The fine line…Redefined!

We almost always lose track of the line between what is selfish and what is selfless.
That is if we have ever found that line in the first place.
What is done in and by the flesh and what is done in the Spirit?
What is of our carnal man and what is of God in and through us?
Our first battle is always with our flesh… me, my wants, my desires, my way, me, and me! Me first, me even before God. Our flesh allows us to receive lies that have a smattering of truth, so we can justify ourselves. Ergo Half-truths are the way of the carnal Christian and have become the mainstay of the Church. The more lies we receive and justify ourselves with, the more vulnerable we are to demonic influence.

The selfish-flesh is the path to evil. Jesus tries to shore us up on all sides, by the revelations of the Holy Spirit within us, but even these messages and alerts of God may go unheeded. Why? Not because you’re not enlightened by the truth but because your encumbered flesh will work against you and tire you before you complete the task of overcoming it. Have I been created… to love me… or to love God?
This is the Church today led by the carnal; speaking Jesus without servant-hood; without living a loving selfless sacrificial life. We have little or poor example to follow.

To know we thirst needs the action of obtaining and drinking to quench it! Knowing you thirst does not satisfy your need. Yet we say we know God without daily loving service. The demonstration given us by the Holy Spirit though scripture of the life of Jesus is not enough for the church today; nor it seems are the lives of the 12; nor the lives of the 120 are enough; the lives of the 3000 are not nearly enough.

Do you have ears… do you have eyes?

We need to obey to overcome the flesh. The example and instruction that have been given us are not to just learn and repeat in our speaking, they are for us to do and to act on! Knowledge alone without obedient action is that pride of the flesh that is destroying the Church.

Let us look at a simple example, before we explain further.

Temptation:

All of us are tempted at various times in our lives. The scripture warns us to be careful with our speech, our vision and our thoughts, which can quickly give way to vane imaginations. Preying on us to sin with our mind in our thinking. It may start with something seen to a simple fleeting thought that can quickly become a full-blown daydream. If we like it, we are prone by selfishness to entertain it. We can become so absorbed to the point of allowing it to reoccur in our willful selfishness, then embellishing it and extending it and seeking variations to which we are driven to desire more.
This is sin!
Then we are on the line to make it happen in real life to further hurt and separate us from God and others. Sin begets sin. Evil begets evil.

Jesus knew this weakness in us and has taught us how to deal with such temptations and to overcome the desires of the flesh; we lack not so much the simplicity of how but the consistency of effort to deliver us. Hearing the truth or knowing the truth will not do, it will not succeed; we need to obey in love! The flesh is subdued by obedience.

Jesus taught us how to pray in response to our need "and lead me not into temptation" "deliver us from evil!" We all, all of Christendom knows the Lords prayer; it’s foundational, it is one of the basics of our faith. If we say it at all, is it a confession of need or just something repeated from memory? Yet how many of us have grasped the power in this simple prayer and not just say it but pray it faithfully daily?

How many of us will pray in the loving instruction of Jesus, led by His Spirit to be delivered from temptation throughout the day. Having done that, will we pray it for our brothers and sisters in the faith?
We do little for ourselves to gain grace and less for others.
We need to pray as instructed by Jesus that we may be delivered each day, from the internal wiles of the self-flesh and externally from demonic influence.

Do we pray at all? Do we pray this prayer "lead us not into temptation"? Do we pray it daily or not at all? Do we pray it in need, Jesus deliver us!? Do we pray it for others?

Jesus taught us to pray… His prayer!

Why must we pray more then once a day? Why must we pray continually, without ceasing?
We need to pray to be delivered from every vice of our selfish flesh. The flesh; these desires of our carnal man are the enemy of God and will always lust for the things of the world. Prayer brings us before God in our asking and transforms us in His presence by growing into a closer relationship and receiving more of His love!

"Pray without ceasing!"
The gains are without measure…

Now let us examine the work of the flesh even more closely. We need to pray and the flesh tries to deride every attempt. It tries to distract us and gives us feelings of discomfort, it make us feel self-conscience, anything to make our mind wander and tire of the trial. We need to pray… yet the flesh will accept every lie to stop our conversation with God.

The worse demonic assault on the Church today is at night when we rest. There is no sleep or rest for demons. They find us in our relaxed, weary or tired state deep in the frame of mind that our flesh allows and wham… they do all in their power and they have power to afflict us. Touching a nerve here; a bad memory there; they work our emotions speaking lies into us… and we wake from something like a completely frazzled discomfort and at other times a slightly shaken feeling. Something is bothering you and has moved your emotions and given you all kinds of disparaging feelings and you can’t quite put your finger on it. Guilt, anger, hopelessness, restlessness, any and all feelings, leaving you frustrated at best. Even when you can remember a thought or dream it just makes matters worse… why do I feel this way is now compounded by why did I think that or dream that?
Great way to start the day!
And most of us now enter the day distracted by not so good feelings that can work on us keeping us focused on ourselves and losing sight of our purpose.

The enemy of God is having a field day with the Church each night and our selfish flesh sits idly by stupefied by torment it has not only allowed but also encouraged by believing a lie.

Have you been having bad dreams? Do you sometimes feel violated when you wake up?

Well it’s all because of a lie and you right now as you read this believe one of the major lies of the flesh. Why do you believe a lie? Because you don’t pray enough! What lie you say? Be reminded that to know what the lie is will not free you, unless you labor faithfully in prayer.

You go to bed and you pray… then you fall asleep and you wake up and begin praying even after you’ve been attacked in your dreams. Why? Because your mind your reason your logic say to you through your flesh you have no control of your dreams… that’s why they’re dreams.
You pray… then you sleep… then you pray again. Right? No! Wrong!

The lie of the flesh is; only our conscience mind can pray. You believe prayer ends when you sleep or worse you don’t pray or never even gave it any thought. Well is it someone else’s mind when we sleep? Lied to, we give it up to… Who? The Holy Spirit is with you and you are alive even in your sleep; has Jesus left us, has the Spirit left us? No! He will never leave us… We can pray even through our sleep. Prayer doesn’t end when we rest our bodies, the Spirit can give intercession because we have faith. The heart of the Spirit is our desire for Jesus; to think of, to speak to, to dream of… We can overcome the flesh if we labor in prayer. Prayer without ceasing, pressing in, to see the face of Jesus to hear His voice, to know His will.

You must be ready to endure…
We have an enemy that is fighting us moment by moment yet we the Church want to fight back praying once a week…
We need to overcome our selfish thinking to overcome evil! We need to pray without ceasing!
Overcome selfishness with continuous selfless prayer…
Continue as you rest in sleep and pray through the night…
Rise praying and end the attacks in the night…
Join with those who are willing to pray daily together…
The battle is far from over but the first battleground is our selfish flesh!

Bless you as you pray! there is no other way...

Jesus Christ’s Community at Hebron

 www.jesuschrists.com