Tag Archives: flesh

The Battle Rages On

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THE BATTLE RAGES ON 

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Galatians 5:16-18.

So here’s the deal. Instead of the law motivating us to obedience, it has the opposite effect from what the Holy Spirit does in us. Before the Holy Spirit quickened our dead spirits and made them alive to God, we had no desire to obey God. We were in a perpetual state of rebellion. When the law said, “Do not…” we said, “I will…” and we deliberately acted in disobedience to God’s requirements. Instead of the law drawing us towards God, it drove us from Him.

Here is the secret of the believer’s life. Through faith in Jesus, God removed our rebellious and stony hearts and gave us new hearts that wanted to obey Him.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all you idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:25, 26.

We have been set free from our load of guilt that caused us to run from God. Now we are free to run to Him. We are free to fear God, not to be afraid of Him because we are no longer slaves but sons. He has put His own Spirit within us, who is like a caring and nurturing mother. Instead of rigid laws which we have to obey or bear the consequences, we have the companionship of Jesus through His Spirit who speaks to us in our hearts. God has poured His love into us. We are free to love Him and other people because He has released us from slavery to ourselves.

We have literally died to our old selves and our selfish ways and have risen to a new life of loving service to God and to our fellow men. This is who we are. Now we must become who we are, sons and daughters of God.

“Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God… Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…” Colossians 3:1-3; 5a.

Jesus won the war but the battle still rages on. As long as we are still in this life, we will have to contend with the enemy who still lives in us – the old nature with its fleshly lusts. Jesus told us to be vigilant. We can never let down our guard because the enemy is relentless in his intention to destroy us and drag us with him to his final doom. We cannot profess to know Jesus and continue to live as we did before, gratifying every whim and desire of our old selfish natures.

The Holy Spirit was given to us to replace the demands of the law. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of love. When we listen to Him and follow His leading with His help, we fulfill what God wants us to be effortlessly instead of striving and failing to obey the law.

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? He took up residence in us from the moment we surrendered our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He occupies the command centre of our lives. Our job is to cultivate a relationship with Him by listening to Him and by communicating with Him. We will spend the rest of our lives unlearning to be independent and learning to listen and lean on Him.

Unlike earthly parents whose job is to train their children for responsible independence, the Holy Spirit is training us to be helplessly dependent on Him like infants at their mother’s breast. The more we trust Him, the less we will be pulled towards satisfying the lusts of our old nature. Remember what Jesus said:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and me in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

How do we fight this battle? By resting in Jesus’ finished work for us.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Set Free To Love

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SET FREE TO LOVE

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:13-15.

Freedom! Everybody wants to be free. But free from what? Most people think that freedom means no laws, no restraints, no boundaries, to do as they please. The problem with this kind of so-called “freedom” is that it clashes with everyone else’s freedom and creates the worst kind of chaos.

Imagine driving in a city where there are no traffic rules! Half of the motorists would be dead within the first twenty four hours. How long would it take for drivers to realise that staying alive meant giving way to the next vehicle and being courteous on the road? I live in a country were a certain group in the population thinks that traffic laws do not apply to them. As a result, the accident rate and number of road deaths is very high.

Every human being is born with an internal slave-driver far worse than any rules or regulations. It’s called selfishness. But why is selfishness so destructive? It not only clashes with everyone else’s selfishness; it also causes chaos within a person. Think of the emotional trauma another person’s selfishness causes to you – your home is invaded and your property destroyed or stolen because someone else decided that he wanted what you have. A loved one’s life is taken because a murderer chose to eliminate him or her. And so on.

Then there’s the internal destruction that selfishness does to you. You clash with a friend or a family member; both parties are angry, resentful, and bitter. You believe you are right and so does he or she. Neither will back down. A deep rift grows and you don’t communicate for months or years. How do you feel? Free? At peace? Full of love towards the other person? Humble? No way! You are clogged up with emotional baggage. You can’t sleep at night. You cannot get free of the other person. You are enslaved by your emotions.

These are all the consequences of the worst slave-driver of all. The problem is that trying to obey God’s rules without a new heart and a new nature only makes the slavery to guilt and fear worse. Jesus is the only one who has the power to set us free. He did this, first of all, by getting rid of our sin. He paid our debt so that it could be cancelled and deleted from our record. Then He gave us an insurance policy against our falling short of God’s standards. We are covered by His righteousness. When we fail, He says, “It’s okay. I’ve got you covered!”

