Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
There are times our flesh begins reasoning with us and we could be lead away by our thinking except for God bringing HIS truth to our mind by the Holy Spirit.
Recently I was reading a secular book and in that book there was a character who delighted in looking at women on beaches who were semi-naked and in hiring prostitutes.
Certainly that is the nature of man to do these things.
But as these thoughts were going through my mind, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the warning Paul gave to men who committed sex with an harlot.
I stopped reading the secular book and turned to I Corinthians 6 to renew my mind to the word of God on the matter.
Instruction for men in the church:
I Corinthians 6:15-20 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Flee fornication.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
What a terrible thing for a man who says he is a Christian to commit fornication!
I Corinthians 7:2 to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
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Romans 12:2 be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Thoughts and ideas contrary to the Holy Scriptures try to creep into our reasoning.
We must be diligent to deal with every contrary thought by renewing our mind to scripture on the subject at hand.
The scripture is the power of God for those who believe.
II Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
It is "natural" for men and women to do the works of the flesh ... fornication, adultery, hatred, strife, drunkenness and such ...
But we, who are born again, go the way of the Spirit, which is against nature, living in love, joy, peace, faith in God ... serving God instead of serving our own flesh as we once did.
Galatians 5:19-14
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness (defrauding one another), lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft (living by superstitions), hatred, variance (to vary: argue/debate), emulations (to try to outdo the other person), wrath (desire for revenge), strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, 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, longsuffering, 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.
Even after we are born again, our flesh tries to rise up and get us to do the works of the flesh but we recognize these fleshly works and we want to go the way of the Spirit of God which is opposite to the way of the flesh.
So when we are tempted by our flesh, we resist by crying out to God: "Help me ... Please don't let me do that."
So we keep our flesh under control by turning to God for help when we are tempted.
Each time I have asked God to stop me, God has stopped me!
But the flesh is always there tempting us to go in the way of the flesh ... but we choose to go in the way of God instead.
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