Your Spirit Nature – The Contaminated Flesh
Surprisingly enough, the greatest battle a believer will face in life WILL NOT be with the devil and his host of demonic forces. Actually, the Bible never tells anyone to war against, fight, or battle the devil or demons. But the Bible says repeatedly that we will fight and war against the ungodly nature of our flesh with its five senses.
Let me ask you a question. When a person becomes a Christian by asking Jesus to forgive their sin, does their flesh get “Born Again”? Of course not. The flesh will stay the same. Now what does the Bible say about the body we live in? It says quite a bit.
Let’s go back to the book of Genesis. In chapter 3 we read the account of when Adam and Eve first sinned. Have you ever noticed the first thing they did after disobeying God? The first thing they did was to make clothes to hide their bodies because they realized they were naked. (Gen 3:7-8) Why would they do that? The only reason somebody would hide something is because they are ashamed of it. Adam and Eve knew instantly something had happened with their flesh. A feeling of guilt now dominated them to the point that they became afraid to stand before God. (Gen 3:10) Notice that they became filled with shame and fear in their flesh. Who is it that has a nature of fear and shame? That is not God’s nature, its Satan’s nature. Before they had sinned they enjoyed the nature of God. After they sinned their flesh was contaminated with shame and fear. Literally, their flesh was galvanized, or coated, with the nature of the devil. Their flesh was magnetized with Satan’s desires. Forever the flesh would be cursed with unholy desires to touch things that would displease God.
Do we yet have the heavenly body that God will give to us someday? No, we are still living in the natural body that we inherited from our original earth parents: Adam and Eve. Though we can be born again in our spirit with a new nature from God, our flesh still contains evil desires. Therefore we must learn to disobey our flesh.
The Bible tells us what to do with our flesh. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live after the flesh you will die, but if you through the Spirit do MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE FLESH, you shall live.” The word “mortify” means to kill or to make dead. I say it like this: Take your flesh hostage with the Spirit. How do captors treat hostages? They starve them in order to make them talk. We need to starve our flesh from its evil desires. If you are constantly tempted with pornography, addictions, or foul language then starve your flesh from those things until your appetite for them begins to fade. Galatians 5:24 says, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh and its lusts.” The word “crucify” means to extinguish the passion of your flesh. It will be uncomfortable; it will cost a price to deny the flesh. There is great reward for those that control their flesh.
Blessings,
Pastor Tim
Family Church Jamestown is a non-denominational church located in Chautauqua County in Jamestown between Lakewood and Busti NY. The senior pastor of Family Church is Pastor Tim Stahlman a native to the Jamestown, NY area.
