| "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the SPIRIT, the things of the SPIRIT" Romans 8:5 |
In the everyday battle with our flesh or sinful nature, a person has a choice: to
follow the dictates of the flesh, (pride which leads to all sins) or follow the desires
of their regenerated spirit as led by the HOLY SPIRIT. Though the sinful desires
of the flesh cannot be completely eradicated from us, its' power to operate in the
life of a Christian has been neutralized by being united with CHRIST through His
death and resurrection and the blessed gift of the HOLY SPIRIT that now is in
us. Praise GOD!
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but
rather offer yourselves to GOD, as those who have been brought from death to
life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For
sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
(Romans 6:13-14 )
Fighting our flesh in our lives is an everyday battle. It should be basic to a
Christian the principles of this battle that wages on our flesh and how we are to
combat it through our LORD. Our flesh loves the sin of this world, always wanting
more of this world thus pulling us away from GOD. Lucky for us the HOLY
SPIRIT is with us convicting us of our wrongful desires and calling us to
repentance. Let us look at this passage from James as he give instruction on this
matter.
“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the
evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme
and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you
fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want
because you don’t ask GOD for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it
because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an
enemy of GOD? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make
yourself an enemy of GOD. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they
say that the SPIRIT GOD has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us
even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“ GOD opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”
So humble yourselves before GOD. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come close to GOD, and GOD will come close to you. Wash your hands, you
sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between GOD and the
world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep
grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble
yourselves before the LORD, and He will lift you up in honor.” (James 4:1-11)
See it’s the hardness in our hearts that allows our flesh to beat us in our daily
battles with it. When our hearts harden, pride takes control and puts us in sin
autopilot. We forget GOD and we begin to think we don’t need GOD, we stop
our prayers of needfulness and thanks to Him. Pray now if you feel your heart is
hard and prideful. The Lord hears your prayers, cry out to Him, for you need His
mighty strength and mercy to beat back your flesh, and once again be humbled
to trust in Him for all things.“ For we know that our old self was crucified with him
so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be
slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. “(Romans 6:
6-7) So let us do as Jesus commanded His disiples at Gethsemane in (Mark 14:
38) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing,
but the body is weak."
What is warring on your flesh brothers and sisters? We are all aware of our sin
because we have the blessed HOLY SPIRIT within us to put us back on the
proper path. Whether you chose to move with your flesh, which is in essence
pride, or act as Jesus does and be watchful and pray. Prayer my friends is the
beginning and the ending of the flesh battles we fight. We can either trust in the
LORD GOD to deliver us from our bondage of sin, or we can lose the battles by
trying to fight them without the Lord. I tell you this; no medications, therapy, or
any other thing you may put your trust in will deliver, but the Lord never fails. He
is the Truth and the Light in all Christians. Trust in Him for everything and “Never
stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ) as we should. So let us pray now for
deliverance from the bondage of our sinful flesh:
follow the dictates of the flesh, (pride which leads to all sins) or follow the desires
of their regenerated spirit as led by the HOLY SPIRIT. Though the sinful desires
of the flesh cannot be completely eradicated from us, its' power to operate in the
life of a Christian has been neutralized by being united with CHRIST through His
death and resurrection and the blessed gift of the HOLY SPIRIT that now is in
us. Praise GOD!
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but
rather offer yourselves to GOD, as those who have been brought from death to
life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For
sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
(Romans 6:13-14 )
Fighting our flesh in our lives is an everyday battle. It should be basic to a
Christian the principles of this battle that wages on our flesh and how we are to
combat it through our LORD. Our flesh loves the sin of this world, always wanting
more of this world thus pulling us away from GOD. Lucky for us the HOLY
SPIRIT is with us convicting us of our wrongful desires and calling us to
repentance. Let us look at this passage from James as he give instruction on this
matter.
“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the
evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme
and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you
fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want
because you don’t ask GOD for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it
because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an
enemy of GOD? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make
yourself an enemy of GOD. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they
say that the SPIRIT GOD has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us
even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“ GOD opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”
So humble yourselves before GOD. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come close to GOD, and GOD will come close to you. Wash your hands, you
sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between GOD and the
world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep
grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble
yourselves before the LORD, and He will lift you up in honor.” (James 4:1-11)
See it’s the hardness in our hearts that allows our flesh to beat us in our daily
battles with it. When our hearts harden, pride takes control and puts us in sin
autopilot. We forget GOD and we begin to think we don’t need GOD, we stop
our prayers of needfulness and thanks to Him. Pray now if you feel your heart is
hard and prideful. The Lord hears your prayers, cry out to Him, for you need His
mighty strength and mercy to beat back your flesh, and once again be humbled
to trust in Him for all things.“ For we know that our old self was crucified with him
so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be
slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. “(Romans 6:
6-7) So let us do as Jesus commanded His disiples at Gethsemane in (Mark 14:
38) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing,
but the body is weak."
What is warring on your flesh brothers and sisters? We are all aware of our sin
because we have the blessed HOLY SPIRIT within us to put us back on the
proper path. Whether you chose to move with your flesh, which is in essence
pride, or act as Jesus does and be watchful and pray. Prayer my friends is the
beginning and the ending of the flesh battles we fight. We can either trust in the
LORD GOD to deliver us from our bondage of sin, or we can lose the battles by
trying to fight them without the Lord. I tell you this; no medications, therapy, or
any other thing you may put your trust in will deliver, but the Lord never fails. He
is the Truth and the Light in all Christians. Trust in Him for everything and “Never
stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ) as we should. So let us pray now for
deliverance from the bondage of our sinful flesh:
| "For this reason I kneel before the Father, I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His SPIRIT in your inner being," Ephesians 3:14,16 Pray! |
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| By Rev. Mark E. Vatcher |
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