Disiring to live after the flesh or the spirit?
This morning as God woke me, I was lying in bed wanting to sleep more. I began reasoning it out as to why I needed more sleep or even deserved it. What does it truly mean to have no rights? And then to walk a life based on that concept? I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do. He said get up, drink some water and go for a walk. After lying in bed for fifteen more minutes I sat up in bed and got up. Why is it so hard to discipline my life when a job is involved or there is something for someone else involved, but when it comes time to get up and spend time with Dad, my one and true love, I become lax and lazy and desire sleep and comforts of this world for my body. I am beginning to realize how much the soul controls what we do typically. So far we do everything to please the soul and the body. When we are hungry, we stop everything and go eat. When we are thirsty, we immediately go and get something to satisfy. Why aren't we that quick to satisfy the hunger of our spirit? Why don't I think of my spirit first and prefer it to the needs and desires of the flesh?
When I got up this morning and got my computer to be able to type things out, I grabbed my Bible and opened it trying to figure out where to start reading. Daddy told Claire that you always start with the Word. So thats what I want to do. Dad please don't allow me to fall into a ditch of creating a life thats regime, unless of course thats what you want. I want YOUR WILL, not mine. The other day you talked to me about routine. Creating a routine of life. Help me better understand what that looks like from your perspective.
Anyway, the place in the Word that I opened to randomly was Judges 2:10-23 which talks about Israel disobeying God. It said, "After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight and worshiped the images of Ball. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They chased after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtorth. This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to marauders who stole their possessions. He sold them to their enemies all around. Every time Israel went out into battle, the Lord fought against them, bringing them defeat, just as he promised. And the people were very distressed. (v.16) Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites form their enemies. Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves to other gods, bowing down to them. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors who had walked in obedience to the Lord's commands. Whenever the Lord placed a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judges who were burdened by oppression and suffering. But when the judged died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They followed other gods, worshipping and bowing down to them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. So the Lord burned with anger against Israel. He said, "Because these people have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel, to see whether or not they would obey the Lord as their ancestors did. That is why the Lord did not quickly drive the nations out or allow Joshua to conquer them all."
In taking that literally, one would be scared out of their mind of not following every single tiny morsel that fell out of God's mouth. Why is it a difficult thing to do, bring the flesh under submission of the spirit?
1 John 2:12-17 "I am writing to you, my dear children, because your sins have been forgiven because of Jesus. I am writing to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young because you have won your battle with Satan. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you who are young because you are strong with God's word living in your hearts, and you have won your battle with Satan. Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and the pride in our possessions. (KJV: The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.) These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.
To truly desire the things of the spirit and not the things of the flesh. What does that look like? And does that mean that desiring anything on this earth is eating off of the wrong tree? What should all of our desires be while on the earth? The thought of being so consumed in God that we forget to eat or sleep or take care of our physical bodies is such a beautiful thought. How I truly long to be at that place of wanting nothing other than His presence. Why is it that while there is so much grace and kindness being extended to me right now in the area of spending time with God, I am seemingly squandering it away? I don't fully understand all that is being laid before me. I keep hearing Bryce and his attitude toward the things of God and the things of the world. I truly desire complete abandonment. I truly desire to be unknown, but impacting lives. I truly desire a life filled with focus being totally directed to the eyes of God. The torch that God wants to give me, (maybe he already has), involves staying as close to the Father as possible. Staying as close as the angel was to me the other night, pressed up against my body. I haven't walked in that yet. As in the book The Torch and the Sword, Enoch told Rick that he knew how to walk adequately for short periods of time, but what he needed was endurance and discipline.
Galatians 5:16-26 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to another; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. (NLT: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirits leading in every part of our lives Let us not become conceited or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.)
Last night I went to Hastings and bought two books, The Journals of Jim Elliot and The Imitations of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. As I was reading the first five chapters of Thomas a Kempis book there were a lot of things that stuck out to me. He is very passionate about not being attached to this world but being consumed in and by the Spirit. To be a monk far off somewhere, where no one knows your name, you are inconspicuous and hidden. The joys of that life.
