Showing posts with label Spirit Led. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spirit Led. Show all posts

The Fleshly Man Must Die!



The Word of God is so very clear on a key and very fundamental issue of the Christian walk. 

 * There is a carnal ( flesh ) man 

and 

 * There is a spirit man that lurks within all of mankind that is born of God's spirit via repentance and the gospel. 

 There is a war/battle going on within us.....if we are of God. 

 Many claimed Christian's struggle with not seeing this dual nature and the reasons are simple: 

1) Many ignore or don't admit the fleshly man is at work as they love their sin.

 2) Who ever you feed the most; that man will rule over the other!

3) Most will not fully let go of the past and thus they let the flesh man linger.

Most who claim Christ today are feeding the carnal man 24-7 and the spirit man little to none at all. (The truth is, most are just false converts by their fruit.) I have seen far too many people who carelessly allow the flesh man to lead them all over and it creates much sin / havoc in their life/faith and relationships. 

 I like to make this simple illustration so we can all understand the concept easily. 

 The flesh man will forever "try to give you directions" from the passenger seat but you must NEVER " let him drive"!!!

 This just means we will always have to deal with his bad influence this side of heaven but we must make sure that he never is "in control" of us and our daily ways or we will live in sin and perish. 

Note: without being born of God all you have is the fleshly man lurking and thus you are hopeless and doomed. (See the gospel at the end of this article for the good news and cure for this.)  

 Over the course of my walk and being in ministry I have had to endure both my own fleshly man as well as the carnal side of many others we have either walked with or sought to unite with us in the faith. Because of that I feel I have experience enough both in the Word of God and daily life in Christ to offer up my thoughts on how to over come this and be victorious for the Lord's service.  

 First, let's see the problem as illustrated by Apostle Paul in Romans 7:14-15
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Paul is confessing that in the flesh has a carnal man that tries to move and control him to sin even as he is if God. We all need to understand that as the fall of Adam has affected us all.

 But are we hopeless? Should we just sin and sin more? No, we have a great hope and thus we cannot just give up and allow it to be, so we must fight for the glory of God and our own salvation so we can endure in a saving faith. 

 Romans 8:6 tells us the great danger if we allow the flesh man to rule us over the spirit man. 

 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

 Christ brings His people life NOT death, so you must address the carnal man inside you or you will suffer the second death ( hell ) due to your willful sin/rebellion. 

 Romans 8:1 tells us who is NOT under God's wrath. 

 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 Walking in the spirit is the real key not just claiming you are in Christ!

 Paul in Romans 7 gives us a great hope and solution to this problem:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

This tells us with the mind (spirit) we serve Christ, but in the flesh we will serve sin and death. Christ is our real hope!!!!

 But how do we get the mind of Christ?

 Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 We get the mind of Christ when we are born of God via repentance and the gospel to eternal life.  In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we learn we are new creations but we still must learn to walk in the spirit and put off the old man daily. Sadly man made religion will tell you that you're going to sin a lot (live in the flesh) and that it is still ok  as Jesus died to redeem you. Actually that is a lie because if you continue to sin willingly, there is no sacrifice left for your sins. 
See Hebrews 10:26-27
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

  You must repent and turn from those sins to live and walk in the spirit. Unless your fighting against the flesh man, you are dead in your sins. I have seen the flesh man destroy marriages, relationships, jobs and a man's faith as well. All too often people are willingly blinded by their flesh to a point they cannot even see clear. It usually is because they are holding to the flesh they love vs repenting and running from it to the spirit and Christ. 

 How are you doing in this daily battle for the Lord? I can tell you it never ends but it does get BETTER the longer you serve Christ in obedience!

 Here is a good area of scripture that will help you to see how you are doing. If you run to God's truth, you're feeding the spirit but if you run from it and like to hide in dark and sin, you're allowing your fleshly man to grow into a monster!

 John 3:19-21
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Get into the battle, men, and realize it is indeed a spiritual battle!
Who are you feeding daily (the spirit or flesh man) and have you let the past go to serve God in spirit and truth? John 4:24

 Let me know how I can help you?

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Being Led by the Spirit

Many people say they are led by the spirit but very few are and we will quickly show you why...

