Greetings!
For a person to look upon their flesh is an ugly thing!
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
(Rom 8:6-8)
Dressing up our flesh
is like putting a dress on a snake. How deplorable is that? “Pretty flesh” is just as ugly as the snake itself. This is what many believers do when they Christianize their flesh.
For anyone to look upon their flesh is an ugly thing. Believers who walk after their flesh produce problems! When a believer chooses their own way over God’s way, that person is walking AFTER their flesh and it is certain to lead to living-death. The question of the hour is, “What kind of death?”
Remember when Satan said to Eve
,
“For you surely will not die.”
(Gen. 3:4) I must admit, this was a clever ideological bend of the Truth. None the less, she bought it, line, hook, and sinker. The irony? Immediately after she ate, she didn’t die, at least physically. Thus the lie became evidenced as truth, setting God up as being the liar. Eternal damnation and death aren’t felt, experienced, or even made evident upon initial tasting of flesh, for man or Satan. Remembering, Satan is still waiting for his damnation. This is why he lives under the pretense of victory. At this juncture of Adam and Eve’s existence, they had no clue what death was, let alone the consequences of the tasting Satan’s flesh. Since the two of them had no flesh in and of themselves to taste, the first violation became indulging in the flesh of Satan. His twist of dark fate for Adam and Eve was made successful by manipulating their unknowns.
Once he was successful in establishing Adam & Eve’s fallen flesh, he quickly moves on to deceiving with, “IM My Flesh.” The secret to mass control is in controlling identity – global, cultural and/or individual. Before Satan deceived Adam & Eve into eating from his flesh, he already knew that after they ate, their flesh would become the mirror image of his own. Control at this point became as easy as taking candy from a baby.
This is the same method Satan uses today!
Yes. It’s true. Satan lived out his self-life and became God’s enemy, as our verse states,
hostile toward God.
After Lucifer became flesh, again as our verse says,
was unable to please God
. Thus, separating himself from God forevermore. This resulted in being removed from Heaven, placed on a formless planet, and had to wait for further instructions.
Since the day of Adam & Eve’s Fall
, the flesh is NOT formed in mankind; we are born with it. The reason we are destined to go to Hell is that we are born in the likeness of the one who will go to Hell – Satan. This is why we must be born-again and receive a new Nature through the indwelling Life of Jesus. Our destination is always dependent on nature. In the cases where the person does not become restored unto the Father through Christ, they follow their leader straight to Hell. Adamic flesh is required to stay with Satanic flesh. When we die, our flesh remains with our human bodies and left to the consequences Satan must face. Eternal flames of damnation. This is the reason we are given a new body after we pass on to Heaven. In this new body, there will be NO flesh. This new body will be in the mirrored image of Adam & Eve’s prefall state. Meaning, full restoration. This is a critical theology to embrace before we move forward.
Formation of Flesh Patterns
The flesh is likened to a blob of clay
. It is clear we are born with it. Since Satan is well educated on how all this works, he begins immediately upon birth to form this flesh-blob into specific flesh patterns. This is why each person you meet has their “own color” to their fleshly sinful habits – saved or not. For example, both Cain & Able had flesh. Cain’s flesh was molded into murderous flesh, while Able's flesh was suppressed by way of obedience. Another classic example. Some of the nicest people in the world are as unsaved as a doorknob, while others are wickedly treacherous. Murderer or peacekeeper, he doesn’t care. He just wants the masses to reject Christ and not dump his nature – or what some call the Adamic nature. Not to worry, God uses the seven areas of life to bring each to the end of themselves; psychological, spiritual, physical, social, financial, marital and parental, packing rejection in and through each to create brokenness. Some bow and others remain as Satan, resisting until the doors of Hell are opened wide.
God uses our individualized type of flesh to form problems, which incite a need, which ultimately leads to a decision. These decisions are that of the self-life or through releasing the mind of Christ to make the decision (by making use of our mind, will, and emotions). Each decision is either life or death, depending on the choice (Deut. 30:19-20). Many make the decision based on their own flesh patterns while giving no opportunity to allow Christ to choose life through the believer. “Living death” is certain to follow.
Following a flesh-pattern decision
throws us into a downward spiral of the self-life. This is a path that leads away from the will of Christ within the believer. The self-life starts with selfish commendations, producing an occupation with self. Self-occupation is a lifestyle of self-pleasing, which ultimately leads to self-condemnation. This produces obsessive guilt (not conviction) of the believer’s selfishness. Whenever the self-life is fronted, the individual who has their mind set on their flesh often becomes defensive and filled with hostility and self-pity. This is the step before self-destruction. God uses this process to bring the selfish person to the end of their self-governed flesh pattern.
Don’t panic, there IS an upward spiral.
It is possible for Christ’s Life to be manifested in an authentic believer on a consistent basis. Now knowing how the downward self-life spiral brings us unto “living death,” the upward spiral picks up the broken pieces of daily dying to begin the process of releasing the Spirit from within. This process cannot happen until there is repentance (an admittance of walking in selfishness), which takes place in that dark place of brokenness. Repentance grants us the freedom to look inward to the Life of Christ for daily cross-bearing. This puts our focus and expectations on and from God – not-self. Once this occurs, the
ministry of reconciliation
is certain to be born from a life of overflow. Key theology: Outreach is a result of brokenness. It is not something practiced or earned through educational endeavors.
Once our expectations are turned toward God
and not directed toward men, which are quick to disappoint, we are able to experience a mature love that launches the believer into spiritual freedom. It is in this that the believer’s outreach produces Abiding Life ministry.
Our motives are critical in the maintenance of our outreach. By way of the Body of Christ, we often can gain help in understanding the means of determining our motives. Are they of the Spirit or of the flesh? Motives are crucial in our walk. It’s not so much what we do, but who is doing it – Christ or the flesh. It is possible to do a good thing without Christ conducting the doing through us. It may look like Christ, act like Christ but IS it Christ? People look at our actions, whereas God looks at “the who” in the doing.
Our flesh is not capable of living the Christian life
, for it is concerned about self-interest, it is against God’s Word, certainly contrary to His authority. If you are not sure if your actions are Spirit-directed, give it a little time. The flesh always reveals itself in frustration, anger, fear, and lack of eternal peace. When a believer makes a decision through the indwelling Life of Christ, each can be assured that these decisions will release the Life of Christ, promote His sovereign control, resulting in trusting Him to work all things together for His good.
If we take to heart the immovable doctrines presented in this commentary, we have removed the fuse that Satan is most successful in setting off our flesh. What is that fuse? His deceptive proclamation of, “IM My Flesh.” Not only are believers NOT their flesh, but their flesh is their enemy!
