Throughout all of Paul’s epistles, he was showing that the greatest obstacle you will ever face is you. Paul’s teachings were an extension of what Jesus was teaching. Jesus taught most about the Kingdom of heaven which is spiritual. He taught “The way” into the spirit realm is to deny yourself. Jesus is the door into the spirit, and those who enter through Jesus are one with Him in the spirit. You can’t do this in the flesh. Jesus also taught us to first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. The Kingdom is spirit and it’s through Jesus’s righteousness is how we enter and live there. Four times in the scriptures it is written, “The just/righteous shall live by faith.” Faith is of the spirit. The only way into the spirit is by faith. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God because in the flesh there is no faith only the law. Paul taught, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sin is of the flesh and life is of the spirit.
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This battle that we are in to see who rules over our lives comes from within us. Outside influences try to have you live one way, and God is trying to teach you to live His way. Let’s take for instance a thought. Paul teaches that we are to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. He also mentions that our weapons are not carnal, of the flesh, but mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds. The weapons that Paul is referring to here are the armor of God as God is spirit. Paul wrote a section in his letter to the Romans regarding this struggle. Today it’s referred to in Romans 7, but he shows us the victory in this battle in the next chapter, Romans 8. We can have victory over our thoughts, The thoughts of men are not of God. Peter tried this and he got rebuked by Jesus telling him, “Get behind Me satan.” Our thoughts are to align with God’s thoughts, and our ways are to align with His ways. Once they do, you will know a tree by its fruit. If they are living from the flesh, bad tree, or the spirit, good tree. It all goes back to the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Sadly, today most pastors are concerned with self-help, making a better you rather than denying yourself. Listen to what they say and see if this is not true. Is it victory in the Name of Jesus in the spirit where He is, or of the flesh? Jesus did say as he was talking about the spirit, “The flesh profits nothing.” So my question to you is, if the flesh profits nothing, why live from the flesh? Wouldn’t you want to live where Christ lives in the spirit seated in heavenly places? Fight the good fight of faith so you will always live from the spirit and not the flesh. Wear faith as a shield against your flesh. I hope this blesses you, my friends.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.