"Christ's teachings surpasses that of all the saints, and whoever has His spirit will find in His teaching hidden manna. but it happens that many are little affected, even after a frequent hearing of His Gospel. This is because they do not have the spirit of Christ. If you want to understand Christ's works and relish them fully, you must strive to conform your entire life to His."
"What good does it do you to be able to give a learned discourse on the Trinity, while you are without humility and, thus, are displeasing to the Trinity? Esoteric words neither make us holy nor righteous; only a virtuous life makes us beloved of God. I would rather experience repentance in my soul than know how to define it."
"This is the highest wisdom: to despise the world and seek the kingdom of heaven."
"Keep this proverb often in mind: The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Therefore, withdraw your heart from the love of things visible and turn yourself to things invisible. Those who yield to their sensual nature dishonor their conscience and forfeit God's grace."
"Whoever sets his mind on anything other than what serves his salvation is a senseless fool."
"He whom the eternal Word teaches is set free from a multitude of theories. From this one Word all things come into being, all things speak this one Word, and this Word, who is the beginning, also speaks to us. Without this Word no one can understand or judge correctly. He for whom all things are in the One, and who refers all things to the One, and sees all things in the One, can remain steadfast in heart and abide in God's peace.
O God my Truth, make me one with You in eternal love. Often I become weary with reading and hearing many things. You are all that I want and desire. Let all teachers be mute and all creation keep silence before You. Speak to me, You, and You alone."
"He who has a pure, simple and constant spirit is not distracted by the many thigns he does, because he does all for the honor of God and endeavors to remain inwardly free of all seeking of himself. What greater hindrance or annoyance is there than our heart's uncontrolled passions?
The good devout person first inwardly plans the works that he will outwardly do, and does not allow himself to be drawn by any unworthy inclination, but on the contrary, he accomplishes these works in accordance with the dictates of right reason."
"A humble knowledge of yourself is a surer way to God than any deep scientific inquiry."
"Because many people spend more time and effort in becoming educated than in living properly, it happens that many, therefore, go astray and bear little or no fruit."
"Certainly, when Judgement Day comes we shall not be asked what books we have read, but what deeds we have done; we shall not be asked how well we have debated, but how devoutly we have lived."
"Because they prefer to be famous rather than humble, they lose themselves in intellectual acrobatics and come to nothing."
"He is truly great who has abundant charity. He is truly great who is unimportant in his own eyes and considers the greatest of honors a mere nothing. He is truly wise who esteems all earthly things as dung so that he many gain Christ. Finally, he who does God's will and abandons his own is truly the most learned."
"It is a mark of great wisdom neither to be hasty in our actions nor stubbornly maintain our private opinions."
"The more humble you are in heart and the more you submit yourself to God, the wiser you will be in everything, and greater peace will be yours."
"If you wish to derive profit from your reading of Scripture, do it with humility, simplicity, and faith; at no time use it to gain a reputation for being one who is learned. Eagerly ask yourself questions and listen in silence to the words of the saints, and o not let the riddles of ancients baffle you. They were written down for a definite purpose."
All of this is great and very much what I have been looking for, for what reason I'm not sure, but how then is it put into practice? It seems all so simple, but what does it look like? What is the manifestation of it all? The only way I can see this is by keeping myself separate from the world entirely, but then they are the ones we are to be reaching and sharing these truths with. Are there times of complete hiding to completely gain an understanding of God, His ways and His word only to come out and share what you have learned? Is that a dangerous thing to do? It is what I desire the most! And yet, i feel that if I cannot do it when living in the world going about the daily grind of life, then what makes me think I will do it without any of the distractions? I can carry on for a short season, but am rubbish at walking steadily for long periods of time. I want to walk soundly and resolutely, just as Jesus walks. I want to have his gait in walking, His temperament in living and His focus in anticipation. How much was Jesus allowed to see while on the earth of the time to come? How much did he know? I want to know and walk just like Him. Enoch did why can't I? Daddy teach me how to live this way. Teach me how be disciplined. Teach me how to bring my flesh under control. I don't want to live after the flesh on any level. I want the flesh to live in accordance to what my spirit tells it to do. I love you so much Daddy! Please come and be with me in everything I do today. No wait thats the wrong wording. May I come into alignment with everything You are doing today. May I walk in direct accordance to Your plans and purposes. Not a step out of beat. Make me more sensitive to Your voice and your Spirit. I don't want to have a limited understanding or sensitivity to You. I want you completely and whole heartedly! :)
When I got up this morning and got my computer to be able to type things out, I grabbed my Bible and opened it trying to figure out where to start reading. Daddy told Claire that you always start with the Word. So thats what I want to do. Dad please don't allow me to fall into a ditch of creating a life thats regime, unless of course thats what you want. I want YOUR WILL, not mine. The other day you talked to me about routine. Creating a routine of life. Help me better understand what that looks like from your perspective.
