Tag Archives: flesh

The Effective Life

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Pack up your television, cell phone, radio, the social circus, and all the gossip you can carry. Make the trip to prayer with all these things. I guarantee you your prayer time will be useless.  

All those things require the senses and the mind of the flesh. But prayer requires your soul alone.  


You can’t navigate a ship if you stay under deck. You’ll certainly drift if you stay in the ship’s lounge watching TV. You have to go topside to use all the navigational equipment. You have to be topside to enjoy the journey. If you wanted to watch TV you could’ve stayed home.  


The same is true with the ship of your body. You have to set your mind on the Spirit of God. The flesh cannot perceive the Spirit of God, but the soul can. You have to use your mind to make a choice.    


You can’t just ask God to come in and teach you. You have to go to the front door, open it, see the Spirit of God face-to-face, and allow him a place to sit in your mind. Then you can hear him. Then you can work with him. Then you can learn from him. It’s only then that the things of Christ get accomplished.  


Now the question comes: what preoccupies your day, the flesh or the soul. If your answer is the flesh then how can you hear the voice of God? And what preoccupies your time of prayer? That’s a much deeper question.  


Drop all your “stuff” and answer the door.  

The Scoundrel

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He sits with you while you do your work, waiting patiently for praise.

When you go out to play he comes along with you, bringing all kinds of competitive violence.

When you go to buy what you need, he’s the one who suggests the frivolous.

When you sit in church, he’s the one who pays attention to everything but the sermon.

While you are in prayer, he’s the one who draws your attention to leave.

When you try to love someone in Christ, he’s the one who points out why the man is not worthy.

Who is this scoundrel?  He is the mind of flesh.  He is the one you are commanded to overcome.  He is the one who stands outside your door desiring to have you.  He is the one you must murder.

A Word From My Flesh

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As I stand and praise God, receiving majestic revelation I am lost in the beauty of eternity.

Then a shadow catches my attention.  Someone has come, begging to be heard.

I turn to look.  It is my flesh!

With his mouth held open in awe, he speaks to me.

“Don’t you realize that what you are doing and saying is insane?”

I look down at him, and who can explain the look on my face?  What reply can he possibly expect?  What reply lends credence to my incredulity?  I speak the only words appropriate to the moment.

“Don’t you realize that you don’t understand what sanity is?”

“Places Everyone!”

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Man is placed in a place remote.  For if his place were among the things of God, Man would try to dethrone Him.

This place of testing, this place of proving, this place of violence or love. 

This place of choices, this place of life or death, this place of time and decay. 

This place of anarchy, this place of treason, this place of hatred or faith.

They refuse to listen.  They despise the one who speaks.  And at every possible convenience, they turn away from knowledge. 

This place of filthy, this place of ludicrous, this place of blood and flesh.

This place of confusion, this place of pride, this place of accomplishment and humiliation.

Lest every man be utterly destroyed, God has set a place for rebellion.

This place of wondering, this hopelessness, place of vile distrust, this place of alienation and rare embrace.

Two doors exit this place.  One is wide to accommodate the masses.  The other is so narrow you cannot point it out.

One is proportioned for the violent fits which company the chaos of rebellion.  The other is only large enough for the soul.

We must all leave this place.  But we do not all arrive in the same Place. 

Every man who owns rebellion alone, will certainly find himself alone. 

But every man who has been stripped of rebellion, to a sort, that which remains cannot die.  Lessened, such men will find good company.

In all things, the endlessly spacious Place of God is utterly unlike ours.

Moment by moment, every man chooses his destiny.  But let us not think that the destiny of man is varied in context.  No!  There is either eternal inclusion, or eternal desperation.

Debate all these things, Oh wandering souls of men.  Or kneel before the Living God in faith.  Plead with him for understanding. 

All that belongs to Man is death.  All that belongs to God is Life in Christ Jesus His holy and Righteous Son.

By His Grace

Upheaval

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“Stir the pot”, a mundane saying that is more volatile then a nuclear weapon.  The saying has a malicious use.  There are many people who stir the pot of humanity simply for the joy of watching the chaos it produces.  But it also has the sweetest of intent when used properly.

How can I stir the pot of godly things within my soul?  And how can I stir the pot for my brothers of flesh to do the same?  I don’t desire to raise anger to the surface.  I’m trying to lift desire for God from the bottom of the pot to the surface.

As my soul is stired, one of the things that comes floating to the surface is called eternity.  In that nugget of absolutes lays enough concern to consume my entire life.  And as I look at my own unwillingness to obey, I naturally have fear for the sake of my brothers.

For that reason alone, I cannot be silent.  The Living God has spoken, death is the inheritance of every man outside of his Holy Son’s rule.  It is imperative that I let this understanding consume me.  It is imperative that every man do the same.

The day of flesh is quickly coming to an end.  I will not allow it to be said that I did not warn my brothers. 

By His Grace

Peace?

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Let it be known, especially to my own flesh, I don’t want peace.  Everyone is speaking “Peace, Peace”!  Haven’t I learned, yes I have, that where the people gather to celebrate, an abhorrent sound of unholy desire is heard.

I want war.  I want to be embroiled in the war against wickedness within me.  I want to bring the smell of battle to every person I meet.  I want to enter the Holy War which stood active and vibrant when the Holy Son of God walked among us.

I don’t want to forget the demons that plague this unholy world’s unholy people.  I don’t want to turn my eyes from the tragedy of neglect, brought on by a useless people.  I don’t want to miss a whisper of hatred the world seethes toward the Living God’s Holy Son.

Let all this propel me into the place He desires.  Let the Holy Wisdom of God set me ablaze with understanding, according to His Holy Will and purpose.  Let the hatred of this place besiege me.  Let this excellence in desire cover me; let it not be a momentary lapse, as if a restraint.  But let me fall into the slice between heaven and earth that is called “ascending”.

I DON’T WANT PEACE!  I WANT GLORY FOR THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!