Flesh vs. Spirit

“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  1 Corinthians 2:14

“God is spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:24

“But our citizenship is in Heaven.”  Philippians 3:20

“I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”  John 3:5-6

Have you been “born of the Spirit?”  I know all of you reading this have been born of the flesh.  Though you may not be able to produce your birth certificate, if you are walking around in earthly skin and bones, you were born of flesh.  You know the fleshly world.  You have lived in your skin long enough to watch it develop, and you know very well when your fleshly body feels hurt and when it feels good.  As you look around you, you see flesh.  You see others carrying the same flesh around, all dealing with some sort of fleshly struggle. For those who do not know God, all of life is handled from the fleshly perspective.  However, for those of you who have answered the Spirit’s call to surrender the flesh and the will over to God, your eyes have been opened to a new world.   All of the sudden, you realize that this fleshly world is temporary and that your citizenship belongs in Heaven, this spiritual place which becomes a reality.  You realize that we are spiritual beings who were made for eternity with our Maker, who is also spiritual. The Spirit calls out to our spirit, and He begins to teach us new things.  He begins to show us that the source of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control is in the spiritual world.  He begins to show us that when we deny our flesh, and give ourselves to our spirit, we find power.  When we read the Bible, the words are no longer ink on paper, but they are a spiritual food which energizes and strengthens our spirit.  When we pray, we are bringing our spirit before the Holy Spirit, uniting the two, so that our spirit becomes like His Spirit. Then, the real struggle begins.  Our flesh reminds us that it is still there.  It says, “Hey, buddy, don’t forget about me.  We have a history together.  Remember all the things we’ve been through together.  Don’t leave me behind.  You and I are still one.”  And he goes on to remind you of all the things you enjoy and savor and all the things which seem natural to you.  The thought of living out of our spirit and not from our flesh seems a little scary, and we feel a little conflicted. This is why this faith life is a Journey.  It is a daily walk, step by step.  We must make a choice to surrender our flesh to the Lord.  The Bible calls this “dying to self.”  It is only after we get our flesh out of the way that the Spirit has freedom to move in us.  This is why we must start each day seeking the Lord in His Word, allowing His Spirit to prepare us for each day and give us the spiritual perspective we need.    We open ourselves to His plans for each day, instead of asking Him to bless our fleshly plans.  This is why we Pray, so He can inspire our spirits toward the path He has for us, which most often will involve pouring our lives and our gifts into others.  As we live life “in the Spirit”, obediently following His flow, we are “abiding” with Him.  When we live life like this, we are getting a taste, or a glimpse, of Heaven. We have to continue living in this flesh, which is deteriorating and fading away, and sometimes our struggle in the flesh can seem like a thorn which won’t go away.  The Lord seemingly allows these thorns to keep us dependent upon His grace.  Though in our flesh we deal with temptation, with emotions, with bad memories and with sickness, we must remember that “greater is the One who is us than the one who is in the world!”1 John 4:4  In Him, we find victory, even in this world, in this flesh. Through The Journey, men are finding this life in the Spirit.  They are finding the joy in living for the Lord instead of living for the flesh.  We see men truly finding new life.  They are not perfect, but they care more about what the Spirit wants than what they want.  They are striving, pressing on in the Spirit, toward the prize awaiting them when they meet our King face to face.  It’s not about “works”….it’s about love, the first fruit of the Spirit.  These men love God, and out of their love for God, they walk in love for those around them.  As a matter of fact, Love is a great word to describe the Spirit world.  For if God is Spirit and God is Love, then the Spirit is Love. I love the story in Mark 8:22-25, where Jesus healed a blind man.  When He first touched the man’s eyes, the man said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”  So, once more, Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes, and it says he then saw everything clearly.  I was touched by Jesus when I was 13 years old, but no one took me on the journey to be a disciple, so my spiritual view was fuzzy.  In 1996, at a Promise Keepers conference, Jesus touched me again, and then, I began to see things clearly.  As I’ve learned to abide with Him, the things of the Spirit have become vivid and precious to me. I pray that Jesus would touch you today and open your eyes to His Spirit and to the spiritual world unto which you were born when you gave your life to Him.  I pray you would let His Spirit give new life to your flesh and to your world.  I pray you would follow His Spirit all the way to Heaven. In His Spirit, Bryan Craig Tulsa, OK