Anyway, the place in the Word that I opened to randomly was Judges 2:10-23 which talks about Israel disobeying God. It said, "After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight and worshiped the images of Ball. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They chased after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtorth. This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to marauders who stole their possessions. He sold them to their enemies all around. Every time Israel went out into battle, the Lord fought against them, bringing them defeat, just as he promised. And the people were very distressed. (v.16) Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites form their enemies. Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves to other gods, bowing down to them. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors who had walked in obedience to the Lord's commands. Whenever the Lord placed a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judges who were burdened by oppression and suffering. But when the judged died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They followed other gods, worshipping and bowing down to them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. So the Lord burned with anger against Israel. He said, "Because these people have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel, to see whether or not they would obey the Lord as their ancestors did. That is why the Lord did not quickly drive the nations out or allow Joshua to conquer them all."
In taking that literally, one would be scared out of their mind of not following every single tiny morsel that fell out of God's mouth. Why is it a difficult thing to do, bring the flesh under submission of the spirit?
1 John 2:12-17 "I am writing to you, my dear children, because your sins have been forgiven because of Jesus. I am writing to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young because you have won your battle with Satan. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you who are young because you are strong with God's word living in your hearts, and you have won your battle with Satan. Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and the pride in our possessions. (KJV: The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.) These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.
To truly desire the things of the spirit and not the things of the flesh. What does that look like? And does that mean that desiring anything on this earth is eating off of the wrong tree? What should all of our desires be while on the earth? The thought of being so consumed in God that we forget to eat or sleep or take care of our physical bodies is such a beautiful thought. How I truly long to be at that place of wanting nothing other than His presence. Why is it that while there is so much grace and kindness being extended to me right now in the area of spending time with God, I am seemingly squandering it away? I don't fully understand all that is being laid before me. I keep hearing Bryce and his attitude toward the things of God and the things of the world. I truly desire complete abandonment. I truly desire to be unknown, but impacting lives. I truly desire a life filled with focus being totally directed to the eyes of God. The torch that God wants to give me, (maybe he already has), involves staying as close to the Father as possible. Staying as close as the angel was to me the other night, pressed up against my body. I haven't walked in that yet. As in the book The Torch and the Sword, Enoch told Rick that he knew how to walk adequately for short periods of time, but what he needed was endurance and discipline.
Galatians 5:16-26 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to another; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. (NLT: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirits leading in every part of our lives Let us not become conceited or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.)
Last night I went to Hastings and bought two books, The Journals of Jim Elliot and The Imitations of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. As I was reading the first five chapters of Thomas a Kempis book there were a lot of things that stuck out to me. He is very passionate about not being attached to this world but being consumed in and by the Spirit. To be a monk far off somewhere, where no one knows your name, you are inconspicuous and hidden. The joys of that life.
"Christ's teachings surpasses that of all the saints, and whoever has His spirit will find in His teaching hidden manna. but it happens that many are little affected, even after a frequent hearing of His Gospel. This is because they do not have the spirit of Christ. If you want to understand Christ's works and relish them fully, you must strive to conform your entire life to His."
"What good does it do you to be able to give a learned discourse on the Trinity, while you are without humility and, thus, are displeasing to the Trinity? Esoteric words neither make us holy nor righteous; only a virtuous life makes us beloved of God. I would rather experience repentance in my soul than know how to define it."
