Flesh You Are Not LORD

  Flesh, You are not Lord!

                  Hello, and welcome to My Little House of Prayer Ministries. So, glad that you could join me today. And, what a great day in the Lord it is. He is so worthy to be praised. I had a whole other message I thought that I was going to put up. But, the Lord said that He wanted me to talk about our flesh. How we can gain victories that we have been praying; sometimes years for. We are in a battle with the world, the flesh, and/or the devil. I chose and/or because we can be in a battle with both our flesh and the devil at the same time.  I know this from personal experience. But, I will get to that much later.

           How do I know that the Lord wanted me to talk about this. Because, He had me go through some experiences to be able to talk about it. Then, 3 different phone calls to confirm it.  I feel sorry for those in a fight and don’t know what weapons are available. Ergo, this ministry. To be able to help someone else not struggle as long, as hard, and as unvictorious as I was. Remember, the enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. What does He ultimately want to destroy? Two main things. Your testimony. And, your walk. 

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

                                 If he can steal, kill, and destroy your testimony. All that is left is to steal, kill and destroy you. That’s a horrible thing to say. I know, but it is the truth. My mama used to tell me that a true friend will tell you the whole truth no matter how bad it is going to hurt. I’m not out to hurt you. Just to give you the whole truth as I know it. You know, even Jesus gave the whole truth because He was the truth. His close friends had a problem with the truth of why He came to walk among us. John 6: 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.59 These things said he  in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 

                            When they all began to leave, Jesus asked the disciples that remained if they would leave also. Well (in my English once again), Peter says, “Dude! You're the only one who seems to have all the answers. Miracles are following you left and right. And, your words aren’t hitting the ground. Where else are we going to go? No one else seems to have any answers. I don’t see anyone else doing miracles either.”    Peter figured it out. Later we find out that Peter was like the rest of us. He only had part of a picture, and a whole lot of flesh to contend with. So, don’t be so quick to judge poor Peter when he couldn’t stay awake. Or, when he denied his Lord 3 times. Flesh is very cunning. And is always wanting it’s way. To make its name known. 

                      In late 1998, I had an experience that was absolutely hysterical. I was staying with some friends while I looked for a job and a place to stay. Well, the man of the house called for a complete 3 day fast for everyone including his pets. Hahahahaha. Yep. You heard right. Even his pets. Only water. So, we all did this fast. Well, day one is always difficult. But, we survived without incident. The next morning we all meet for prayer at 6 am. We all quietly stumble into the living room. Meanwhile, I had had a really weird dream earlier. Someone shot me in the stomach. I was running around trying to hold all the blood inside.  I woke up asking the Lord what all that was about.

                     Well, we are all quiet. It was in the silence that the Lord spoke to me. “It was your flesh. It was screaming at you that you shot a hole in it and it wants you to fill it up with food.” In the middle of all the quiet, I begin to laugh. And laugh hard. What a lesson I had learned. In that moment of laughter, I spoke up, “Flesh you will not live by bread alone. But, by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”  There were no more of those dreams. I made it through the next 3 days. You see, anything for God, the flesh will never like to do. It will never come in automatic agreement with anything you want to do for God.

                           What can steal, kill, and destroy your testimony? The world, the flesh, and the devil. Think about it for a moment. The world hates Christians. Your flesh hates to walk the crucified way. The devil just hates all of the Lord’s creation. Because everything was created to lift up the name of the Name of the Lord. Yes, you were created to give Him the glory due His perfect name. 

                        What is the greatest way to give Him the glory due to His Perfect Name. By crucifying the flesh. How do we gain victory over the flesh? By resisting temptation. Remember, I said that there are times the flesh and the devil are together in trying to steal, kill and destroy your testimony and life. Watch this. Romans12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

                          I have a word for someone right now. Are you being convicted lately? Your flesh and the devil also know whether you believe or not. They know what your faith level is concerning His Word. The Holy Bible. Speak to your flesh. Give it commands of what it will and will not do. 

                        Do you see that?  If you are walking with the Lord, denying your fleshly desires. Like rising early to seek His face instead of sleeping in a few more hours later. Your next step is to resist the devil. How do you resist? You call on the Name of the LORD. That allows Him to speak to your heart to not only resist. But He will give you the wisdom of a way of escape. Then, you have to be obedient to that wisdom to be able to escape the sin that used to trap you. It’s that still small voice inside you telling you to do the opposite of what is in front of you tempting you. Remember, temptation is a distraction from where your focus is supposed to be. The Lord Jesus Christ.

