NEHEMIAH 8:10 – Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
THEME OF THE DAY:WHAT WILL YOU DO? It is going to happen to all of us. It will come with ease but yet be strong in its persuasive power upon us. It won’t give up so it must be confronted. Unless it is consistently defeated, it will become a habit making our spiritual lives like a roller-coaster in an amusement park; up and down, all around, and never stable. Something else about this “it”. Should we consistently defeat it, we are showing signs of spiritual maturity in Christ. Conversely, if we are regularly giving into it, then spiritual immaturity marks our walk with the Lord. So, after all that, what is this “it” that I am referring to? The weakness of our flesh, or more specifically, living our Christian life more by feelings than by faith, by emotions than obedience. And one more thing, when the temptation to give into the flesh and its screams for comfort comes upon us, what we do at that very moment either promotes spiritual growth or restricts it.
In the daily battles of the Christian life, there are the calls to the severest of self-discipline, self-control, and self-denial. Without these three, the Christian life cannot occur. And to answer these calls demands all we are, all the time. It is a relentless attack on our flesh that says, “Yes, I am worn out from a long week. I would like to sleep in Sunday morning and miss church. I’ll go next week. Yes, I feel too tired to go to prayer meeting. I’ve had a trying few days and I want to rest. Yes, I feel the pull on my tired heart, mind, and body to stay home tonight and miss the fellowship gathering with other believers .But no, I won’t listen to you, deceiving flesh. I won’t give into your efforts to draw me away from opportunities to obey my Lord, encourage His people, and serve the Gospel. You won’t win.”
Now the paragraph I just wrote is a true way to do battle against our always opposing flesh to spiritual things through self-discipline, self-control, and self-denial, but it is incomplete. No amount of personal resolve can defeat our flesh. This is a spiritual battle requiring spiritual means. If we don’t get that, then we might indeed make progress in all that I mentioned, but it will be dull duty, joyless execution of activities, and will eventually lead us to discouraging defeat. There is only one way to get strength to slay the flesh; to be empowered to defeat it, and that way is in today’s scripture. Go ahead and find the answer. It is the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is not some feeling. It is an empowerment that comes from our union in Christ, grasped by faith, and acted upon to provide strength for all the Christian life to include defeating our flesh. Do a study soon of the word “joy” and notice how wide, beautiful and practical it is in the Christian life. It is what the Lord provides and how we are supposed to walk. So, the temptation is going to come for the flesh to rule us. What are we going to do? Surrender to its attack or grasp the empowering strength of the Lord’s joy? It is available. Let’s “tap into it” and never let the flesh make us inconsistent and lazy Christians.
PRAYER: “Father, don’t let me be deceived by my laziness of flesh to give into its screams for comfort and disobey You.
QUOTE: “If we live our Christian lives by feelings, we are going to be on a rollercoaster of a spiritual experience.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim