How We Walk

I am grateful to have found places for all the new barn signs!

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians 5:28-30

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23

Me: Good afternoon, Father!

Abba: Good afternoon, Jon!

Me: Clearly, we can walk “after” the flesh, even if we are “in” Jesus.

Abba: You are slave to whomever you obey (Romans 6). You need your body in this life. You are to be a good steward of it. Your body, contrary to popular opinion, does not belong to you.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Your body: you feed it, exercise it, rest it, and otherwise take care of it that it may serve the purposes I Am giving you to fulfill. Your body is not intended to be in charge. The desires of the flesh know no practical limitation. Driven by unfettered desire, you will overeat because I generously made food to taste good to you. Left to the body’s own choice, work and exercise will fall by the wayside and laziness will assert control. You will be tempted to stay up late, then to sleep in. The body’s desires always seek the most instant gratifications. But I Am calling you to be steward over your body, as I said before.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25

[Temperance:  ἐγκράτεια (eng-krat’-i-ah) Self-mastery, self-restraint, self-control.]

Please note that though this is, in human terms, called self-control, it is a gift of the Spirit to Christ followers. What does this mean? Remember that statement about yielding from earlier, that came from Romans 6? Your will is in play here. If you decide to yield to My Spirit and follow My word instead of fleshly desires, if you seek the strength to walk in My ways from Me, then you will see freedom from the domination of fleshly desires in My power. The cravings of the body can then be relegated to fulfill the functions they were created to fulfill with full enjoyment. Most get the proverbial cart before the horse and seek to control the flesh in the power of the flesh, using willpower instead of My power. The natural result is that the flesh (that wants no control) will have made you its slave and you will remain locked in a vicious cycle of serving it.

Me: Thank You Father! I love you!

Abba: You are welcome! I love you!

Worn out by your vicious circle?