                      For all of my life, I have battled asthma, bronchitis, rhinitis, and COPD/emphysema. Just a month ago, my pastor was preaching. In the midst of his sermon, he quoted a scripture. The Lord lit on that scripture! And said let’s take a walk. Well, I did. And as I did, I began to oooooh, ahhhh, and wow. My pastor thought it was because of his preaching. So, he began to preach harder. Hahahahahaha But, the scripture my pastor spoke was 1 Corinthians 6:19-20  19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Then, the Holy Spirit spoke up and quoted this scripture right before He said, let’s take a walk. Hebrews 11:11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Then, we walked.

                  As we walked, He began to show me different miracles Jesus performed. Each one came “Now Faith” “Now, your faith has made you whole. So immediately, I latched on to His authority theoretically. Which means, I knew it in theory. What I gained in theory was that my body was the temple of the Holy Ghost. As long as I am walking with the Lord, I am His child. And as His child, my body is His Holy temple. And because my body is His Holy temple, no unholy thing can dwell or live there. Furthermore, according to this scripture, Matthew 28:18-20  18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. He says that all authority and power in heaven and earth are given to Him. And in turn, He has taken all of that authority and power He has been given, and has given it to us His children. His heirs. This is our inheritance. 

                        The next morning, I woke up. I opened my back door and saw all the beautiful trees and flowers. Are your eyes itching yet? Mine used to. It is April going into May. The Lord had been telling me to address my flesh and tell it that it is not the Lord. Anyway, I look outside at all the pretty spring flowers and trees. I used to say that I loved spring and wish it would love me back. That’s when my eyeballs almost popped out of my head. That ole slew footed devil! The spirit of infirmity had me trapped! Even by my own words. I repented of my words. And then, I denounced any fellowship I had had with the spirit of infirmity. I told that lying devil of infirmity, “ YOU ARE UNHOLY!!!!!!!!!!YOU HAVE NO RIGHT HERE  IN THIS HOLY TEMPLE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!You cannot stay here!!!!!! Infirmity, you are no longer welcome here! I serve you your eviction notice right now!!!!! At that moment, I felt it leave. I am not telling you to go tempt the Lord, in what I’m about to tell you. I did it without thinking. I had weedeated my yard and my sister’s yard. Well, outside of her fence on one side, they have hay grass. Really long hay grass. Well, I first weedeated it. Then, I came over it with a riding lawn mower. When I backed up out of there, all you could see was a pile of hay moving. The lawn mower and I were underneath it. Are you itching yet? Hahahahahaa. Not me. Not even itchy eyes or the sniffles. About this time, I am hooked up to a nebulizer and inhalers up to 6 times per day. Not any more. I am free! That devil can’t live here anymore!

                    You see my flesh and the devil were at work on me. Jesus gave me His keys and said, “Let’s drive, now.” So to speak. 

                 Why was I hollering. First of all, you have to get ugly with that old devil. And most times, your own flesh. Picture this. If a robber were to come into your home, would you just sweet talk him? “Oh, here honey. You can just take whatever you want.” No, you would be reaching for the phone, any type of protection (gun, bat, mace, etc..), while screaming at him, “You get out of here!!!!!!!” What does the flesh and the devil want to do. To come to steal, kill, and to destroy. Are you getting righteously angry yet?  

                           He has steadily been trying to get my flesh to accept his will. But, I command my flesh to come into submission to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I let my flesh know that it will not be getting its way, each day. Then, I sternly let the devil of infirmity know his eviction notice was served at Calvary’s Cross. That my body is the temple of the living God. And that it will forever remain a blood bought temple of God. 

                  If you are not a blood bought child of the Living God, Jesus Christ, and would like to be, Let me pray with you. Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Let’s take a moment to confess our sins before the Lord. Let’s come truly broken over our sin and ask Him for His forgiveness. Then, let’s thank Him for His forgiveness.  Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

                   Let me welcome you to the family of God. All of heaven is rejoicing right now over your decision. Now, you have the same access that I have in His Holy Word. The same access to His authority. But, the only way to learn what that access entails, is to get a Holy Bible. In a translation you can understand. I like the old King James interpretation. But, that is just me. I can’t understand English, as my mother used to ask me. hahahahaahaha. Read it. It is a life and death issue spiritually as well as physically. In there, you will learn who Jesus is and what He expects of you. Today’s teaching is not all that is in there. There is so much more the Lord has for you. And, it can only be found in your bible. It is your spiritual food.

                                 I hope that today's message blesses you. I am so glad that you could join me here today at My Little House of Prayer. I am hoping you will join me again next week. Praying that you have a blessed week.