Monday January 30th, 2023
Meditate on : 1 Timothy 5:6Coping Words
« But the person who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while they are alive »
Read: 2 Timothy 2:3-4NASB
3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Read: 1 Corinthians 9:25-27CSB
25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything.
They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.
26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.
27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Understand
Food and relaxation are good, but if excessive, can be dangerous.
If fasting for even one day has become difficult for you, then your flesh is exerting too much control over you.
Even in marriage, if you cannot go one week without being intimate with your spouse, then you really need to get yourself under control.
Humans are actually spirit beings; the flesh is just a container that helps us operate in the physical world.
Many however have given the container priority over its content- the spirit.
The spirit is supposed to be in control of the flesh and not the other way round.
What happens mostly however is that, a person will look fresh and healthy in the physical, but spiritually, they are weak and dying.
The purpose of your flesh is to keep you alive, not to kill you.
If you let it dictate to you, it will end up killing you.
In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Apostle Paul urges us to subdue our flesh.
When I first became born-again and was introduced to fasting, I thought “These people want to kill me!” But I eventually tried it and found it most rewarding.
When you decide to start putting your body under control through fasting, it will be difficult at first, in fact, it may feel like you are trying to kill yourself. that is just the flesh battling for the position of authority that it has always enjoy.
At that time when it seems really difficult, energize your spirit in prayers.
You will discover that during the prayers, your flesh will be suppressed and its voice will be silenced.
I leave you with the words of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:12-13CP:
« 12 Some of you say, “We can do anything we want.” But I tell you that not everything is good for us. So I refuse to let anything have power over me.
13 You also say, “Food is meant for our bodies, and our bodies are meant for food.” But I tell you that God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for indecent things such as sexual immorality, we are to use our bodies for the Lord who is in charge of it »
Application: Stop indulging your flesh; rather subdue it with prayer and fasting.
Author: Pst E. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
Freely you received, freely you must give (Math 10:8) , kindly share this devotion, and the Lord will bless you for it ♥
