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Volume 7 ... #27
If the Flesh Gets Control
Gal. 5 ... 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:
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In speaking with a member of our little church group, her flesh and my flesh began to get in control as we spoke about the US presidential election. Everything we were saying got worse fast. I just said, "I've got to go ... Bye ..." and hung up. (stopping our flesh)
But I had strong realization that it was God who was still in charge of her and of me even though our flesh was working in our conversation. (I did not grieve over what I had done as I might have done at one time for it was so powerful to me that God was there over me.)
This was such a wonderful understanding. I rejoiced.
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None of us want to sin. The flesh will do the works of the flesh and never gets any better and cannot get better for it is flesh ... so hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife are always waiting to surface along with the other works of the flesh.
We do not want such to surface through us.
But even if it does, God is still there above us, above our flesh, above the sin ... and in this we rejoice.
This is:
Romans 8 ...It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, WHO is even at the right hand of God, WHO also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For THY sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through HIM that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Some of you have unruly children. You grieve. You speak out to them. You often feel condemned by your own words when you know your flesh has taken over and you are worn out!
Is that unruly tongue able to separate you from God? This is what I experienced when my tongue took over recently and spoke. Even then, I had a very strong sense of God. That doesn't mean we want to have unruly tongues. That doesn't make me want to sin.
Paul said:
Romans 6 ...1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into HIS death? 4 Therefore we are buried with HIM by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
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We just have to come to the understanding that Paul had ... God is greater than their sin and than our sin ...
Nothing and no person is greater than God.
When I had some very strong physical pain, I was aware that even that did not really affect me to keep me from God, from hearing from God, doing the exhortations to the church.
When Paul said nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, he meant nothing.
Paul showed us he had this understanding. And so do we come into this understanding.
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