Our Flesh

Our flesh wages war against our spirit, the spirit of God. It is our human nature and it wants to be in control, it wants to do the things that God has instructed us not to do. It  is our feelings, our negative thoughts and more. In Galatians 5:19-21 it is written "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

When we walk according to the flesh, we allow the things of the devil to control us. Romans 8:5 "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." We have become blinded by our feelings; we base everything on how we feel, instead of basing it on the word of God. We base what we are doing on our feelings and that causes us to not to want to do anything or to do the wrong things. Our flesh is very powerful and when we are not in the word daily, searching for His truths, we are not walking in the Spirit. In Hebrews 11:6 it says "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." We must earnestly seek Him, not just when we feel like it, but do it because it honors God. That is the bottom line, when we base things on feelings, we are basing it on the flesh, not on God! In 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Be stead fast in the Word of God, immovable, stand firm, do not waver.

It says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." In our weakness He is strongest. Our flesh says I can do it myself, I don't need any help, but that is the lie of the flesh. We need to be willing to fall to our knees in complete surrender and admit that we can't do it anymore, because when we are weak, He is strong.

Romans 8:8 says "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." If we are trying to please God, but are walking in anger, rage or any of the other things, we are not pleasing God. We are called to honor God. Our flesh will say it is not worth it, I want to fit in and I want to do what the world does, but God says No, we can't be like the world. In 1 John 2:15-17 "15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."

As I am sitting here praying about what I have written here today, I get a strong sense to add one more thing. Our feelings lie to us, our flesh lies to us. We are to stand firm in the word of God, we are to put our minds on things above and not on things of this world. We need to be willing to surrender our feelings to our Father and allow Him to guide us through all of it. We need to be committed not to self, but to God. We need to be willing to do what Jesus did, He said Not my will, but Yours be done and follow through. God has you where you are today, He is teaching you and making you, trust Him and not your feelings. Our feelings are anger, hatred, guilt, jealousy, rage and so much more, but God says we are not to walk in those things, but to walk in Love as Jesus walked in love. What is He calling you to let go today and let God take care of? Not doing it, is disobedience to God. 

Some other verses that talk about our hearts, talk about our flesh. We need to be aware of what we need to watch for. If we do not know, we don't know our weaknesses and can't surrender them to God, because 1 John 4:4 "Greater than He is in me than he that is in the world" He lives in you, allow Him to guide you, not your feelings, not the things of the world, but God. 

Matthew 15:16-20 "“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”"

Romans 8:6 "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."

Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

Motivational and Inspirational Videos

We all need to be motivated, to have some inspiration in our life and it comes through reading the word, listening to music and many other different ways. This morning my wife sent me a link to one on YouTube and I found many more and it has encouraged me to continue to move forward. I want to encourage you as well, no matter what you are facing, no matter what obstacles that may be in your way, God is faithful, He will have victory. The first video is about Prayer. It is called Pray Like You Mean It, it is incredible. How many of us pray, but don't believe that God will answer? He answers prayer, remember the parable that Jesus told about the Persistent widow? Luke 18:1-8  She kept asking and in it, she received. We need to keep asking and believe that God will answer. Stop thinking that prayer doesn't work and start praying and don't stop, just because God has His own timing, it may not be ours, but God timing is perfect, ours is rushed and we miss the lesson that He is teaching us along the way. He wants us to learn and in learning we grow and change.

We believe the lies of our human flesh, we give into the world more times than we give into God. They will call it a heart issue and that heart issue is that we limit what we can do, because we may be afraid of failure, so we don't try. That is not called faith, God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight, the world says we should see what we are doing and then only do what we feel we can do and in that we are not following God. God wants us to walk by faith. How are you walking today?

It is easy to hear the world say we can't do it, we can hear the devil echoing in our ears we are failures, we are not good enough or God doesn't love us, or God will never forgive us of our past, but He says He will and He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. The devil is always reminding us of our failures, but God is in it all reminding us how He will use them to make us more like Him. It is a battle a war of our flesh verses that of the Living God. We need to battle our flesh, stand tall and to fight for what is right. Is it time for you to fight? No longer giving into the world, time to fight.

