"But I see a
different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my
mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which dwells in me"
(Ro. 7:23 ) Paul also said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in
me, that is, in my flesh; for the wiling is present in me, but the doing of the
good is not" (7:18 - read 7:14 through 25).
Hey Gang, Question?
How many out there realized we are in an on-going war, a war that never ceases
nor will it cease until Yeshua HaMashiah returns and takes back what is
rightfully His? Years ago I heard a pastor say, the war begins the
moment we put our feet on the floor in the morning. I would altar
that! I believe it continues even during the night time hours.
Satan is relentless and never sleeps and continues to harass us even when we
think our minds are beyond his reach.
Paul writes, "The
moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight
in God's commands, but...not all of me joins in that delight" (Rom.
7:19).
What's
happening? Your flesh is at war with your spirit, seducing you into
relaxing your defenses. And, the moment you do, It'll ‘nail you’.
It'll whisper, "Go ahead, it's no
big deal, everybody does it. Who'll know anyway?" Learn to
identify and say no to that voice before it becomes a thought entertained, a
deed done, a habit formed and a character ruined.
Your new birth doesn't
do away with your old nature, it just brings it into sharp contrast. You may be
redeemed, but you still live in a carnal body in a fallen world. If you
try to fight the flesh in the power of the flesh, you'll just end up fighting
yourself. What's the answer? "Walk in the spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). How
do you do that? By obeying God's Word, instead of doing what comes
naturally!
You were
programmed from birth to walk in the flesh, so if you "blow it"
occasionally, don't get discouraged. It appears from Paul's letter to the
Roman's that he dealt with this very problem in his life. He wrote,
"For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I
would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate". (vs.
15) I can say "Been there and done that" and continue to deal
with that issue on a daily basis.
Satan is on a campaign
to feed as much smut and garbage into our eyes and ears as we will allow him to
do It is virtually impossible to watch the ‘boob tub’e more than ten
minutes without seeing or hearing something that is not pleasing to our Abba
Father and, for the formative years of the younger generation, it can
contaminate their brains very rapidly.
Sooooo, how do we
protect our mind and heart from doing the very thing we hate? By learning
to walk in the Spirit with a new set of values, new companions, new priorities,
new resources and new management. Your ‘new birth’ begins a life-long
battle. To win you must live in the "war mode". Paul's
antidote for not doing the thing we hate, "For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Rom,
8:2).
Blessings,
Gramps
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