Christ in us means that Christ is born once more. Every time a man is regenerated, Christ is born once more in humanity. Hence, regeneration is the birth of Christ within us.

6. The Beginning of the New Man
Regeneration is also the beginning of the new man within us. All our experiences of spiritual life are matters of the new man within us, and this new man begins at the time of our regeneration. Before we are regenerated, we are in Adam, a fallen sinner, the old man. Once we are regenerated, God’s life in Christ enters into us. This life is a new element, and when it mingles with our spirit, it becomes the new man within us. Therefore, every one of us who has been regenerated is a double man: we are on one hand the old man in Adam, fallen; and we are on the other hand the new man in Christ, saved. This new man begins at the time of our regeneration. Hence, regeneration is the beginning of the new man.