That does not mean that we can go off and engage in “freedom” to live as we like because we are covered by the righteousness of Jesus. That would be as foolish as getting involved in as many vehicle accidents as we like because our insurance policy covers us! Collisions with other vehicles are dangerous because we can be seriously injured or killed. Our car will never be the same either. Just as an insurance policy is not a licence to have accidents, so God’s forgiveness and Jesus’ righteousness are not a licence to live as we like.

But, more than that, God changed our hearts. He gave us a new heart and a new nature and, on top of that, He gave us His Spirit – living right inside of us – so that we want to and have the power to live unselfishly.

How can we stay safe on the road? By obeying the traffic laws. How can we stay safe in the kingdom of God? By living within the boundaries of the kingdom. So Paul says, “Don’t go off and sin like crazy just because God has set you free. Use your freedom to care for other people. In this way you will stay free from your slave-drivers. Then you will be safe within the boundaries of God’s kingdom”

True freedom is not experienced by destroying one another but by loving and serving one another. You cannot serve yourself and other people. If you choose to serve yourself, watch out because you are on a downward path to destruction. If you serve others, you will be like Jesus; you will be doing the very thing that destroys the habit of selfishness, just as being generous destroys the habit of being greedy.

You cannot be both. Love, because you have been set free to love.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Spirit Of Sonship

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THE SPIRIT OF SONSHIP

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh you will die but if, by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:12-17.

What magical words! We are no longer slaves but sons!

We have a Father who is a perfect Dad – not one who disappoints us, who abuses or neglects us or one constantly judges or punishes us because of our immature behaviour. And we have His Spirit who lives in us, who reassures us that we are God’s children and who enables us to call out to our Daddy, “Abba. Pappa!’ because that is who God is to us.

Jesus came to earth primarily to reveal the Father.

“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do…I have revealed you to those you gave me out of the world…” John 17:4; 6.

He patiently taught His disciples and showed them by His works the true nature of God as their heavenly Father. The first message He gave to Mary for His disciples after His resurrection was startling, to say the least!

“Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” John 20:17.

The implications are huge! Not only have we been given the right to be called children of God, but we are also on the same level of sonship as Jesus is. Whatever privileges he enjoyed as God’s son are now ours because we is His brothers and sisters.

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.

“Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:10, 11.

Wow! Imagine that! There is no God like our God. What grace that we should be called children of God, and even more than that, that Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters! That means that God has the same love for us that He has for His Son. We enjoy the same status and privileges that Jesus enjoys. We have been raised with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6); we share His inheritance – His nature (2 Peter 1:3, 4) and we will reign with Him in His eternal kingdom.

“But aren’t you being presumptuous?” you ask. Certainly not if I am simply repeating what God’s word says.

But there is a condition. God’s grace has freed us from the penalty of our sin. He has removed our guilt and re-established us in His family as His sons and daughters. He has given us His Spirit as our Helper. “Now,” says Paul, “you have an obligation to live the life He has freed you to live. No more selfish indulging!”

If we do not respond to God’s grace by putting our sinful ways to death with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will perish just as surely as though we were never rescued and restored to our place in the family of God. Without the evidence of a changed heart and new life, what we claim is nothing but empty words.

Bottom line – only those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. Are you one of God’s children?

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

All Because He Lives!

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ALL BECAUSE HE LIVES!

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:9-11.

What if Jesus had not risen from the dead? Paul could write with confidence to these mostly unknown Roman believers because of one thing. Jesus rose from the dead and because of that, He sent His Spirit to live in those who believed in Him.

To be a baptised believer in the Roman Empire in his day was a perilous choice because every believer was in danger of facing death at the hands of a hostile Roman government. Christians were a distinct group. It was not possible to sit on the fence because no one in his right mind would risk death unless he were thoroughly convinced and committed to Jesus as Lord.

So Paul could say, “I know that God’s Spirit lives in you.” If you were a believer, it was a given. The indwelling Spirit of Christ was for them then, and for us now, both the confirmation and the guarantee that they belonged to Christ and experienced all the blessings and benefits of their union with Him.

Because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in them, they were assured of the resurrection of their bodies from the dead although they were still subject to physical death because of the presence of sin. They would die, yes, but that would not be the end. Just as Jesus rose from the dead because death could not hold Him captive forever, those who belong to Him, who are in Him and are united with Him by His Holy Spirit, will also rise from the dead because death cannot hold us prisoner either.

