The Distracting D's: Desires of the Flesh

My next topic of study is the different attacks the enemy uses to try to bring us out of having a successful Christian life, and bring us away from having a meaningful relationship with Christ. These attacks are distractions that keep us from focusing on God and I narrowed them down to four words (maybe more as God may reveal them to me as I begin this study), and I will go through each of these for the next couple of days. For the sake of easy memory, the words all start with D’s and so I decided to entitle this particular study of mine, “The Distracting D’s.” The Distracting D’s are as follow; Desires of the Flesh (Temptation), Discord, Deception, and Despair. The first of these Distracting D’s that we are going to look at is Desires of the Flesh (Temptations)

We’ve all experienced it, especially those of us who have grown up going to church. You sit down Sunday morning after the choir and musicians have finished their songs, and as the Pastor begins to deliver his message you began to grow uncomfortable with the fact that you are currently sitting on a wooden plank. So you begin to scoot your butt around, and hold your back straighter, but you can’t seem to find a comfortable spot to sit for the next hour or so. Then you begin to feel your stomach grumble and as that happens you also began to feel hot or maybe cold. They can be easily dismissed as a normal human functions, to be uncomfortable sitting on what feels like solid stone, or hunger pains in the morning. However, these are all distraction from the enemy to keep you from learning and growing in your Christian walk. These are desires of your flesh, things your flesh wants you to do to keep it happy.

This morning when I woke up, and began to do my morning devotions, there was one thought that plagued my mind and that was sleep. In fact, I was so tired and obsessed with sleeping this morning that I literally fell asleep while in mid sentence. I’m sure you’ve experienced that yourself a couple times, as have I since it wasn’t my first time falling asleep during morning devotions. When I awoke from my sudden nap during my reading, I thought to myself, “That’s just because it is early and you’re tired. You should probably go back to sleep” But as I began to think about it, I realized that I really had no excuse for being tired. I had had a perfectly healthy 7 to 8 hour sleep, and I should have felt well rested. But I didn’t because I was being attacked. The enemy was using my flesh to make me make decisions.

When distractions arise, it is important to recognize them as just that, and rebuke them in the name of the LORD. It may seem important to you to tell your friend a joke that you thought up in the middle of Church, it may seem important to you that your rear-end is going numb because you feel like you have been sitting for so long, or it might seem important to you that you are about to “starve”. But in the end those are all distractions that will hinder you from growing in Christ, and distract you from learning in God’s word. The bible tells us that we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 10:5) So when we have these distracting thoughts of the flesh come to us, we should take them captive, and not be subject to their biddings.

As for “starving” during church or morning devotions, you’re not going to actually starve to death just because you had to sit for an hour or two. What’s more important to you your stomach or God? Not to mention, while you complain to yourself about “starving to death” during church and/or devotions, think about all the people in the world who are actually starving, and unlike you, they don’t have the promise of food in the next hour or two. So stop getting caught up with distractions of comfort. Put God first, before your stomach, a good way to start doing this is by making sure you don’t eat before you read your bible. Say to yourself, “No read, no feed!” It helps me! Or if you are having problems getting your flesh to obey, try fasting. The best way to get your flesh to submit, and to strengthen your spirit over it, is through fasting.

Desires of the flesh hinder us from growing in Christ, and doing what God has planned for us to do. If we are constantly looking for the answer to “What can I do now to please me.” We are missing the opportunity to experience the answer to “What can God do through me?”

“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.” Galatians 5:17

Godly Humility vs. Self-righteous Humility and Self-pity Humility!

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about humility, and the differences between godly humility, self-righteous humility, and dangerous self criticism that comes from listening to the enemies’ lies. So let’s look at the three levels of humility and see which one we are to have, and which is the one we should identify and dispose of before the enemy uses them to destroy our Christian walk.

The first one we’ll look at is self righteous humility. It’s safe to say that this one is all tied up in appearance and what people think of us. This one is what people make fun of when they say “I am SO humble” in an exaggerated tone. They use their status of being humble to feed their prideful desires of self worth in this world. Scripture clearly warns against a life like this in Matthew 6:1-8 when it talks about how the Pharisees did things like giving their alms, praying and possibly being humble for appearance purpose only. It also says in Colossians 3:23 “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” This means that if we are being humble we should only care about one who sees it, and that is God, and defer whatever praise we may receive for our acts of humility. Be humble about your humility!

