How are you doing this morning, good I hope? Are you having a good work week so far, I sure hope so? How about that BEATDOWN Clemson put on Alabama last night? I have to be honest, I was rooting for Alabama because of the SEC connection, but I do like the Clemson team and especially the coach Dabo Sweeny! Congratulations to the Clemson Tigers on the Championship win! The NCAA Football Tide is turning, no pun intended! May God Bless you and yours more abundantly in 2019 than you’ve ever been Blessed before so that “your cup runneth over”!
God Bless You and Yours!
***Remember, if you haven’t purchased it already, my newly published book “The Third Eye Perspective” book of Devotionals is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Xulon Press in Paperback, Hardback, also on EBook. and also in the December 2018 edition of the Christian Book Buyers Guide Catalog on page #7! You can also follow me on Twitter (CCBrown67) and Instagram (Doubletuff99)! Thank you!
The Third Eye Perspective:
Thought For Today – “Is Your “Flesh” Out of Control?”
Now that we are in a new year that we’ve never seen before, nor will ever see again, I want to ask you a question about some of the changes you put on your new year’s resolutions list if you made one. I’m sure most if not all of you reading this that actually did make resolutions, probably listed losing weight, to save more money, to start fresh from a bad or recently dissolved relationship, maybe even to start going to Church more, or to start paying your Tithes every Sunday, to find a new job, or better yet, to win the lottery LOL! How about this one, to strive to be a better Christian follower? If you made resolution, then I would think the first question you need to ask yourself is……. “Is YOUR “Flesh” Out of Control?” When you think of flesh, I’m sure some maybe even a lot of you, immediately thought about the very meat on your bones. In other words, your “Physical” flesh right? But you would be wrong, I am referring to your “Worldly Flesh Appetites.” Well, well, well, I see some of you looking at the screen on your phone or computer as you’re reading this with a very confused look on your face. So I guess I’ll start off by giving you a definition of what the “Flesh” is, as I’m referring to it. When we talk about “Flesh,” we are talking about all those things that we desire or engage in, that goes against what the Bible teaches. Once you become “Born Again,” you can’t live the same way you lived before you gave and pledged your life to Jesus Christ. There’s no grey areas here either, you can’t straddle the fence living anyway you want to during the week, then go to Church on Sundays and repent for it and think everything will be ok. I mean, you actually CAN do that, but a change of behavior is the real proof of your sincerity to serving God. The Christian Journey is a difficult one, it is not designed to be easy for a reason. God wants totally dedicated and committed Christians in His army, because those are the only kind that can make a difference in this age of chaos in the world today. If it was easy, then we wouldn’t appreciate God and His awesome power as much than if we have to endure some hard times along the way. Ironically, the “author” of all our “Fleshly” appetites is none other than Satan himself. So if you don’t have “getting my flesh in check in 2019” on your list of New Year’s Resolutions, then you need to bawl up that list and start over again. Getting our “Flesh” back in check or under control, should be at the very TOP of our list…
But this is not a task that anyone is very excited about taking on is it? Why is that you think? Is it because it means while you’re taking inventory of all those things you are doing that God does not approve of might or will overwhelm you, or those things you need to stop doing means your “fun” life is over? Or is it because you question your ability to refrain from doing them, as in maybe you are not strong enough to resist the pull of the temptations Satan has placed in your path? Ironically, that’s why so often “Sins of the Flesh” is referred to as “appetites.” Because just like certain foods that obese people can’t resist eating, that continues to result in them being overweight, our individual weaknesses when it comes to Sins of the Flesh are designed pretty much the very same way. That is because as I have said before in previous “Thought for Today’s,” they are custom designed for us by Satan. Just like God, Satan knows everything about us, he knows our strengths and our weaknesses, and even God’s future plans for us, as well as our every thought! Satan knows when we are going thru vulnerable times in our lives where we start to question not only our significance, in the grand scheme of things, “why does MY life matter to God, what makes ME so special? It sure doesn’t seem like I’m anything special to Him right now with all the “Hell” I’m going thru in my life. So why would I even waste my time trying to resist the temptations that keep separating me from God, it’s not going make a difference anyways?” How many of you have thought about this? If were keeping it totally 100% real here, I know “I” have said those things before in my past before I knew better! There has been no one since Jesus Christ that has been completely 100% successful in “keeping their Flesh in check to the point that they never slipped and fell figuratively speaking.” God’s plan is actually set up that way after the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden in the beginning. Once the first betrayal happened with Adam and Eve that sealed the deal for us not to be capable of being perfect, eventhough we were originally designed to be. What you don’t believe that? Well it is true, read your Bible in the book of Genesis. When God created Adam and Eve, He created him in HIS (God’s) likeness. If God created Adam and Eve in HIS likeness, that means He created them (us) with the capability of perfection. It wasn’t until the downfall that the “Perfection” option was removed…
Now that I’ve given you a definition as well as a description of what “Worldly Flesh” is/means, now we need to discuss the HOW to keeping our “Flesh” in check. And it’s pretty simple actually, because the first step in this process is to stay deeply rooted in the Word of God. It is hard for Satan to attack you when you are regularly diving into God’s Holy Word and his antics be successful. The next step in the process would be to meditate on that Word. In other words, don’t just read it, meditate on it and try to find a meaning out of what you read as it relates to YOUR life. Next, in the process is submission to God. Give God your total and complete attention and open your heart up to Him completely. Like I said, you can’t straddle the fence and only submit to God when it is convenient to or for you. God should be the very First thing on your mind when you wake up and the last thing on your mind when you go to bed at night. The next thing we have to do in order to keep our “worldly flesh appetites” in check, is to totally remove ourselves from the temptation. That means, you need to be very aware of the places you go, the people you associate yourself with, and the things you allow your mind to think about. If you know you have a weakness for drugs, alcohol, perversion, gossiping, etc.. let’s say, why would you go to the very places, or around the people you know are known for doing or engaging in those things and hanging out with them? Now that’s not implying you should judge them, it is just stating that if you are trying to resist doing those things, to keep those people who regularly use it out of your path or inner circle. The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” would come into play here. If you remove yourself from that environment long enough, you’ll stop thinking about doing those things and eventually will have conquered that bad habit or behavior. And then you will be able to develop a resistance level that will strengthen everytime you resist an opportunity to engage in that drug use, or whatever your “worldly appetite” is. This process will work nomatter what your temptation is, because God will increase your strength to resist everytime you “just say no” to your “worldly Flesh appetite”. Can I leave you with a question to ponder today people?????
“When it comes to YOUR “worldly flesh appetites”, are you really in control of them”????
Can I get an Amen?
“Today, choose to “Ride or Die” with Jesus Christ! Afterall, isn’t that exactly what HE did for US on the Cross?”
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