“Crucifying the Flesh; Daily”
"...Walk in the Spirits and ye shall not
fulfill the lust
of the flesh. For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirits and the
Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do
the things that ye would". (Gal.5:
16 & 17). First,
we must understand what is this "flesh"? The
Greek word for flesh and its
meaning(s) are as follows: Sarx, by
implication human nature
with it's frailties (phys. or mor.)
and passions or spec. a
human being(as such)-carnal(-ly + -ly
minded), flesh[-ly]. Derived
from the Greek meaning, "flesh"
is our natural man, our sin
nature, and fallibleness. The Apostle
Paul, writes in depth on
this subject. Unfortunately, the Church
today is "caught in
grace", what I mean is this, grace is a
beautiful gift from God
which grants eternal life for all who be-
lieve in Jesus Christ as the
Son of the living God, who came to
earth in the flesh, as the
ultimate sacrifice for the sins of man
(Hebrews 9:1-28). But, the
Church has seemingly set aside our
duty as Christians,
disregarding our imperative obligation to be
conformed unto Christ(Romans
Q;29). As Christians we must realize
that it is our duty to
change our bad habits to good habits,
it is our duty to
reprioritize our lives, as to place God first.
In Romans 6, Paul is
implying our duty to be Christ-like. He
is writing that our
"old man is crucified with him(Christ)", and
this is very true, in
simplified words, Paul is slating that our
old life has passed away and
we have entered a whole new realm of
lifestyle. As in Ephesians,
Paul writes, "If so be that ye have
heard him, and have been
taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
That ye put off concerning
the former conversation the old man,
which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed
in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which
after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness". (4:21-24)
The key verse in Romans 6 is
verse 7, "For he that is dead is
freed from sin". This
means we are no longer condemned by our sins,
for the shed blood of Jesus
has cleansed us from our old ways and
granted us justification
from our sin debt. Consequently, we are
instructed to live a new
life, which can be beautiful as we live
in subjection to God's will,
obedience will reap joy! Paul writes
in I Corinthians
9:26-27, "I therefore run, not as uncertainly;
so
fight I, not as one that
beateth the air: But I keep under my body
and bring it into
subjection;..". Paul realized that while serving
the Lord, he will experience
a battle between his flesh and his
spirit, that is why the Holy
Spirit inspired Paul to write so much
scripture based upon our
necessity to "fight the good fight of
faith" (I Tim. 6:12).
Daily we all must realize that Satan will by
all means do all he can to
set stumbling blocks in our way of vic-
tory in Jesus. Yes, we surly
do have victory in Jesus, but that
does not mean there is no
battle. Our flesh is very real, and
Satan will do all He can to
feed into our fleshly lusts, whether
our weakness is
covetousness, lying, pornography, hate, or a mul-
titude
of other sins. Yes, our old man is crucified with Christ,
but that does not mean our
flesh dies, that is our duty. The Holy
Spirit
will strengthen us in this battle, but we must be submissive.
I
Peter 2:11 reads, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as stran-
gers and pilgrims' abstain from fleshly
lusts, which war against
the soul". Continuing in chapter 4:1-2, Paul writes,
"Forasmuch
then as Christ suffered for
us in the flesh, arm yourselves like-
wise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered
in the flesh
hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should
live the rest of
his time in the flesh to the
lusts of men, but to the will of God".
Notice the word
"should", that is our duty, we SHOULD live in
the will of God, we SHOULD
learn of God's will in the Bible, we
SHOULD fashion ourselves to be Christ-like, we MUST
do these things
in order to fully glorify
God with our daily lifestyle. God will
most assuredly grant us the strength to do so, but
it is impera-
tive that we be willing and
persistently put our flesh under sub-
jection to the Spirit of
God, which abides within us. Romans 6:6,
" Knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin". Let us forever be aware that we go
through a daily battle to
be conformed unto Christ Jesus and to separate
ourselves from the
sinful ways of this world, it is our duty to serve
God and present
ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which
is our expected service
(Rom. 12:1).