It is easy to become discouraged, to think that we do not measure up, that we are not worth it, but our confidence is not in ourselves, but the our One True God, who has gone before us. He has made a way where we thought there was no other way. Jesus is the only way, when we base our lives on other people, what we wear, how we act, we will never be what God wants us to be, but when we base it on Jesus Christ, we will love like He calls us to, we will act like He calls us to and we will strive to be more and more like Him. Our confidence must be in Him and not me. Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

I came across one more, I wanted to share too, it is longer, but who are you Committed too? This is so good. This is God's truth right from the word of God. Are we committed to the truth, because John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.""

The Number One Problem in Marriage By Dennis Rainey

Open communication is essential to the life of a marriage relationship.
By Dennis Rainey

“Tap-tap . . . tap-tap-tap . . . tap-tap-tap-tap . . . tap-tap-tap . . .”

Captain Red McDaniel rapped carefully on the walls of his cell in the Hanoi Hilton, practicing the special camp code prisoners used to communicate with each other. He knew he had to be very careful.

His Communist captors wanted to keep all of their American “guests” isolated and vulnerable. Prisoners caught trying to communicate would be tortured, and McDaniel had already been through that.

As the interminable days went by, McDaniel came to fear isolation far more than the threats of torture by his Vietcong captors. The highlight of each day was being taken to the washroom, where he managed to whisper briefly with two other Americans brought in at the same time. They told him about the camp code, an acrostic system that involved using a certain number of taps (or other signals) to spell out letters of the alphabet. McDaniel recognized the code as his lifeline, his only link with sanity.

If a new prisoner couldn’t learn the code and communicate with fellow Americans within 30 days of his arrival, he would gradually start to draw inward and deteriorate. The prisoner would slowly lose the will to live. He would stop eating, and as his stomach became bloated, he would actually start to feel “fat.” Little by little, the prisoner would die alone as the strange predator, isolation, sucked his very life out of him.

At first glance, the horrors of the Hanoi Hilton seem unrelated to a marriage relationship. But in a very real way, communication is essential to the life of a marriage, just as it was essential to the lives of the prisoners. If you don’t communicate, your marriage will die.

Good, open communication is the top need in marriage. Nothing is as easy as talking; nothing is as difficult as communicating. Using words correctly and skillfully is an important part of communication, but even more important is that both husband and wife have a willingness to communicate in ways that result in deeper honesty and openness.

The great cover-up

Communicating effectively begins with discovering transparency. Transparency in marriage is described in Genesis before the fall: “The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).

Adam and Eve were without disguise or covering, without any mask. They were uncovered physically, and they did not cover up emotionally. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were a picture of true transparency—being real, open to each other, and unafraid of rejection.

But after the fall, we read, “They knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings” (Genesis 3:7). Those famous fig leaf aprons were only part of their cover-up. Sin introduced a lot more than modesty. It also brought deceit, lying, trickery, half-truths, manipulation, misrepresentation, distortion, hatred, jealousy, control, and many other vices, all causing us to wear masks.

Many people spend tremendous time and energy building facades to hide their insecurities. They are afraid that if someone finds out who they really are, they will be rejected. For many men in particular, deep and honest communication can be very threatening. Too many wives and husbands are afraid to be honest with each other.

The Scriptures, however, emphasize being open and vulnerable. Paul modeled transparency when he wrote to the Corinthians, many of whom were not exactly his admirers: “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote you with many tears; not that you should be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4). Paul was not afraid to weep or say, “I love you.” Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and lamented that a hard-hearted Jerusalem rejected Him (Luke 13:34).

At the same time, Scripture warns about being too open and honest. Solomon wrote, “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). The familiar saying about words is not true: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Words can hurt. They cut, rip, and wound. As Solomon also said, “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18). If you’re a spouse who uses words rashly, then you would do well to “hold your tongue.”

Many couples would improve their relationships if both partners would use words that are gentle and full of encouragement and praise. In marriage, partners need to affirm each other often.

Learning to be more open

The Bible encourages deeper communication but cautions against using it recklessly. How can you tell the difference between what is appropriate and inappropriate?

