Dethroning King Flesh

I have been saved for over twenty years. In this period of time I can count on one hand the number of times I have engaged in the discipline of fasting. Why? Well my stomach always screamed louder. It shouted out protests with words that demanded my attention for now rather than later. Oh yes, I can imagine how Esau said I am going to die if I don’t eat NOW! King Flesh rises up again and again to conquer the Spirit by which we ought to be led.

I say all this because I am determined in this year of my life to dethrone this King once and for all. I am a Christian. I have a basket of fruit from the Spirit and self control is a peg of that fruit. I already have discipline I just need to excercise it. (As I type this I am forcing myself to stay on the stationary bike at the gym). Jesus at his most vulnerable time was tempted just as we are and he resisted. He didn’t turn stone to bread and feasted just to shut up the hunger pangs that must have been screaming at him. Likewise, we can resist the devil and he will flee.  We will do best to remember Esau’s unfortunate end. He wept bitterly when he realized that for a pot of stew he had lost what was rightfully his by birth.

As apart of this dethroning I am committed to fasting. Yes. It is difficult. I get threatened by my flesh that it will just die if not satisfied right this minute. I even get the plea bargains, the compromise strategies, the just this one time arguments. Yes King flesh is pulling out all the ammunition against this sudden use of self discipline on my part. He is not a happy camper and endeavours to make me miserable as well.  However I have found strength in the word of God. 

They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. If I allow myself to feast on the word of God, to seek a closer walk with Jesus through prayer I will succeed. By Gods grace I can win in this battle.

Loved ones I am early on in the game. Yet this assurance keeps me motivated.  I will be filled and satisfied with a permanent reward that cannot be attained by satisfying the demands of my flesh. Yes, it screams now but the promise of God last’s longer indeed. So join me if you will on the dethroning of King Flesh. Let us be led by the Spirit of God. We will never be the same.

I am...

I am 43 y/o. 
I am living in a home with my Mom, two single sisters and my son.
I am working at the same company for over 15 years.
I am single with no prospect on the horizon at this time.

I am overweight. I struggled all my life with this battle, gaining victories that got swallowed up.
I am not the girl that is in the mirror, and I wonder often who she is....oh where is young me?
I am ordinary in appearance, if I am really honest. I have nothing spectacular of which I can boast.
I am simple and I am content with this style of me.

I am sure by now you are tempted to feel sorry for me.
I am however going to encourage you not to engage in sorrow - not for me loved ones.
I am all of the above but I saved the best for last.
I am all that and so much more.

I am loved.
I am chosen.
I am saved.
I am born again.

I am wonderfully, marvelously and perfectly made in His image.
I am a royal priesthood.
I am a daughter of the King, not just a King, but THE KING of KINGS.
I am weak and yet strengthened by a power that is outside of me and inside of me all at once.

I am His and He is mine. 
I am His beloved.
I am IN the I AM that I AM, who calls me out by name.
I am ME, and have discovered, not too late, that I AM ENOUGH.

Dead men's bones

In reading through Matthew, a first for me, I found that Jesus did not water down the truth.  He really didn't care who he offended. In fact he offended a lot of people.  He just didn't stay silent nor was he always politically correct.  (Well let me say that term used to mean a lot more in the old days but not the way things are now in politics, where everything and anything goes.)  He spoke whatever the Father said about sin. He didn't condemn, but to those who had an ear to hear he spoke words to bring them to the way, the truth and the life. 

In one such incident he spoke to the religious leaders of the time.  Oh they were a puffed up bunch.  In fact he described them as graves.  They looked great on the outside but inside they were the houses of dead men's bones.  Ouch!  They were hypocrites, pretending to be for God when in truth their hearts were far from Him.  They were oppressors, requiring more from the people than God intended.  They were fame seekers, looking only to be lauded and praised for their knowledge and position.  They were blind, unable to see that they needed to be saved.  They were deaf, unable to hear the Word of truth.  They were dumb, unable to process the simple and uncomplicated gospel of Jesus Christ.  They were children of their father, the Devil and they didn't even know it.

Now I don't say all of that to throw stones.  In reality, this is cause for us to examine ourselves.  Are we like that?  Have we walked away from our first love?  Are we graves of dead men's bones because inside we are dead to Christ?  I am just praying that Holy Spirit will never leave me, but always search me out and see the evil within so that it can be purged.  My friends, now is a good time to fall on our faces and repent.  Now is a good time to say Lord, help me to live for you cause I don't want to be a "dead man walking".

Daniel Said No

I was at a devotion yesterday, hosted by my youngest nephew.  I really gleaned some good insights.  He looked at the book of Daniel and brought his own revelation to the table for us to share. 
In chapter 1 we find that the sons of Judah were captured by the king of Babylon and brought to this strange land.  These young men were the cream of the crop.  The bible explains that in them there was no blemish, but they were good looking, gifted, quick witted and able to serve the king in his palace.  Daniel was one among them. 

He was now a slave brought in a land where the God that was worshipped was not his own. He and his friends were given food from the kings table to eat.  This food might have been prepared in a manner outside of God's mandate for the Jews.  It might have been offered up to other gods.  I cannot say for sure but this I do know - Daniel said no.

My nephew asked us to imagine being captured and forced to eat something that you do not eat because you believe it to be against God's will?  What would you do?  Would you risk death or any other unknown consequence to say no?  Or would you just eat up and say God you understand?

"Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the King's delicacies..."(vs.8).  He made up his mind to stay true to God.  He was not going to bow down to the god of fear or his own stomach.

I know how hard this can be.  I know my struggles with food and so to me this is huge!!!!  He said NO.  He made a choice and stuck it out.  Now of course when you continue on you see how he humbly addressed this and asked for 10 days to proof that he would be better on his vegetables and water diet than any of the others who ate of the kings food.  God showed him favor and at the end of the test he and his friends were fatter and better than the rest. 

Listen, for you it may never be about food and this is more than that as well.  However it is about being determined, purposed in heart to remain undefiled.  We, you and I, must have a made up mind that we will not "eat" from the devils table.  His delicacies of sin are really to destroy us.  Yes, they may be sweet on the lips but deadly to the soul.  Oh my friends, let us say No without reservation or hesitation.  Like Daniel discovered, you cannot go wrong on the side of God.