The House on the Rock - Part 9
Matthew 7 (KJ2000)
24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Galatians 5 (KJ2000)
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.
Well, how can you make sure that in this contest of wills between your spirit and your flesh, your spirit is the consistent winner?
Walk in Love
Galatians 5 (KJ2000)
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.
What a beautiful thought. If I would just follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, I would not follow the lusts of my flesh.
And then again, was that what Paul was saying here?
Years ago, when I first read the two verses above, I thought the phrase “Walk in the Spirit” was a direct reference to following the leading of the Holy Spirit. That certainly made a lot of sense to me. If I followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, He would never lead me to do anything the flesh wanted to do. But then I noticed something else Paul wrote in other verses in this chapter.
Galatians 5 (KJ2000)
13 For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
15 But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
18 But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these…
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love…
The great contrast in Galatians 5 is between “the works of the flesh” and “the fruit of the spirit”. One of the most effective ways to deal with our flesh is to walk in love. Think about it – when we indulge our flesh, it is because we are being selfish and we are putting the desires of our flesh first. When we walk in love, it is because we are being selfless and we are putting the desires of others first.
Mortify Your Flesh
Romans 8 (KJ2000)
13 For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do *put to death the deeds of the body*, you shall live.
Colossians 3 (KJ2000)
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…
1 Corinthians 9
27 But I roughly treat my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
To mortify is to put to death by severe treatment, by strict discipline. Paul, the great apostle who wrote most of the New Testament had issues with his flesh that caused him to “roughly treat my body”. Yet some today believe they do not need to do this!
Learn to regularly say, “No!” to your flesh, even for desires which are not necessarily sinful. In the natural, when you say “Yes.” to everything a child wants, you will lose the ability to say “No.” to those things he should not want. Learn to deny the flesh. Learn to see the flesh as an enemy, as a prisoner of war who should be barely kept alive, not allowed to feed fat.
Continue in grace!