Please pray for me...

T

TaylorOtwell Aug 5, 2006

Brothers and sisters,

I am 20 years old and fixing to start my junior year at Arkansas Tech University. I feel that I'm on the very brink of being all out on fire for God, and I need to be free from the last bit of my flesh that still clings for life.

My flesh still throws evil thoughts at me that I constantly have to fight off, thoughts from my past, it perverts thoughts that I have, it's like a thorn in my flesh that I hate and constantly am fighting against.

Would you pray that God would deliver me to a new level in my relationship with Him and help me to burn bright for His glory. I have much mission work and ministry I am involved in at college that the enemy will try and stop with all his might.

Please try and remember me in your prayers, and feel free to message me with any prayer request of your own and I will pray for you!

Thank you!
Taylor

C

crsschk Aug 5, 2006

My flesh still throws evil thoughts at me that I constantly have to fight off, thoughts from my past, it perverts thoughts that I have, it's like a thorn in my flesh that I hate and constantly am fighting against.

Even Paul found this to be so much later in life;

Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Sure you know the remainder. It is an ongoing battle brother.

2Co 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;
2Co 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

J

JoeA Aug 5, 2006

Sure you know the remainder. It is an ongoing battle brother.

But brother, what of...?

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

sermonindex Aug 5, 2006

thoughts from my past,

Dear Taylor,

I don't know if you've thought of bringing these matters into the presence of the Lord, every time they arise, and asking Him how you should deal with them. It may depend on the detail whether you are to stand on a past deliverance, or, you have not really thought through the implications of not facing the issues with God, because you assume you know these thoughts are not from Him and you assume He knows you don't want them.

Here are two clues as to ways forward with reminders from the past.

1) If you actively engaged in sin, knowing it was sin at the time, then if you have repented and consciously received forgiveness and set your course to walk in straight paths free from the/those sin(s), then stand on the transaction you have already made with God, and believe this is just mischievious accusation from the enemy.

2) But, if you were out-manoeuvred into sinning by another person who technically bears the moral responsibility when you were too young to know better, (but they weren't too young to know better), then (perhaps) you should regard these reminders as pointing to a different need - that of healing. (If you have told the Lord you are sorry for what you were doing in those circumstances, that is enough, especially if you have stopped now.) It is very easy for a Christian to minimise in their own thinking, the damage which was done to their innocence by exposure to the world and worldiness. You are right to take it seriously and I counsel you that God does too, and is very ready to help you get the victories you desire.

Lastly, the enemy loves it when we beat our brains out trying to take responsibility for thoughts which do not arise from our own hearts, minds, bodies, souls or spirits. If victory continues to be elusive, it is worth thinking more carefully about why certain thoughts are more prevalent than others. As you commit each detail to the Lord, ~~[i]~~really[/i], and determine to leave them all with Him for as long a season as it takes, you will find yourself being freer and freer. The real secret is to include the Lord in all your resistance. This is the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness - ~~[i]~~in action[/i].

These battles may throw up other issues. You must continue to return to the Lord with each one, and invite Him to convict or heal you, as necessary. It is much better to be in the hands of the living God, than trying to fight without Him.

T

TaylorOtwell Aug 5, 2006

Thank you for your responses! Dorcas, yes, I am constantly bringing these issues before the Lord and I rejoice to say that he has been delivering me and putting that flesh to death! And I praise Him for it! Thank you so much for your prayers brothers and sisters! :-)

C

crsschk Aug 5, 2006

But brother, what of...?

... ~~[i]~~So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.[/i]

Would hate to open up this whole matter here again, might it be said that the default setting for the flesh is ~~[i]~~the law of sin[/i]?

The great problem we have is that our past memories are not erased and do come back to haunt us as our brother here expressed in his struggles.
They have to be denied and cast out as 'evil imaginations' even if they were at one time actual facts. All it takes is to drift a little and they will surely come, sometimes they come back as tests I am assured, sometimes as some strange torquing of the devils minions ... ever been assaulted during prayer? Out of nowhere some past thing comes flying up into the mix...

I don't know of any real easy step by step guarantee to ward them off as it were. It is easy to state and certainly we should give no provision to the flesh ...

Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 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 I also believe a misunderstanding is made of what Paul stated as a sense of finality with;

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Free indeed, free not to give in to those things which come, not that they cease to do so.

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We wrestle nonetheless.

sermonindex Aug 6, 2006

MikeB said:

They have to be denied and cast out as 'evil imaginations' even if they were at one time actual facts.

Yes, this is true.

However, it is also true that some things will ~~[u]~~keep on coming back[/u] BECAUSE we have never acknowledged and brought them into the Lord's presence, and faced - confessed, grieved, repented - over the sin - whether ours or others' or both -

[EDIT: see thread Presenting the Apostrophe.]

-or been healed (That is, invited Him to heal us, or, given Him permission to heal us.) of the original breach in our psyche (soul) which was made by the sin - whosever ~~[i]~~fault[/i] it was.

