Hope Not in the Flesh
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh…”
2 Corinthians 10:3a
What war? You might ask. Even though you are a believer in Jesus Christ, Satan still wars against you to make you ineffective in this lifetime for the Kingdom of God and wants to keep you from growing as a Christian.
Our flesh is the way that we learned to receive love and affirmation as a child (being cute, working hard, pleasing others, or we just gave up). We cannot depend on these attributes when it comes to spiritual warfare. Trying harder, physical strength, beauty, charisma, etc… are not weapons that effective in spiritual warfare. Our weapons are the word of God (truth) and prayer. These we must rely on.
Satan knows your flesh patterns and knows that if he hits you here, you will be ineffective because you will tend to rely upon yourself instead of God, and Satan has no problem overcoming you and I. For example, two of my flesh weapons are depression and pain. Satan knows that if he can get me to succumb to the depression or put me into too much pain, that I draw inward and rely on my own determination. Of course, then I spiral down further and beat myself up, become discontent, and have no joy or hope. Without joy and hope I am ineffective to the kingdom.
Satan tends to hit the week that I am going to be speaking forth God’s word. I will be in Fort Worth this weekend speaking on Marriage and how to teach the Bible to your kids. The pain has been horrific for the last two days and I am fighting depressing thoughts that Satan keeps throwing in my face. I battle by reading the word, praying, praising, and not giving in to the depression or the pain. I recognize the battle, pull out my weapons, and trust that God will do a mighty work this weekend!
Your prayers make a difference in my life as well. Please be praying for relief from pain, wisdom in my words, and pure and true thoughts.
PS. If you want to evaluate your flesh patterns there is a worksheet at abidingtruthministry.com > resources > conference notes > What Really happened at the Cross > Flesh Inventory
