Master the Flesh
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:21-24
If we are all honest we understand totally what Paul is saying, don’t we? Most of us really want to do the right things, live the right way – BUT – there is this thing called the FLESH that keeps getting in the way.
Part of the battle is that for most of us, we are TRYING to live the Christian life in our own strength. Well as Pastor Bill Raws always said, “It is absolutely impossible to live the Christian life apart from Jesus Christ living His perfect life in and through me.” That is the message of Galatians 2:20.
A friend recently showed me the verse in The Message: “I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I APPEAR righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
The problem is that we haven’t figured out three things about the flesh: 1) It can control us, 2) It isn’t something we can play with, 3) We need to put it do death.
Our flesh was already crucified with Christ on the cross, brothers. It no longer needs to master us. We get ourselves into trouble because we want to keep it alive rather than putting it to death. Christ has come to give us victory over the flesh! More about this tomorrow. The good news is that JESUS CHRIST has come to give you and me VICTORY! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Compass Pointers: The valley of the shadow of death. It is a valley where the sun's rays often seem to be blotted out. To approach it is to tremble. We would prefer to walk around it, to seek a safe bypass. But men and women of faith can enter that valley without fear. R. C. Sproul
Anchored to the Rock: When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Oswald Chambers
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