Deep communication takes most of us a long time to achieve. You or your spouse may have come from a family where open communication was discouraged or even punished. It may take years to reach a deep, satisfying level of transparency, but every couple needs to be headed in the right direction.

Just as you do when you learn and sharpen most skills, with communication you start at easier levels and work your way toward proficiency.

The fifth, or lowest, level of communication is cliché conversation, where you share nothing of substance with the other person: “Hello, how are you doing? Hot, isn’t it? Have a nice day.”

Moving up the scale a notch, level-four conversation involves reporting the facts. You share what you know but little more than that. You expose nothing of yourself and are content to report what so-and-so said or what so-and-so did.

At level three, you share your opinions—your ideas and judgments about things. You finally start to come out of your shell and reveal a little bit of who you are. You watch the other person carefully, and when you sense even the slightest question or rejection, you retreat.

Emotional sharing—what you feel—starts at level two. Here you must be careful to avoid hurting your spouse. But many marriages are in such need of sharing feelings that the risk must be taken. If you can’t share feelings with your spouse, your marriage is on superficial ground. You won’t grow, and neither will your partner.

The top level of communication is transparency—being completely open with the other person. Transparency means sharing the real you, from the heart. Level-one communication requires a deep degree of trust, commitment, and friendship.

You reserve the transparency level for your spouse and perhaps a few others who are very close to you. Becoming transparent with many people can be dangerous. For example, sharing too much of who you are with someone of the opposite sex can lead to an affair.

When spouses reach the transparency level, they operate with oneness. One can kindly say to the other, “I think you’re angry. Is there something bothering you?”

And the other can answer, “I think you're right. Maybe what is making me so mad is what my boss said to me in that meeting yesterday.”

Reaching this level of meaningful communication is not easy, but the rewards far outweigh the cost. We all long deeply to be heard and understood. The most natural place for this to occur is within the safe harbor of a healthy marriage. That “safe” harbor can be created and maintained only by a couple committed to each other. At its root, love is a commitment. In marriage, it’s a covenant. 1 John 4:18 embodies the commitment that brings freedom: “Perfect love casts out fear.”

The article Link

God's Way

The Bible is full of stories about how the people did it their own way and what happened as a result. We constantly want to do things "My way", but God has a clear direction. We can see this play out in Genesis at the beginning.

• God created man and woman, He gave them one instruction, do not eat from the tree of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). They did what they wanted and ate from the tree and as a result of the actions they had to pay for that. 
• The people lacked faith in God when Moses went to receive the 10 commandments and when he left, they started to doubt and raised started worshiping idols. Exodus 32:2-10
• God instructed the people of Israel to send spies into the land Canaan, it was the promise land. But the people did not trust God and as a result, they ended up wandering the desert for 40 more years. Numbers 13-14

The list goes on and I can illustrate more of how the Israelite's turned their back on God time and time again, but God is so faithful and just. He did not turn His back on them. He was there with them through it all, He continued to pour out His love on them regardless of it, but look at what the Israelite's had to endure for their disregard for the way God said to do things? God was very clear to them, just as He is very clear to us.

If you are a parent, you might have heard these words, "I do what I want to do and no one can tell me different!!" or maybe you have said them yourself. God is clear about those very words in the Bible, He has said we should do what He calls us to do. He has a clear direction of what we are to do, He has a clear direction of what we are not to do, He is clear about every aspect of life, but we have to be in the word of God to see this. 

We must read the word of God not just to learn from what others have done, but also to allow God to speak to us through the word. If we have the idea that it is just a waste of time, that is just like the Israelite's in Exodus, they didn't want to wait on God, they did what they wanted to do. Or in Numbers, they said it was too difficult to take the promised land, they did not trust God, they ended up wandering in the desert for 40 more years. The illustrations of God are in the Bible, throughout the Bible, but it takes us reading it. We do not just learn, but we bring glory to God in doing so, because we want to learn from His Word, we want to learn what He says. The Bible is God's truths poured out onto us through His word, but we must read it to know it. 

The excuse of I never knew is gone, because the truth of the Bible is right there for you. Are you in His word asking Him to speak to you? Instead of just reading it as something you feel you might have to do, read it to bring God glory.