This is something about Ephesians 3:16 -19 again - ~~[i]~~~~[b]~~allowing[/b][/i] our inner man to be ~~[u]~~strengthened[/u] by the actively-engaged-with love of God.

Perhaps this conflicts with our instinctive attempts to make ourselves righteous by our own efforts - our own strength - a matter of pride, perhaps, too? Whatever, it is not helpful to God's continuous attempt to minister the fulness of Himself to our whole being, ~~[i]~~including[/i] all our needs.

His main problem is that we don't identify them very readily, and then we don't rush into His presence with them when we do.

(Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That ~~[b]~~Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith[/b]; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.)

Truly, if we believe Christ is present in our hearts, it is harder to feel incomplete. Still, we must never lose our awe and admiration for the ~~[i]~~otherness[/i] of God, and His ever-able and willing ability to connect with our cries to Him.

Having said all this, of course we must co-operate with Him as He effectively unpicks us, so that we can see and He can have our recognition of what He sees we need.

I think I'm saying that maybe we unwittingly battle against how He has made us. Because in the same way as we know when we really do have peace, we also know when we really don't (have peace). This faculty of the soul is there as a signpost to our mental appreciation of what is going on in the invisible realms of knowing Him. We know when we do and we know when we don't.

We wrestle nonetheless.

And so we should, but, while on the one hand ~~[i]~~not[/i] in our own strength, on the other, He wants to see that we are willing to put our back into loving and knowing Him, otherwise, He has a right to doubt our wholeheartedness.

(NKJV) Mark 12:30
'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.

C

crsschk Aug 6, 2006

I don't know of any real ~~[b]~~easy[/b] step by step guarantee to ward them off as it were.

There is a little hidden principle that I have held to and did not mention and is largely effective...

It's rudely slamming the door the instant these things come up, a sort of mental approach to giving not a millisecond of thought of entertaining whatever temptation, evil suggestion (often presented quite lovely in fact), anger, pride, lust... the whole lot.

To be fair and honest about it all, there are times when the heat is intense and more drastic measures are needed (~~[i]~~ And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.[/i])Sometimes you have to slam the door on your own foot...

Purposeful distraction is helpful.

~~[i]~~~~[b]~~If[/b][/i] you find yourself drifting ... throw down the anchor. Temptation is not sin, but we can suppose far too much at times and find ourselves playing in a bad neighborhood and believe we will not be bullied.

This is where the funny idea about the scriptures being merely ...ah, I won't go there. Keeping one's head in the Bible is the only way to get the Bible into ones head, and firmly logged there.

Drifting is the subtle form of making things seem as less in importance which leads to rationalizing so called 'little sins' against larger ones. It may not be the best way, but when I have found myself in the midst of playing this sinister game I force myself to carry it out to it's logical and realistic conclusion. The ~~[i]~~passing pleasures of sin[/i] always has that key word hinging it ... ~~[i]~~passing[/i]. Heard here on SI finally someone make note of this awhile back from a live webcast Greg had up from Calvary Church. The speaker (forgetting his name) drew upon these results ... To go all the way out to the payment rendered, required at the end of it all. The final cost of sin. To look at it at it's end and see the pain, shame, guilt, harm, grieving the Holy Spirit and grieving ones self, the disconnect from Gods Presence.

Sometimes it is to throw a cold bucket of ~~[i]~~fear[/i] into ones own face. Remember death and remember what is next up on the order of matters afterward .... ~~[i]~~Judgment[/i].

Sometimes it is just to flatly suffer.

But to say there is no battle involved or that the battle gets easier ... I do not know this from experience. It changes. The angles and strategies are different. One area can be 'conquered' and another springs up as an ambush. If one is getting anywhere with the Lord it is no accident that there would be assaults from all the 'big three'. Even the conquered area's can be retaken again if the guard is let down. Have found that being put into different surroundings and circumstances will put to the test everything one has acquired and proves out one of the most important verses ever penned ...

~~[i]~~Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.[/i] 1Co 10:12

I know the argument against human strength and natural will power, that there is a giving up of these things as to the worthlessness and effectiveness. But, at the same time something has been twisted out of proportion in thinking there is nothing of strength to overcome of our own. We are not ~~[i]~~now[/i] working alone any longer, before we had no 'power' to overcome anything and now we hold it not of ourselves but as it is resident within ... ~~[i]~~His power[/i]. We have to come to an agreement that we are...

~~[i]~~Strengthened with all might, ~~[u]~~according to his glorious power[/u], unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness[/i]; Col 1:11

This I believe is the 'answer' to and that follows on "taking heed";

~~[i]~~There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.[/i] 1Co 10:13

Sometimes you just have to bear it. Suffer. It's good for us. It builds character.

Otherwise just slam the door and save yourself some misery and God a lot of grief. Hopefully the latter is much more of a incentive than anything.

Just my experience ....