The Flesh is Death

This is the Word of the Lord, as I heard Him speak. “You are the sons of the Most High God. You are the revelation of His purpose on the earth. In you the covenant of grace is revealed.” In light of this then, what manner of people ought we to be? We must walk in the revelation of that grace. We have received the word of life. That word is hope for all mankind. We have become partakers of this great grace, which is to populate the world to come. The Lord has proven Himself to us. He has been faithful in all that He has spoken in His Word. We have indeed tasted of the power of the world to come.

There is none who can deny His patience and longsuffering with us. It is true that we have become the workmanship of His hands. This is a time of focusing on what the Lord is doing in us and in the ministry. It is a time of agreement with God. If you do not lay aside your own way of operating and move forward with God in this time, it is truly because sin, unbelief or both lie at your door. The Lord has not made it difficult for us to walk in righteousness. The Word has been very clear on this. We simply have to agree to walk in the Spirit of the Most High.

This is not a time for bitterness, accusation, contention or anything that causes schisms in the Body. If we are to win the lost for Christ, we must be at peace with one another. It is evident that some who have heard this word from the Lord are not persuaded to walk in it. Truly they are fainting on their course. I think one of the saddest things I have ever heard the Lord say was that some have made a decision to go into Hell. They have decided that God’s route is too hard and that they will never accomplish true righteousness. Therefore, they have simply given up trying.

THE ELEMENTS OF DEFEAT

While working on the production, “Amazing Grace,” I was compelled to do a study on Hell. The Lord’s testimony of Hell is terrifying. It is a horrible place that some seem not to take seriously as a consequence for sin. I asked the Lord what could be done about such souls. He was very precise in His reply. He took me inside each of the snares that beset those souls who are walking in the darkness of this world. In every case, the elements of defeat were the same; pride, unbelief and disobedience to the Word of God. Saints, it is time to examine ourselves and respond to the truth. The Spirit of God is the same in all. The Spirit of God entreats His enemies with love, kindness and intercession. He is not depressed, full of malice, hatred, anger, despair, contention or perplexity. He is gentle and kind, loving and responsive to the purpose of God. He does not concern Himself with the unfruitful works of darkness. If you are experiencing any of these negative dispositions, you simply want something that flesh has been denied. It is the flesh that reacts to wantonness of any kind. It is flesh that is always angry about something. It is the flesh that feels forsaken or denied. It is the work of the flesh that is always dissatisfied and forever seeking vindication. Those walking in the Spirit are able to rejoice in whatever state they find themselves in. The Spirit knows and accepts the fact that it is God who vindicates righteousness. All we have to do is “be holy.”

This is the one thing that always seems to evade those who walk after the flesh. They refuse to submit to the Word of God. If they did, then God Himself would fight their battles. Because they will not submit to God’s Word, they are left to fight their own battles in the flesh. This causes friction and schisms in the Body of Christ.

BLINDED BY PRIDE

The walk in darkness is a blinding walk. It is a walk of pride and self-orientation. Man’s pride has always alienated him from God. It causes us to focus more on our own image than the image of Christ. We can easily become more concerned about how people see us than how God sees us. This is deception and blindness. When we walk in darkness, we walk according to the prince of darkness which is Satan. There are those who will probably be offended by these truths; however, the acid test is our relationship with the people of God. We must examine how we entreat the people of God.

How can we expect to maintain godly relationships with those without the Body if we are not able to live peaceably with our spiritual brethren? If only the Lord could get all of us to agree with Him. If only we would agree with what the Word has to say about an issue. Unbelief is a problem in the Body. You see, pride will not allow us to accept the truth about ourselves. In addition, there is war and division in the household of faith.

James 4:1

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

The Word tells us that fightings and wars among the saints are due to wantonness. When are we going to accept the truth about our dispositions?

James 4:2

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

We fight for money, power, recognition, authority, control, reputation, and still do not obtain those things that we want.

James 4:3

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

God is not going to feed our lust. He is not going to allow us to bite and devour one another and prosper. Neither is He going to support the impurities of our heart.

James 4:4

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

As long as we think like the world and desire the same things the world desires, God will not be supportive of us. That is why so many saints are frustrated. God is not working with them, but they blame others for the slack in their relationship with God. This is primarily because they refuse to accept God is all-powerful and that it is God who denies us the things we want so desperately. Nevertheless, it is more convenient and less self-condemning to blame others for our walk in the flesh. It is time to accept that whom God has blessed, no man can curse, and whom God has cursed, no man can bless.

James 4:5-6

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

It is God who resists pride. It is also God who gives grace (favor, ministry, power and wisdom) to the humble.

James 4:7-8

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

The only way our negative situations will ever change is that we submit to God. But the proud are constantly looking for some other way to get what they want. Thus, the mind has to operate overtime to devise a way to vindicate self and paint the picture of the image it worships. However, when this does not work, we faint and become bitter, angry and depressed.

The scripture below provides deliverance for those who have allowed themselves to be snared by their own pride.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6

1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Pride is Satan’s playground. Whenever Satan has the human mind operating in cunning craftiness, it is with the intent of deceiving the brethren. First, Satan makes us believe that we are righteous in our thinking and actions. This is easy seeing as how the carnal mind will always vindicate and protect flesh. This mind will not submit to the Spirit of God, for fear that we will hear and see our true dispositions. Regardless of what we do, we will always find a justification for it. This is how we ensnare ourselves. Pride will cause us to call that which is ungodly, godly.

It will cause us to see everyone else as being wrong and that we are the only righteous, innocent victim of a conspiracy among the saints and the world to destroy us. As ludicrous as this may sound, it is very real to the saint who walks in the flesh. It is a walk of death. Therefore, death is seen in everything and everybody.

Consequently, we become angry, paranoid and just plain old miserable. There can be no joy in our lives in such a state. There is always something wrong. People are always a problem. Everyone is out to destroy or take advantage of us. We cannot accept true love because we become bitter and unable to allow love to flow from us. Instead, we allow iniquity, anger, paranoia and misery to flow from us like a river into all our relationships.

Unless we deny ourselves, cast down vain imaginations, accept the Word of God as law and walk in the Spirit, we will forever destroy our relationships with God and man. Paul continues to try to encourage us to walk in the power of the Spirit. To do so however, the flesh (self) must die.

2 Corinthians 4:7-13

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

This is the mind and disposition of the saint who is walking in the Spirit. They are not distressed because of trouble. We are not in despair about things we do not have knowledge of. We do not feel forsaken or destroyed by persecution. Instead, we are able to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, knowing that our reward from the Father is great. However when one is walking in the flesh, he is unable to rejoice in these situations. This is true simply because the joy of the Lord is not present in unrighteousness. The mind has to become cunning and crafty to obtain its own reward. When its plan does not work, then pain, frustration, iniquity and misery are its reward.

Beloved, let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. He is just in all His ways. He will not forget our labor of love. He is not slack in any of His promises. He can make us much happier than the cunning craftiness of the carnal mind. Walk in the Spirit and experience the joy of your salvation