GET UP!
GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!
Chapter 7
Battle of the Flesh
A Partnership with God
We cannot pull ourselves out of
darkness on our own.
It requires the power of God!
"There
were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Prisoners
in misery and chains,
Because
they had rebelled against the words of God
And
spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore
He humbled their heart with labor;
They
stumbled and there was none to help.
Then they
cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
He saved
them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and
the shadow of death
And broke their bands apart,” (Psalms 107:10-14).
In my personal battle of my flesh, I
am coming to know and understand the awesome God who created me, loves me, and
saves me. Daily I thank God for the gift of my life. There was nothing before
my birth. Before the creation of my life there was nothing, no memory, no
existence, nothing! Before the creation of my life, there was nothing, no memory, no existence, nothing! Now today, and as far back as I can remember, there is me. I think, hope, wonder and appreciate beauty, experience sadness, stress, loneliness, solitude, joy and love. Most of all, I have an extraordinary awareness of God. We were created in the image of God. We were not created to be God, but created
by God and in His image and likeness. For me, this is an astonishing
realization. All creation was made for us. We, you and me, were given dominion
over it. Even the angels were made lower than us. After God made man, God
walked and communed with man in the beautiful creation He made for him. In the
battle of my flesh; in the struggle to worship God and not myself, I’m learning
to commune with God. The closer I come to know God; the more intimate my
relationship with my Lord becomes, the less I sin or even desire to sin. One
day my intimate relationship with Him will be face to face, and there will be
no more sin in me. Thank You Lord, I look forward to my consummated
relationship with You.
God Back on the Throne
Once we have made our turn back to
God in our broken and contrite heart, God now partners with us in the
conquering of our flesh. Once God sits again on the thrown of our life, He, as
God Almighty, enters into our battle. Through our Lord and Savior we become
victorious.
God Promises Us Victory
in Our Battle
He will be our God:
"But this is the new covenant I will make with
the people of Israel on that day," says the LORD. "I will put My
instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be
their God, and they will be My people,” (Jeremiah 31:33 NLT).
He will create a desire
and be the power within us to do what pleases Him:
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and
the power to do what pleases Him,” (Philippians 2:13 NLT).
The Lord will equip us
to do His will:
“May He equip you with all you need for doing His
will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good
thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen,”
(Hebrews 13:21 NLT).
Beginning the
Restoration
My
dear friends, once we have turned our lives back to God we are still weak, and
the enemy now tries to defeat us again. Restoration is a continuous journey. In
each step I took toward the Lord, He reviled Himself in obvious ways to let me
know He was now my God and I was on the right path.
God
took away my desire for drugs and alcohol immediately. However, I have never
put myself in the same place where drugs were used since that time. I have
relapsed several times with marijuana so I take no chances there. However, on a
few occasions I would have a drink with a client. Each time the taste of the
drink was horrible. After a sip, that would be enough. The tasted alcohol was
so bad I could drink no more.
There
were other battles that continued and I would have to learn to depend on God for
victory.
The Need for Shepherds
One of the most powerful helps from
God was to send shepherds into my life. I defined these shepherds in chapter 5,
The Shepherd’s Shepherd. I was 13 years in rebellion and it was 13 years of
intense work with my Lord to restore me to ministry. This ministry the Lord has
given me is far greater and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. But
along the way there were also many strongholds in my life that I needed to be
delivered from. Pray for shepherds in your life that are established by God and
who you can trust. If you have Godly Elders in your church, this would be a
good place to start. You will need good mentors and encouragers. We need men of
God that can give us direction and accountability. We need men that cannot be
manipulated by us. We need men on solid ground with our Lord that help us find
firm footing to walk with the Lord, and firm footing when we slip.
We Cannot Fight Alone
Here is a quote from my mentor and
shepherd, Dr. David W. Robinson, “What do you call a fully armored solider who
fights alone? A dead man!” We are not meant to fight alone. In the first few
years of my return to God and His restoration of my life, there were many times
the evil one would try to defeat me with thoughts that I sinned too much. I had
thoughts to give up the battle. Even though I knew the scriptures of grace, it
took a few years for God to confirm His grace to me. One by one the Lord
brought mentors/shepherds into my life. These shepherds formed a shield wall of
encouragement and protection. I had the trust to be able to confide in them,
and they had the discernment to not only encourage, but correct when necessary.
I learned to fight the good fight
within God’s shield wall of protection and strength. God’s fully armed soldiers
fight together. The Roman army of Paul’s time called this the shield wall. I
believe Paul was referring to this in Ephesians chapter 6 when talking about
our spiritual armor. I would say that when many of us fell, we fell as wounded
soldiers. We were alone outside the shield wall of our brothers; our fellow
soldiers in the Lord. We had no accountability, direction, and fellowship. The
Apostle said after he described the fully armed soldier of God, “With all
prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be
on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on
my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to
make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel," (Ephesians 6:18, 19).
We are to be in prayer for each other. We are to be alert for each other.