 As these people 'go to church' which is not biblical,(we are to BE His body not GO to church)  they follow a planned out ritual religious service that they call worship.  Every Sunday they show up at the same time, sing a few songs for a certain amount of time, pray whenever the modern pastor tells them to pray, listen to a short sermon that the modern pastor wrote up or pulled off the internet, add in a few more songs and they are out the door about the same time each week.  Unless they have their tidbit communion (cracker and sip of wine) which is done unbiblically as well. Check out this article about building centered worship:  http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2013/12/is-religious-denominational-building.html 

 This is not spirit led, this is all led by a clock and the modern pastor.  (Sometimes it's all led based on the timing of the NFL or other sinful activities going on at that time.)

 A spirit led gathering is simply meeting house to house (as we see in the New Testament Acts 2:46) or as many as can gather together at that time, the men brining teachings, admonishments, exhortations, rebukes, songs, prayers etc, all for edification of the body and training up of the saints for ministry (Ephesians 4).   This is a free flowing move of the Holy Spirit not controlled by one man (or even a few) but all men as the Spirit leads. The gatherings themselves are also called as the Spirit leads.  Maybe they gather 3-4 times a week and sometimes 1 or 2.  All at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, not by a man who pre-plans it all every week.  See an article here about the characteristics of the New Testament Body: http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2014/04/characteristics-of-new-testament-body.html

 These same people are not led by the Holy Spirit in their daily lives either because instead of reading the scriptures and obeying them, they listen to their pastor, their church traditions, reading all sorts of apostate 'christian' books and 'devotional' pamphlets.  They base their truth off each other and what everyone else is doing, thinking that's doctrinal when God's Word says otherwise.

 Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God

 We will give you an example of this with the Anabaptists (Mennonites, Amish, German Baptist etc).  
The Anabaptists make many man made rules that are added to God's Word such as they teach separation from the world and include technology in that separation.  Let's use the internet for example: Instead of teaching their people about holiness, discernment and separation while using the internet for business or ministry, they make a rule that says 'no internet'.  Or 'you can only use the internet if you put on this accountability software' (that someone else watches.)  

 What is making that person obey God's Word?  Man made rules, not the Holy Spirit.  If the Holy Spirit were allowed to lead, the person using the internet would obey God's Word and avoid the sinful areas of the internet and if they were tempted the Holy Spirit would convict them of this.  They would then obey because of the prompting of the Holy Spirit, not because a man made some rule about it.

 Another area where people are not led by the Holy Spirit is, let's look at a typical evangelical/denominational/non-denominational group of people.  They put on their best behavior on Sunday (and/or Wednesday) and once their 'service' is done they go about their lives living worldly and carnal, void of the leading of the Holy Spirit.  

 They also follow man made rules that are not biblical such as the Baptists who make a rule of 'no alcohol'!  God's Word says 'drunkenness' is the sin, not alcohol (see an article here:http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2015/01/does-gods-word-forbid-drinking-any.html).  Instead of following God's Word and the convicting of the Holy Spirit not to get drunk, people will blindly follow the rules of their pastor even if they don't see it in scriptures.

 Let's look at another scenario such as a  believer truly being led by the Spirit in their daily lives.

 Many think that they have to have a mystical occurance such as a dream, a scripture verse pop up in their head, a voice, some stranger telling them something or some obvious divine intervention before they can be led by the Spirit.  What is biblical is simple obedience to scripture that will move a person in God's Will with the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Example: A believer who has studied to show himself approved (2 Timothy 2:15) and is ready to give an answer to the hope that lies within him (1 Peter 3:15) as they go about their daily lives, God will bring people in their path to share the gospel with.  The Holy Spirit will lead them to share the good news with them because they are ready to do so and recognize an open door when it's there.

 When a believer is obedient the Holy Spirit will do His perfect work in them, convicting them when their flesh causes them to stray, helping them discern the Word and leading them to scriptures for truth and away from lies and deception.

 There is no special formula to this, a true believer is to simply read and obey God's Word and the Holy Spirit will be his guide.
(Read or listen to the biblical gospel here:http://www.dontperish.com/the-gospel.html)

 Reject man made religion (we have many articles here on our discernment blog to help you)  who is deceiving you.  We have a 10 point test that will help you see where else you have been deceived: http://www.dontperish.com/10-point-biblical-test.html

 Let us know if we can help you.

 God be praised!

 www.dontperish.com

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