This morning, I had a great time as I broke open my bible and sat down to see what God would have for me today. I found myself in Colossians 3:1-11 (via intervarsity daily bible study). This passage was so awesome and timely for me. It was speaking about the battle between the "old nature" and our "new nature in Christ." I don't know about you, but I find myself frequently in this battle. I was particularly drawn to one of the questions that had me thinking about "how can we set our mind on things above rather than earthly things?" As I pondered this and examined the Scriptures, I came up with four things that help in this fight...
- Focus our hearts and minds on Christ. It is easy to just let our minds and attention wonder to and fro. If we are going to win this battle though, we must keep our minds and attention pointed to the cross and the empty tomb. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we find victory.
- Spend time with God in prayer and His word. I find myself teaching students many times that you can tell what you love by how much time you spend with it. If we are going to win the battle against the flesh, we must take up the weapons that God has given to us (Ephesians 6:17-18).
- Yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. When we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, He placed within us part of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides us to live a godly life. For victory in this life, we must be in tune (not going against) what the Holy Spirit is directing in our lives. He is seeking to bring glory to God through our lives. Will we let Him?
- Be alert to the temptations all around us. Peter warns us that the devil is roaming around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). At every turn of our lives, temptations stand there to knock us off of the path that God has for us. We must be alert and remember that we are in a war. No soldier just hap-hazardously walks around. They are constantly on the lookout for attacks. So must we be.
The main thing that stuck out to me from this time with God this morning was that I cannot just go about my day and life in any fashion. If I live life "naturally", then I will venture away from my Creator and Lord. My flesh still seeks its own way. I have to live life on purpose and alert - for the glory of God!
What are some other tools (from Scripture) that you use in the daily battle against the flesh?
1 comments:
I think of James 4:7-8 Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you and draw close to God and he will draw close to you. Notice the exhortations follow by the promises. These give me great comfort in fighting against the flesh.
Blessings,
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