Dealing With The Flesh 1

Introduction:
The greatest battle we will ever  fight is with our own flesh. When our flesh is dealt with, we will easily defeat  devils. Our Lord Jesus said, " I will no longer talk much with you, for  the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" (Jn. 14:30). Our Lord kept his flesh in total  submission to the Father. He never allowed His flesh to rule him, or cause Him  to sin. When I speak of flesh, I'm not referring simply to the physical body,  but the fallen body and the unregenerate soul with its carnal appetites. The  flesh is the sinful nature with its desires, impulses and carnal cravings. 
Once you're spiritual you'll easily  discern the works of the flesh as the Apostle Paul so aptly says, "Now the works  of the flesh are evident…." (Gal. 5:19 NKJV) The Amplified Bible makes it even  clearer:  Now the  doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious)…" (Gal. 5:19  AMP).
This is not so of the natural man;  who cannot see that his ways are fleshly (I Cor. 2:14). That's why the natural  man is easily deceived by false religions and evil practices.  He thinks he is  spiritual because of his religious practices rather than who he is in Christ. 
Paul goes into the works of the  flesh in detail in Galatians chapter five. Notice he calls them "works" of the  flesh. The Greek word for works is "ergos" which means actions, deeds,  activities, occupation, things produced by one's effort or profession. Our flesh  wants to act out. It has its own deeds; its own mode of operation. Our flesh  makes it its occupation to work diligently at sin. Our flesh is full of self  effort and self assertion. Our flesh man will try to make something happen. Have  you ever observed a real "carnal family?" They seem to always have some drama  going on. All this drama can be traced to Sins produced by their fleshy ways. 
The flesh will "jump at the chance"  to manifest. It's just waiting for a moment to tell someone off, or indulge in  some sinful behavior contrary to the Word of God. Have you ever noticed how well  parties and carnal activities are attended in comparison to prayer meetings? 
The flesh will manifest at any age.  Babies and toddlers can look so sweet and innocent, but very early in their  development they begin to manifest the works of the flesh. They learn to scream  if they don't get what they want. Toddlers begin to manipulate and test the  boundaries to see how much they can get away with. 
The context of this passage tells us  that one of the works of the flesh the Galatian Christians were involved in was  a critical spirit or fault-finding spirit. Hence the need for pointing out the  difference between works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in the  scriptures that follows. In Galatians 5:15 he states, "But if you bite and  devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another."  The first work  of the flesh, I want to cover in this series is Faultfinding. 

I. How to Get Rid  of A Faultfinding Spirit. 

1. Recognize it  as a work of the flesh that we are all susceptible to.
A faultfinding spirit or attitude  can be a work of the flesh. It is only natural to notice faults and flaws. But  what we do with what we notice makes all the difference. It doesn't take a whole  lot of discernment to notice things that need to be changed or improved. God  gives us the ability to see things that need to be fixed so we can bring forth  positive changes and improvements. We must not allow the ability to discern  areas that need improvement to move us into becoming critical. When we start  focusing more on what's wrong that what's right we have moved into a serious  sin. This sin of faultfinding divides churches, families, and marriages. It takes mole hill sized problems and  turns them into mountains. It causes us to try to ferret out the gnat sized flaw  in our brothers and sisters without dealing with the camel sized defect in our  own lives. People who have a faultfinding spirit are usually very ungrateful for  the good that is all around them. They are focused on the negative rather than  the positive. 
I heard a story about a man who had  this spirit. One morning he told his wife that he wanted bacon crispy, dark  toast and two eggs one scrambled and one fried. She meticulously did as he said  and placed the breakfast in front of him. He just began eating. Finally, she  said, "well how's breakfast." He said, "It will do." She said, "What do you  mean, it's just like you wanted it." He barked, "Well, you fried the wrong egg."  
We need to make sure we focus on  what's right more that what's wrong. 
 