In conclusion Romans 14:7-6,
" For none of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord; and whether we die, we
die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or
die, we are the
Lord's". This is our
duty, to crucify the flesh daily, and live in
full subjection to the will
of God and not our own. Next time you
feel hate towards someone,
next time you envy someone else’s pos-
sesions, next time you begin
to doubt in God's provision, next
time you deny the direction
of the Holy Spirit, rebuke Satan in
Jesus' name, for it is your wicked flesh on the rise
to supercede
the will of God. "This
I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall
not fulfill the lust of the
flesh" (Gal. 5;16). Glory to God!!!!!
In faithful service to God,
Jeffrey B. Quanta IV
June 2, 2000
******************************
"Walking in the Spirit,
Daily"
" If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit".
(Gal. 5:25). Now that we
understand our imperative duty to crucify
our flesh daily, we must
know how to counterattack our flesh. In
Galatians
6:7-8, Paul writes, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to his flesh shall of
the flesh reap corruption; but he that
soweth to the Spirit, shall
of the Spirit reap everlasting life".
How then, do we sow in the
Spirit? It is all concerning what
you plant in the fields of
you life. Good seeds or evil seeds. When
we strive daily to present
ourselves Christ-like, we are sowing good
seeds,
when we disregard compassion for others, when we meditate on
ungodly thoughts, when we
act out in conduct unbecoming a Christian,
we are sowing seeds of evil
and surly grieving the Holy Spirit. In
I Thessalonians 5:19, Paul
writes, "Quench not the Spirit". Paul is
stating that we must not
sin, for it grieves the Holy Spirit and
that
will send us in a state of restlessness. Ephesians 4:30 says,
"And
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God/ whereby ye are sealed
unto the day of
redemption". God hates sin, and when we sin it dis-
honors God, greatly. In I
John 3:9, John writes, "Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him: and he
cannot sin, because he is
born of God". First we must understand
that sinning is one thing,
living in sin is another. John is addres-
sing those living in sin,
none of us are flawless, we all sin some
time or another, whether it
is sins o£ omission(unintentional) or
sins o£
commission(intentional), but when we are born of God, we can-
not live in sin for God will
not tolerate it, He will discipline you.
"For whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth".
(Heb. 12:6). A few examples of living in
sin are as follows: Having
an affair out of wedlock, alcoholism,
drug addictions, habitual
lying, and unforgiveness. We must strive
never to allow these things
to reign in our lives, for it grieves
the
Spirit, as we are consumed by fleshly desires.
As true believers of Christ,
we are all blessed with the fruits
of the Spirit, "...the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
against such there is no
law". Too often Christians leave these
fruits dormant in the
corners of their hearts. Let us be active in
these gifts, never failing
to initiate them when adversity come our
direction. Proclaim victory
when someone hurts you with the fruit
of love, when you feel
despondent, proclaim the fruit of joy, when
you feel restless, proclaim
the fruit o£ peace, and so on. It is our
duty
to trust in the Lord, for He has blessed us with these weapons
of spiritual warfare, we
must believe in His power greater than our-
selves. "Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them:
because greater is he that
is in you, than he that is in the world".
How beautiful God's Word
really is for those who activate the
sound instruction within. Be
a participant of God's Word, not just
one who reads it in vain. I
love the instruction Paul gives to young
Timothy in I Timothy
l;16-19, "This I commit unto thee, son Timothy,
according to the prophecies
which went before on thee, that thou by
them mightiest war
a good warfare; Holding faith, and a
good con-
science;_ which some having put away
concerning faith have made ship-
wreck". Let us not sink
ourselves into the murky waters of the flesh,
but let us forever remain in
the open air of the blessed Spirit of
God, that we may breathe the
fresh air of faith undefiled by strang-
ulation of sin. In
conclusion I'd like to proclaim the blessed
words which Jesus speaks in John 10:10-11, "The
thief cometh not,
but for to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy: I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly. I am
the good shepherd: the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep".
Glorify God with your lives,
for He has already given His
life for you, that you may walk daily in the Spirit,
in victory!!!
J.B.Q.