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Well, it looks like no one is going to respond to your question(s), which is a shame.


That's me, no one. smirk I must decrease, He must increase!

Being freed means that I can decrease, as "dying to self" takes greater effect in me with practice abiding in Christ; and He can increase in me by His abiding Holy Spirit and as His word gains ground in my mind. To be spiritually minded is life, and to be carnally minded is death (Romans 8:5-7).

I think verse 13 of chapter 8 sums it up nicely for me:

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...for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live (NASB).
A key word for me in the whole "sanctification" thing is surrender: Not as in "volunteering" as though we had anything to offer God, but in giving up any claim on our own selves, our time, our "rights," etc., yielding them up to God and truly becoming "slaves to righteousness."