Striping away self is painful…initially. It is NEVER easy… initially. Striping away is a process…initially. It is a process of becoming HUMBLE before God. We are realizing and acknowledging we are NOTHING without Him and that we NEED Him. On page 10 in the book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, it talks about crucifying our flesh or self. As stated before, self is a mess and we must place it on the shelf. Crucifying our flesh is relinquishing those things we may want to say or do that we know is out of the will of God. It is so unnatural for us to do this because usually when we do or say something we know we are not supposed to, depending on the circumstance; sometimes it makes us feel good. We get a sense of satisfaction from it. Sometimes we justify it and say the person deserved what we did or said to them. It satisfied and sometimes massaged our flesh (self). The good news is if it made you feel bad afterward, that is God pricking your conscious chastising you to let you know it was wrong or was not right. If it does not bother you of the wrong thing you did or said, then you need to ask, why? Has your conscious been seared? The bible warns of doing wrong for so long that wrong seems right and right seems wrong (Isaiah 5:20). It is a sign that your heart is so harden toward God that you no longer know the things of Him. Of course, this is exciting for Satan because he has you where he wants you to manipulate you and have you to kill, steal, and destroy others as alluded to in the book. Arrogance, bitterness, pride, fearfulness, and, anxiety are some of the tools Satan uses to keep us for away from God. We do not recognize it because we are so Full of Self. That is why I keep emphasizing we have to put SELF ON THE SHELF because SELF IS A MESS! So, initially when self is being stripped away and we crucify our flesh it is uncomfortable and painful.
The process of crucifying our flesh is something we cannot do on our own. We NEED the supernatural strength of God and Jesus to help us (page 10). The beauty of getting and receiving this supernatural strength is the more you rely on this strength the easier it becomes. This is not to say you will like it, but your spirit is in relationship with God. Part of the process is learning how to lean and depend on Him. We need to look to Jesus to show us the way because Jesus is our example. The Holy Spirit comes along to help us navigate the situation. It truly is a beautiful thing when it all comes together! You realize it is the Almighty God working in my life. You get these first hand experiences with God and after a while the striping away of self is not as painful as it was in the beginning of the process. As you go through the daily process of renewing your heart, mind and spirit and you see how God will fight your battles, you then yield to this process more and more. It becomes a part of the new creation we become in Christ.
One of the BIGGEST revelations Christians can receive in this life is to recognize life is not about US. Satan deceives us to make us believe it is and we become consumed in SELF. Our lives are not about US! In the book, the revelation is our purpose on the earth is about GLORIFYING God! He made us. We are His creation. This is the bigger purpose for our lives. Once we can remove ourselves from the throne of life, it FREES us up to be God’s hands, mouth, and feet in this world. That is the mission for us as Christians to spread the Gospel. However, all of this is done by our choice; God left us with free will. We can continue to serve self and our flesh which ultimately leaves us empty and miserable or we can choose to drink from the fountain with God that will never be empty and that is fulfilling. Again, this is not to say we will have problem free lives, but it gives us an anchor and a foundation to hold on to and stand firm upon because God is our refuge and our strength. He is a very present help in the time of trouble (Psalm 46:1).
Part of having an awesome relationship with God is that the more of flesh or self that is stripped away in your life, you come to the realization, oh, this is not me! This is the Christ that lives in me which the disciples experienced and talked about in the Bible. Now, you and I are experiencing it, too! It is abiding in Christ. The experiences become unforgettable and it gives you the strength to move on, in Jesus’ name! The more we crucify the flesh the less painful it becomes because we become a new creature in Christ. Again, we cannot do it on our own. It will only frustrate and exhaust us. It is why we renew ourselves EVERY DAY. Otherwise, we will slip back into pride and ego thinking I can do this on my own. SAVE YOURSELF and allow the supernatural strength of God to help you. Thank you for joining me this week! Next week, we will talk about, Abundant Life, Chapter 2, in the book. Stay safe from COVID-19… Love & Blessings!