How can that be since we are human beings, part of this present corrupted world and therefore subject to the death that came upon the whole universe at the Fall? Paul understood that we shall still die – our physical bodies are still part of this earth. But that will not be the end.

The Bible teaches us that, as God’s sons and daughters, we have an inheritance; we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. But what do we inherit? Read what Peter wrote:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

We inherit God’s nature in which we participate through His promises. Since God is perfect – there is no corruption in Him – He cannot die. Death could not hold Jesus because He, too, was sinless in His earthly life as the Son of God. When we are joined to Him by faith, death cannot hold us either because we have been made the righteousness of God in Him.

And so, just as Jesus rose from the dead, we will also be resurrected when He returns to complete the restoration of all things. Then we will experience the fullness and completeness of our inheritance – eternal life.

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Romans 6:22.

Can you understand the process? Faith in Christ leads to the gift of righteousness and the presence of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit in us enables us to obey God; obedience leads to holiness – separation from sin and learning to think and live like God (because we have inherited His nature); holiness leads to eternal life.

What Jesus died on the cross for us, and through His resurrection from the dead, He removed the barriers to reconciliation to the Father. He gave us back the Holy Spirit who had departed from man at the Fall. He made possible a life of obedience to Him which will lead us to appropriate our inheritance and eventually to be raised from the dead to experience the fullness of eternal life. It is now up to us to work out in partnership with the Holy Spirit what He has already worked in us.

“…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose.” Philippians 2:12b, 13.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Flesh Or Spirit?

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FLESH OR SPIRIT?

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:5-8.

But, for Paul, it’s not all good news!

The bad news is that all have sinned. The good news is that Christ died for all. The bad news is that not all people are saved. The good news is that all who believe in Jesus Christ are no longer under condemnation. The bad news is that those who are still following the desires of their fleshly nature are under the sentence of death. The good news is that those whose minds are focussed on the Holy Spirit are alive and at peace with God.

Where once the distinction was between Jew and Gentile because the Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles. They had the law of God and they didn’t worship idols like the Gentiles did, so they thought, so they were favoured by God and the Gentiles were not.

But now the distinction has shifted from race group to faith group. There are still two kingdoms at work, not Jew and Gentile but the kingdom of God and the dominion of Satan. How do we know to which kingdom we belong? It depends on who controls our minds. With who or what are our thoughts preoccupied? Since what we do and who we are begins in the mind, what we think in the end determines our destiny.

The person who is focussed on self; self-indulgence, self-fulfilment, self-gratification, is clearly still living in the realm of the flesh. Selfishness dominates; the world is very small, consisting only of self and those who can contribute to the pleasure and satisfaction of selfish desires.

The person who has escaped from the clutches of the flesh through believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and receiving the salvation He bought for us through His death, has a new focus – the Spirit of God who lives in his heart and enables him to set a new direction in his life. Instead of pleasing himself and satisfying every fleshly whim, he now wants to please God and enjoy God’s peace and do his will.

Life and peace – isn’t that what everyone wants to enjoy? But the pursuit of life and peace takes people down different paths depending on what they believe. The woman Jesus met at the well outside the village of Scar in Samaria believed the life was about being loved by a man. The path she took to fulfil her desire, however, took her into more and more guilt and shame and left her lonely, dissatisfied and despised by her fellow villagers.

Jesus gently revealed to her that the love she thought that a man would give her, would never satisfy her inner need, because only God’s love and a life lived for Him would bring her the love and peace she craved. Jesus called it “living water”. Drinking deeply of God’s love revealed through the gift of His Son would satisfy her thirsty soul forever. But she had to make a choice. She could not carry on with her old life. It was killing her. She had to turn her back on what she believed and embrace a new faith – a faith in the Messiah she had just met, who came to lead her out of her slavery to sin and into the realm of a new Master

We all have to make the same choice if we are to experience the life Jesus made possible for us, and the inward peace that will hold us steady as we navigate all the stresses and demands of this mortal life. It is impossible to have one foot in each kingdom. It’s either God’s kingdom or the devil’s domain. It can never be both…and…

When you choose God’s way and trust the Lord Jesus, you are on the way to everlasting life!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.