They Wage War Against Your Souls

[Christsfreeservant]

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV).​

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord (Owner-Master) and Savior of our lives, it is not so that we can just have our sins forgiven and so we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. If that is what you believe, you are not believing the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross that we might be crucified and buried with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23).

So, the urging here in this passage of Scripture is not a mere suggestion nor a recommendation. This is not a “this is the way we ought to live but…” phrase, either. This is required for our salvation and for eternal life with God that we abstain from the passions of the flesh, that we no longer walk in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord, but that we now, by the grace of God, walk (in conduct, in practice) in moral purity, uprightness, godliness, honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord’s commands.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

So, this is not something that we can just pass over and assume that it is not required of us. We can’t go on living in deliberate and habitual sin while “claiming who we are in Christ” in order to not feel guilty or as a coverup for habitual sinning against our Lord and against the people of this world. Those who think they get a “pass” just because they have verbally acknowledged Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but absent of true repentance and obedience, are believing the lies of Satan, and not the truth that Jesus taught.

For Jesus taught that if anyone is to come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have eternal life. For he also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

Therefore, as those who are of genuine God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives, we are to be those who are abstaining from the passions of the flesh. We should not be viewing or listening to anything that is immoral, morally impure, seductive, sensual, provocative, irreverent of God, and against God and his teachings, as a matter of choice and of practice. And then we should not be engaging in what is evil, immoral, dishonest, impure, wicked and unfaithful.

For these things wage war against our souls, and they are of the devil, not of God, and they will only lead us away from God and away from his divine will and purpose for our lives, and if these things are our practice, they will land us in hell, not in heaven, regardless of what our lips profess. For the Scriptures make it quite clear that those who live according to the flesh, who make sin their practice, and for whom righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not their practice, they will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

So we are to keep our conduct pure and honorable, and not just for the sake of the salvation of other people’s lives, but for the sake of the salvation of our own lives. And not just so that we will have a good reputation, but so that how we live our lives will be a true testimony to others as to what the Christian life is truly all about. But also, when others speak evil against us, which they will if we are walking in obedience to our Lord, that they will see that our good deeds are of God, and for the glory and praise of God.

‘Til The Storm Passes By

By Thomas Mosie Lister

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face
While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place
'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry
Keep me safe till the storm passes by

Many times Satan whispered
There is no use to try
For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by
But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise
Where the storms never darken the skies

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky
Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand
Keep me safe till the storm passes by

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