II. Guard against  giving place to a faultfinding spirit. 
Not only can faultfinding  (criticism, and finger pointing) be a work of the flesh, it can also give place to a demonic spirit that specializes in inspiring people to find fault with  every person and every thing we encounter. Just as James reveals to us how the  works of the flesh of bitter envy and self seeking can progress from the fleshly  realm to the demonic realm, so also can any work of the flesh. Satan and his  imps are more than willing to help us sin. If we give place to sin repeatedly we  will usually take on a corresponding spirit of darkness to help us out. People  who start out being critical as a work of the flesh eventually give place to a  demon spirit of faultfinding. 
When people take on this spirit,  they can become very harsh and critical of everyone and everything. They become  pharisaical and legalistic like the Pharisees that were so quick to point out  that the disciples were eating with unwashed hands or that Jesus cured someone  on the Sabbath. Faultfinders always have issues. They are grumblers and  complainers. These are  grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth  great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage (Jude 15). They are also usually scoffers. People become the brunt of their proud, snide humor. 
People who have this spirit, spread  slander, gossip and malicious rumors throughout the body of Christ. They are not  afraid to speak evil of those in spiritual authority over them.But these speak evil of whatever they  do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these  things they corrupt themselves (Jude 10). I've been amazed  at the destruction that this kind of spirit working through unsuspecting pawns  of satan can bring to an otherwise loving positive congregation. 
Those given to this spirit must have  their mouths stopped or they will wreck havoc. Paul instructs Titus,  "whose mouths must be  stopped, who subvert whole households…" (Titus 1:11). 
Usually the person who has this type  of spirit, prays very little if they are a Christian. They live for the flesh  and have taken on a spirit of pride. They are basically selfish, self-centered  and would rather have their own way, than yield for the good of the Church. This  sprit can spread. I believe one of the reasons that Joshua was told to command  the Children of Israel to keep their mouth's shut while marching around the  walls of Jericho is because the might otherwise become critical of the exercise. It really didn't make sense in the natural and man has a tendency to let the  natural man do the thinking. 
Our only Christ like reaction to  people's faults, flaws and mistakes, is to pray for them, not prey on them. Our  proper motive is to help not hurt, restore not remove.  There is a time, place  and person for pointing out flaws or faults we need to work on. Usually our  pastors and mentors have this responsibility and it is for the purpose of  restoration and spiritual growth. When we do bring a correction it should be in  a spirit of love and meekness. 

III The Solution  to Faultfinding 

1. Repent of the sin of  fault-finding. 
The enemy uses real sins to bring  condemnation upon us. He wants us to see our sins as unforgiveable. He wants us  to think we're so bad we can't possibly walk the Christian walk so we might as  well give up. No, we should seriously and deeply repent to the Lord for our sin,  and vow to stop faultfinding. 
 
2. Command  spirits of fault-finding and criticism to go. 
Resist the devil and he will flee  from you. Command critical spirits assigned to help you be critical to get out  of your life. Resist future temptations to criticize, fault-find, or verbalize  negativity. 

3. Become a  minister of grace. 
Show grace to others. Give them the  benefit of the doubt. Pray positive prayers for them. If people make a mistake,  be understanding. Don't bite and devour, build one another up. Make a list of  the positive things you see in the other person. It's O.K. to point out  something your mate or child needs to change, but we should make it a practice  to give 80% praise and encouragement for about every 20% of correction. Even  pastors who are teaching, preaching, and mentoring need to make sure they are  bringing forth positive faith-filled messages to the people. 

4. Walk in the  Spirit. 
We can never defeat the flesh with  the power of our own flesh. Flesh never conquered flesh. The only way to  overcome the flesh and the corresponding demons it invites to help it, is to  pray diligently and get into the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who works  the fruit of the Spirit and this comes only by abiding in Him. 

IV Reasons for  Fault-finding.