The next one is dangerous self criticism; self pity. This usually manifests itself as a thought which sounds similar to this one “I don’t deserve that praise because I am undeserving of anything, because I am such a lowlife sinful person.” It is important, as a Christian, to acknowledge that we are a sinner, but far too often that is the only thing people dwell on. You were a sinner before you came into a relationship with Christ, but now you have been saved from the life as a sinner and you are now a Child of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” All things, even the status of who you once were, have passed away. Yes, you were a sinner, but you are no longer a sinner you are a child of God, and to say that you are a helpless sinner only makes what Christ did for us on the cross sound so pathetic. So don’t wallow in your self-pity, and don’t listen to the enemies lies that take hold of your life. This type of thinking will hinder you from accomplishing the great works God has planned for your life.

The last one is godly humility. It perplexed me for a while as to what godly humility could be defined as, but it came to me as I was reading a book called The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson. In the book he basically talks a lot about finding about how much power we have in Christ as Christians against our enemy. There was one part where he said “Pride says, ‘I resisted the devil all by myself.’ False humility says, ‘God resisted the devil; I did nothing.’ True humility says, “I resisted the devil by the grace of God.’ Apart from Christ we can do nothing, but that doesn’t mean we’re not supposed to do something. We exercise authority humbly in His strength and in his name.” THAT’S IT! Didn’t those first two points (the prideful one and the false humility one) sound a lot like the first two levels of humility? That means my answer to what godly humility is lies in his example of true humility. Godly humility is found when we first humble our self image by realizing every good thing you do is not of your own power, and acknowledging that what you have been, and will be able to do, is from the grace and power of Jesus Christ. Only then will you find boldness in the LORD and your authority in Christ against the enemy. Remember the poor thinking from the self-pity humility? The one that always dwelled on the fact that you are a sinner? Well, there is a healthy version of that thinking. If you only remember that you were a sinner before the LORD swept in and saved you, but now you are a child of God, you then break the false reasoning of self-pity (Because you are no longer a sinner, but a child of God), destroy your prideful self-esteem (because if it wasn’t for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, you’d be a sinner still, you had nothing to do with breaking free from that), and move on to godly humility; accepting the fact that every good thing you do is of the LORD and you now have the living power of Christ in you to defeat the enemy. Be humble in your own strength, and be prideful of Jesus Christ who lives in you!

Psalm 139 in My Own Words: A Prayer of Praise to an All Knowing Ever-Present Savior.

As I finished up my memory of Psalm 139 I wanted to make sure that I did not lose what I had memorized, but rather I wanted to actually apply it to my daily life. So I rewrote the Psalm in my own words as a prayer to God.

“Lord, you know me. You understand everything I’m going through. When I am down and depressed, you are there. When I am at my highest point, you are there with me, surrounding every moment of it.” (See Psalm 139:1-3)

“You know every word I have spoken, and am going to speak before I even speak them. You have surrounded me in my past days and in my future days to come, like an army surrounding its enemy. Your comforting hand is always on me, guiding and protecting me. I am over whelmed with this overpowering knowledge of your caring love for me.” (See Psalm 139:4-6)

“I cannot escape your presence, for it consumes my existence. There is no place I can go that I will not find you there with me. You are always there, guiding me in the way I should go.” (See Psalm 139:7-10)

“No matter what I am going through, no matter how hard and tough life may seem. No matter how consumed I feel by the darkness of this world, your love, and your presence shines through even the darkest of hours. The darkness of this world cannot be kept from you, for your love shines through and breaks the darkness’s tight grasp. You have made me, you formed me in my mother’s womb.” (See Psalm 139:11-13)

“I was made by the almighty creator who created the sun and the moon and the stars, who spoke and the very existence of light itself was made with a single word. You made me with a plan and purpose, everything you have formed in me is perfect in your sight, and nothing the enemy can say will shake me from this belief that I am your beloved creation. I praise you for that. When I was yet nothing in the world’s mind you, the almighty Creator who keeps the very stars in the sky, cared enough to take the time to make and form me; a nothing in this world’s mind.” (See Psalm 139:14-16)

“Your thoughts unto me are precious, O God, I love every one of them. They are so vast and so great, I am un able to count them. Yet they are there, and your kind thoughtful care in my life is with me, and they continually flow in. You are with me at all times, and when I awake I praise your steadfast love for me, for you are there.” (See Psalm 139:17-18)

“This imperfect world is plagued with the evil ones who rise up against you, surely they will receive their just reward. I want nothing to do with them. There are those who have heard the lie of the enemy, and listened to his falsehoods, thus they rise up against you, and curse your name. I am saddened for those poor deceived souls; I hate their ways and the enemy who gives them their biddings.” (See Psalm 139:19-22)

“I humble myself before you, O God, search my ways. Do not let me fall into the pit of hypocrisy, and think of myself as better than those who do not know you. Do not let me lose my compassion for the lost. Destroy any evilness that has crept into my life, and lead me to be an impact in your kingdom for eternity!”(See Psalm 139:23-24)