Gees-Us

"... our justifying the battle, is our continued misery."

THOSE WHO walk in the flesh will continuously fight physical and emotional battles in a war that the devil has created. On Jesus’ side, there isn’t one. He de-feeted it. The devil would keep us fighting – each other, God, himself. As long as we’re still swinging, he thinks he’s in control. He isn’t. God is in control. But our not knowing it, our justifying the battle, is our continued misery.

With references to armor and enemies, with stories of Israel’s wars throughout the Bible, it’s no wonder we’re so easily misled. Jesus Himself said there’d be wars and rumors of wars, but that wasn’t to justify them. Or create them. Nor is John’s Revelation the story of the battle to end all battles. There is no apocalypse. Instead, God is peace. Jesus is peace. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of peace who places the fruit of peace within us. The God of peace sent the Prince of Peace to earth in order to give us the Spirit of peace and bring peace on earth goodwill to all men.

To WALK IN THE FLESH, a common church-ism, is to REACT rather than RESPOND. I, in general, do not like to quibble over words. We can get hooked into rulemaking, when we are free of the law and under God’s magnificent grace. But see our REACTION as emotional, as of the carnal mind. It is our DEFENSE of what we think are our rights, whereas a RESPONSE comes from wisdom, from godly knowledge. When something is “godly” that means it is of God’s nature. We must keep Him in the center of all our words and our actions.

We can speak from ourselves, whatever we feel, or we can speak from the Holy Spirit, who will fill our words with Himself. These are not the same thing, but there is a difference. Thinking of it in human terms, whenever I speak what my husband would say, knowing His nature and preferences, I set aside my own or join my own to his. But his will is what I’m sharing. If I am to represent him in a matter, but do what I want instead, then that comes, instead, from me, and he may not agree with it at all. So it is with the Spirit. Are we saying what we want or what He desires? Digging deeper, do we agree with Him on it? Because that is where we must be. We cannot say we are speaking God’s Word, yet in our heart, we believe none of it.

He is truth. He only speaks truth. His justice is perfectly fair and without prejudice. 1 Corinthians 13 speaks of His nature. And ours. He is love. He is patient and kind. We are jealous, envious, and boastful. We keep a record of everything done to us. He doesn’t. We are incredibly selfish and self-serving. He thinks only of us. Jesus proved that, once and for all. Any desire we have, any effort we make, to tear down another person is not our loving Father, nor Jesus who died for us, nor the Spirit of God who is love. It is our flesh. There is never a reason to call names, proper names, names of groups, names of religious affiliations, in order to warn others or “teach” others against them.

Jesus never did this. He warned others against themselves then He died for them so they could be saved. The book of Acts tells us many priests came to believe in Him as Savior. Our desire must be God’s. He said all the Law is summed up in this one thing: Love your neighbor. Then Jesus defined who our neighbor was in the parable of the Samaritan rescuing the Jewish man robbed and beaten by thieves. Everyone is our neighbor. No one is exempt.

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Galatians 5:14)

“Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offense. Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat over other men’s sins, but delights in the truth. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limited to its faith, its hope, and its endurance.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NEB ©1961)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com