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“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16 ESV)
When I read this single verse this morning, what came to mind is the list of “put offs and put ons” in the Scriptures, and not just the list in Ephesians 4:17-32 and Ephesians 5:1-21, even though these may be primary. For the Scriptures speak often of what we are to be putting out of our lives and what we are to be putting on in our lives in opposition to what we put off. Now, we do this not in our own human strength, but in the strength of the Lord, if we are his, by faith in him. But the point is that we do the put offs and put ons.
But this is not going to happen unless we want to do this, and we plan to do this, and we are putting that plan into action in our daily lives. And this isn’t just about putting sin out of our lives and putting on submission to God and obedience to his commands, although that is primary. But this works for any bad habits (practices) we have that we need to get rid of out of our lives, and us replacing those bad habits with good habits which produce in our lives better and more desired results. But this takes work and determination.
Now imagine yourself running in a race but then you see something off to the side and so you start to go that direction. I am that encourager on the sidelines who loves you and cares about you and who is rooting for you to win, and so I am telling you, “You can do this!” “Don’t give up!” “Keep going!” “I know it is hard, I know you are tired, but you don’t have much longer to go, so keep going!” So don’t see me as a busy-body or as a nag who is being negative, but see me as your encourager on the sidelines.
In Ephesians 4 we learn that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we are to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So we are to put off lies and speak the truth, and we are to put off stealing, then work, then give to others in need. We are to put off corrupt talk and speak what is edifying to other Christians for their spiritual growth.
We are to let “all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)
Going back to the top, the way in which we will not habitually gratify the desires of the flesh is if we are walking (in conduct, in practice) by the Spirit, by the Word of Truth written in the Scriptures, and in the power of God. We put off living to gratify the flesh, and we put on living to please God and walking according to God’s will and purpose for our lives, in obedience to his commands. And this is something we must do every day, for Satan is going to fight against us to defeat us, if he can (Ephesians 6:10-20).
This is why Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross DAILY (die to sin daily), and follow (obey) him. For the Christian life is a daily walk of faith in the Lord Jesus and in his Word. And it is a daily battle against the wiles of the devil and his tricks that he attempts to pull on us to keep us defeated so that we will give up the fight and yield to his control. But if truly we are walking by the Spirit, in the power of God, we will have victory over Satan and over the flesh. Amen!
That is the key to victory over all addictive sin. We have to say “NO!” to sin daily and “YES!” to God and to his will and to his commands daily. And we can’t test fate and play with sin and then expect to have victory over sin. We must put out of our lives all hindrances to our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord and cast off all things which are weighing us down and which are leading us into sin and not to righteous, godly, and holy living. And then we can run with endurance that race God has for us to run (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And we have to have a plan in place for combatting the lies of the enemy against us and for resisting the devil and fleeing all temptation. And this plan has to include a plan of action as to the things we put on in place of the things we are trying to put off, or it will never happen. Without a plan it will fail. And Jesus and the Scriptures have given us a course of action which we are to follow. We just need to follow the course, which is laid out for us to follow, and we must be putting these put offs and put ons into practice.
Put Offs and Put Ons:
[Matt 5:27-30; Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; 1 Thes 4:1-8; 1 Tim 4:7; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 12:1-17; 1 Pet 1:14; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