Together we make proclamation of the Gospel. Together we “Put on the full armor
of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the
devil," (Ephesians 6:11). Together “our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of
this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places," (Ephesians 6:12). When we fight and one of us are wounded,
together we pull him in and continue the fight until he is restored. Once
restored, we fight together again. The Church is not one Christian; it is all
of us together.
The Power of the Holy
Spirit.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but
if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you
have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have
received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father,'”
(Acts 8:11-15)!
The rhetorical question, “if the same
Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you”? The Holy Spirit indwells
each child of God. You, even though fallen, are a child of God. The Holy Spirit
dwells in you. Now that you have put God back on the throne of your life, the
Holy Spirit becomes powerful within us. This is the same Spirit that raised
Jesus from the dead! This Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the
dead will “give life to your mortal bodies”. Amen.
“We
are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh”. My
friend, the choice is always present before us. In our battle of restoration,
daily we face temptations of the sins that beseech us. Many times, especially
in the beginning, I gave into my beseeching sins. However, I was determined not
to give up, but to press on. I found that the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of
God are endless blessings. These are not just words on a page but profound and
boundless blessings from the Lord. I learned over time that the sooner I went
to my knees and asked for forgiveness the better. As restored leaders of God’s
Church we are learning the unfathomable blessings of grace, mercy, and
forgiveness. God will use these deeper understandings through us to demonstrate
the powerful Savior we all have.
“But
if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will
live.” “But if by the Spirit...” As I said in chapter 1, in the beginning of my
restoration I read my Bible daily. As I have quoted before, Hebrew 4:12 and 1
Peter 1:23 refer to the Word of God as living. It is given to us by the Holy
Spirit and imparts life to us by the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is our anchor
and lifeline to God and life itself. “God also bound Himself with an oath, so
that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never
change His mind. So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two
things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we
who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the
hope that lies before us,” (Hebrews 6:17, 18). God’s promise and oath are
revealed in His Word and they are “unchangeable”. “Therefore, we who have fled
to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies
before us.”
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
and a light for my path,” (Psalms 119:105). The daily reading of God’s Word
will “by the Spirit” fill our hearts and minds. In the temptations by Satan,
Jesus used the truth of the Word of God in defeat of each temptation. The Holy
Spirit feeds us and makes us strong by the Word of God.
God’s Power through His
Church
God uses
the church to empower us in our battle. “Let us hold fast the confession of our
hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how
to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own
assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and
all the more as you see the day drawing near,” (Hebrews 10:23-25). Through the
Church, the believers who gather together for worship and fellowship, we find
strength by stimulating "one another to love and good deeds.” We are
“encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Christ’s Church must be a place of forgiveness, mercy, grace and healing. Often
we quote 1Corinthians chapter 13 as the love chapter for spouses. But it is the
love chapter for each other in His Church. This includes love for our church
leaders. They should not feel all alone in the spiritual battle for their
sheep. They too should be able find refuge and safety within His Church.
This is not always so. In Christ’s
Church, the body of believers needs to purge the critical spirit that often
lurks within them. Indeed, the critical spirit of the accuser has taken over
many churches. Often, the pastor that teaches the love of God is the first one
to find that he is the exception of the demonstration of God’s love from
congregation. The church can be a most powerful instrument of our enemy. A
church can be one of the most judgmental, legalistic, unforgiving, and
self-righteous places on earth. Many pastors have been ground up, spit out, and
left for dead, in the name of Jesus. This is a sad commentary on the present
day church. The history of the church is a sadder commentary of an unforgiving
and judgmental institution. Still, there are some people who are pillars of
strength in God’s love. Praise God for those people, those leaders, those
pastors, elders, and shepherds of God’s Church that become instruments of God’s
love toward even His leaders.
Step by Step
In
the beginning, of my battles were over sins that were strong in me. I had to take these
sins apart in pieces. Little victories, compounded, become major victories. In
the beginning I would describe the battle as one foot forward and two back,
then two steps forward and only one back. Eventually we learn to walk, run and
fight in the power of God. In the battles and in victories we become stronger
and stronger. Even in the defeats we learn to go to the wells of God’s
forgiveness, His mercy, and His abundant grace. In these, too, we become
stronger. We become stronger for the next battle of the flesh. We learn to rely
on God’s forgiveness and his grace to overcome. “For God is working in you,
giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him,” (Philippians 2:13
NLT).
God’s Power through His
Grace
Let me take a moment here to talk
about God’s grace. His unmerited favor or undeserved favor is my experience. I
will never be good enough to serve our Lord. No matter how long I live the
battle; No matter how many victories or achievements I may accomplish, I will
never be good enough to deserve God’s love, or His forgiveness, or His
blessings. By my own goodness I deserve nothing. But by His grace, He allows me
to serve. Really, I’m just along for the ride. He gives me the pleasure to be
able to serve in His Kingdom, His Church. I’m just a weak man, full of sin, but
willing to serve and give Him my best, incomplete as it is. God’s reward is to
allow me to participate in His work here on earth. And the gates of hell will
not prevail against His Church, or even me.
“For I am confident of
this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the
day of Christ Jesus,” (Philippines 1:6)
