Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Hello All,


Blessings!

Came to my mind this morning that the Lord has heard the cries of many about dealing with their flesh. Scripture says Pss.34:

1. [15] The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

In my mind I remember it as the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayer. Irregardless of what is in my head he hears the cries of His righteous people. Now Paul said to us how did we get saved? Did we get saved by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

So all of our spiritual walk is accomplished by faith not by the works of the law. And that is how we shall approach this presentation. First of all, we all have to walk by the measure of grace we have been given at a particular time. By the grace of God, are you ready for this teaching? We shall see.

I remember being told by one minister years ago that the Lord told him that the flesh was our problem, that He, (the Lord), wasn't going to do anything about it, if something was going to be done about it, we were left to be the ones to deal with it. That threw me for a loop! That minister said nothing else about the flesh. It was my problem. He didn't teach me anything more. I was a baby and didn't know how to feed myself. I just accepted what that minister said as gospel and went on about my business trying to subdue my flesh with my flesh. I wrote out many scriptures as confessions of faith including the love scriptures of I Corinthians 13.

Nothing helped. I recorded my confessions on tape and listened to them driving to and from work. I confessed them when I got up and when I went to bed. Nothing helped me control my flesh. I fed my faith with every book on faith I could find. Nothing helped. I did develop a lot of faith, though! But I felt as fleshly as a porn queen in a porn parlor! I still became exceedingly angry when things didn't work out the way I planned. And I was subject to depression often.

You see, I didn't know how to mortify the deeds of the flesh by walking in the spirit. If we walk in the spirit Paul tells us, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. So how do we do that? Well, first of all we have to learn to recognize the desires of the flesh in us. So what are they? Paul tells us in Galatians 5:

[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
[20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
[21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,

If we do not recognize the desires of the flesh, it will be very difficult to take the next step. It is really necessary to take a look at the list of the works of the flesh and identify what works of the flesh we are guilty of. It requires being honest with oneself and saying, yes, I am guilty of being jealous of _______, or being angry with ______. Do I still hate _______? Would I die for a roll in the hay with _______? Do I worship _________? Do I create strife in my marriage as though it was right? Do I walk in the teaching of a lie?

The truth hurts! None of Us are perfect! But our Lord has provided for us a way out of a life in the flesh. It doesn't happen over night and the price is often painful. But such is what we are called to. It is called the WAY OF THE CROSS. Are you ready? We shall see.

Paul is our example. He told us that he died daily. He told us that he gloried in the cross of our Lord Jesus by which the world was crucified to him, and him to it. He told us that they that are the Lords have crucified the flesh with its lusts and affections. He also told us that if we do the things we would not it is sin that dwells in us. He told us that we cry out, oh wretched person that I am who can deliver us from the body of this death? He told us that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that we can't do what we want. We have been told our old flesh nature is vile. We have been told we can't please God or be saved in the flesh.

But praise God we have also been told that

THE LAW OF LIFE IN CHIRST JESUS HAS SET US FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH!
You say I've heard that often, read that often, and I still just don't get it! Well, you are about to get it now! The key part is [b]

IN CHRIST JESUS!

Oh, but brother Dennis you don't know how many times I have tried to quit.......and I just keep........I have done such and such so many times the Lord couldn't possibly forgive me! Grace or works? Jesus said:

Mark.3

1. [28] Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Where's your faith? We have to believe what the Word of God says just like we did when we were born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. Tis time to put away childish things and begin to wake up and grow up into the law of life IN CHRIST JESUS!

Well, you say, just how do I get in Him? Were you baptized into Him? Then you are still in Him. But I do not feel like it? Could it be then, that you have gone back to walking in the flesh? Well stop that!

Here is how we walk in the Spirit. Here is how we abide in Christ. Here is how we begin to free ourselves completely from the flesh and begin to walk worthily of the Lord into all pleasing, bearing fruit in every circumstance. We abide in Him. We abide in the true vine. We learn to recognize the desires of the flesh and not do them. We learn how to discern that which is of the flesh and that which is of the devil as opposed to that which is of the Spirit. We learn to examine a response of the flesh that has come to our mind, and say, now that thought is of the flesh. What would a spiritual person do? Now that thought came from the devil because I am walking after the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and there is no condemnation for me, so that condemnation thought came from the devil and I take it captive as a high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of the Lord and I cast it down! I have the whole armor of God on now all the time every day, and I'm always ready for every attack whether of the flesh or the devil. I am covered with the blood of Jesus. All my family members are covered with the blood of Jesus because I plead the blood of Jesus for them every day and ask they be covered every day...

So how to begin? How to begin? By putting your faith to work! Get on your face before the Lord and start loving Him first. Just love Him with all your heart...and if you can't do that, confess that to Him! Just cry out to Him and say oh Lord I don't have the love for you that I need. Please, my Lord and Savior give me more love for you! Give me more love for my brothers and sisters in you! Give me more love for my family members! Give me a heart to love, oh God! I beg you oh God for your love! The Lord will honor that as YOU CONTINUE to cry out and are broken and the tears come. You will begin to abide in Him, in the true vine. His love will begin to grow in you. You will find this is the way. You will begin to take everything to Him in prayer, exchanging your weaknesses for His supply of Spiritual fruitfulness where you lack.

You will begin to recognize unconfessed sin in your life and have the Holy Spirit close the doorway by pleading the blood of Jesus over it. You will begin to rely on the Spirit to show you places in your life where you have missed it, and close those doorways so the wicked one can't use those entranceways into your life.

Like I said, the process is long and often painful, but as we begin to desire to abide in Jesus and produce spiritual fruit, His Spirit will begin to lead us more and more as we yield more of our life to Him. It is a process. Through our strong desire to yield our will and bend to His will, we will grow more and more into a Lord Jesus Christ fruit producing child of the Living, Almighty God!


Blessing!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701!

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