"This is the highest wisdom: to despise the world and seek the kingdom of heaven."
"Keep this proverb often in mind: The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Therefore, withdraw your heart from the love of things visible and turn yourself to things invisible. Those who yield to their sensual nature dishonor their conscience and forfeit God's grace."
"Whoever sets his mind on anything other than what serves his salvation is a senseless fool."
"He whom the eternal Word teaches is set free from a multitude of theories. From this one Word all things come into being, all things speak this one Word, and this Word, who is the beginning, also speaks to us. Without this Word no one can understand or judge correctly. He for whom all things are in the One, and who refers all things to the One, and sees all things in the One, can remain steadfast in heart and abide in God's peace.
O God my Truth, make me one with You in eternal love. Often I become weary with reading and hearing many things. You are all that I want and desire. Let all teachers be mute and all creation keep silence before You. Speak to me, You, and You alone."
"He who has a pure, simple and constant spirit is not distracted by the many thigns he does, because he does all for the honor of God and endeavors to remain inwardly free of all seeking of himself. What greater hindrance or annoyance is there than our heart's uncontrolled passions?
The good devout person first inwardly plans the works that he will outwardly do, and does not allow himself to be drawn by any unworthy inclination, but on the contrary, he accomplishes these works in accordance with the dictates of right reason."
"A humble knowledge of yourself is a surer way to God than any deep scientific inquiry."
"Because many people spend more time and effort in becoming educated than in living properly, it happens that many, therefore, go astray and bear little or no fruit."
"Certainly, when Judgement Day comes we shall not be asked what books we have read, but what deeds we have done; we shall not be asked how well we have debated, but how devoutly we have lived."
"Because they prefer to be famous rather than humble, they lose themselves in intellectual acrobatics and come to nothing."
"He is truly great who has abundant charity. He is truly great who is unimportant in his own eyes and considers the greatest of honors a mere nothing. He is truly wise who esteems all earthly things as dung so that he many gain Christ. Finally, he who does God's will and abandons his own is truly the most learned."
"It is a mark of great wisdom neither to be hasty in our actions nor stubbornly maintain our private opinions."
"The more humble you are in heart and the more you submit yourself to God, the wiser you will be in everything, and greater peace will be yours."
"If you wish to derive profit from your reading of Scripture, do it with humility, simplicity, and faith; at no time use it to gain a reputation for being one who is learned. Eagerly ask yourself questions and listen in silence to the words of the saints, and o not let the riddles of ancients baffle you. They were written down for a definite purpose."
All of this is great and very much what I have been looking for, for what reason I'm not sure, but how then is it put into practice? It seems all so simple, but what does it look like? What is the manifestation of it all? The only way I can see this is by keeping myself separate from the world entirely, but then they are the ones we are to be reaching and sharing these truths with. Are there times of complete hiding to completely gain an understanding of God, His ways and His word only to come out and share what you have learned? Is that a dangerous thing to do? It is what I desire the most! And yet, i feel that if I cannot do it when living in the world going about the daily grind of life, then what makes me think I will do it without any of the distractions? I can carry on for a short season, but am rubbish at walking steadily for long periods of time. I want to walk soundly and resolutely, just as Jesus walks. I want to have his gait in walking, His temperament in living and His focus in anticipation. How much was Jesus allowed to see while on the earth of the time to come? How much did he know? I want to know and walk just like Him. Enoch did why can't I? Daddy teach me how to live this way. Teach me how be disciplined. Teach me how to bring my flesh under control. I don't want to live after the flesh on any level. I want the flesh to live in accordance to what my spirit tells it to do. I love you so much Daddy! Please come and be with me in everything I do today. No wait thats the wrong wording. May I come into alignment with everything You are doing today. May I walk in direct accordance to Your plans and purposes. Not a step out of beat. Make me more sensitive to Your voice and your Spirit. I don't want to have a limited understanding or sensitivity to You. I want you completely and whole heartedly! :)
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