And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
In order that there there be any spiritual traction in our lives, the flesh must die. It must be submitted to the Spirit. Paul speaks about disciplining his body and bringing it under subjection, because the flesh cannot get saved, the flesh is controlled by the mind, hence ‘as a man thinks so is he’. Our best action with regard to the flesh is to firmly subject it to the Word and the Spirit. “If your hand or your foot causes you to fall into sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to fall into sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
We often make the mistake and get tricked into seeking to be comfortable in the flesh. people get disappointed and frustrated with Christianity because they expected to live it up in a carnal way. It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. Wanting to feel good in the flesh first is dangerous and contrary to the faith life. 3 John 2 TLB says “Dear friend, I am praying that all is well with you and that your body is as healthy as I know your soul is.” True prosperity begins in the spirit, because everything is spiritual. Our Christian lives flow from the Spirit and the flesh is then restored. 1 Timothy 4:8, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Preoccupation with the flesh is a life only focused on this present world, it has no eternal value.
When we deny the flesh it becomes weak, and then as the scripture says is when the Spirit is built up. The strength of the Lord is made perfect in human weakness because we give Him rulership over our bodies when we exalt the desires of the spirit above the desires of the flesh. When the flesh is weak it cannot argue with the spirit, it is silenced and its importance abased, it is in humbling the flesh that we are spiritually exalted because the flesh is constantly at war with the Spirit. But rejoice, it’s not all as bad as it may seem, when you are feeling powerless physically, you can be sure that you are spiritually indestructible. Remember the Lord Jesus when He was being tempted by satan after a time of fasting, He was so spiritually sharp He never sought to make His argument in the flesh, He was soaring in spiritual understanding and alertness. He was indestructible.
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