1. Prayerlessness
Prayer keeps us focused on the Lord  and filled with the Holy Spirit. This brings forth the fruit of the Spirit,  causing us to overlook faults and flaws of others, and respond to people in a  righ way. Prayerlessness has the opposite effect. When we don't pray, we begin  to notice every fault and flaw of our brothers and sisters. Everyone irritates  us. We become critical and resentful of how they treat us, even when they  haven't intentionally done anything to hurt us. Carnal gossipers love to  fault-find. Otherwise what would there be to gossip about. If believers would  mind their own business and be about the business of the Kingdom there would be  little time to fault-find. When we stay in prayer we realize we have much to  work on ourselves and we also become very understanding of the shortcomings of  others. We "consider our selves lest we also be tempted" Gal. 6:1

2. Living for the  Flesh 
The person who lives for the flesh  loves to persecute the person who lives in the Spirit. It has always been this  way. People who profess Christ, but don't want to pay the price to live for  Christ resent those who do pay the price to live for Him. In the early 80's my  wife and I bought a nice piece of land in Oregon and built a log home on it. We  had a beautiful place. We worked hard on it to make it nice. My neighbor who  lived behind me didn't like to work. His house was a piecemeal sort of run down  place with junk all over the place. He liked to visit and talk and gossip. I  found out that he was very jealous of my nice home and the things we had done to  our property. He would say, "I sure wish I had a place like yours." "You're sure  lucky to have a new home and all that nice land." He wanted what I had but  didn't want to work for it. I said, "Yes, the Lord has blessed us and we have  worked hard." Some believers are like that. They want to shine with the presence  of the Holy Spirit. They want the joy of the Spirit. They want the anointing to  see powerful results when they pray, but they don’t want to spend the time on  their face in the presence of the Lord to receive that kind of anointing. They  want others to do their praying for them while they are off having "fun."  (personally I think being in God's presence is the most pleasurable experience  possible.) You will  show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11)  
Moses came down from the mountain  with his face shining because he had paid the price, but the children of Israel  were "eating, drinking, and playing."  Stop living for the flesh and gossip  and faultfinding will leave our lives. Live for the flesh and we will always  find something to complain about. 

3. The Sin of  Familiarity.
Miriam and Aaron didn't have a  problem cutting Moses to shreds with their tongue. They felt they had a right to  be his critic. They were "family." The old saying, "familiarity breeds  contempt", is true of the carnal man. He doesn't know how to honor a man or  woman of God and yet understand his human side. It is a serious thing to come  against the Lord's anointed. Miriam found out the day she began to fault-find  her brother Moses.  And  when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward  Miriam, and there she was, a leper (Nu. 12:10).
We call this the sin of familiarity  - when people disrespect you because they get close enough to you to see that  you're just human. This can be a fatal mistake. We must learn that God puts His  ministry gifts into human vessels. We must learn to respect those whom God has  gifted and not get critical of their little quirks and personality traits. This  doesn't mean we should overlook sin and ungodly behavior, but that we should not  stick our noses into the personal business of a man or woman of God and start  faultfinding just because he does something that we disagree with. It isn't  really someone's business what kind of car the pastor drives. It really wasn't  Miriam and Aaron's business that Moses married an Ethiopian woman. God is not  prejudiced. We shouldn't be either. I think the Lord made it clear where he  stood on the issue. He hit Miriam with leprosy. He later dealt with Aaron. Get  into a man of God's personal business and watch out.  Leprosy represents death.  Rebellion brings spiritual death. The only thing to do with someone who is  critical of men and women of God is get away from them, just as you would a  leper. Minister bashing is contagious, and it brings death. Don't get involved  in it. Miriam is a good lesson for us all. We don't want to be like those  described by Jude "But  these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally,  like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in  the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and  perished in the rebellion of Korah (Jude 10,11)."

I'll write more  later,

Be blessed

We all contend with the "old man".  Colossians 3:3 says, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Because the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit wars against the flesh, we feel like we're sort of schizophrenic at times. We have the same battle going on inside of us as the apostle Paul did when he said in Romans chapter 7 "For what I will to do that, I do not practice;  but what I hate, that I do."  That was the way the Apostle Paul lived until he  learned the principles that he shares with us in Romans chapter 8.  He also  learned the principle of putting to death the deeds of the body and living the  God kind of life.   I'll share some principles that will help you live every day  of your life in the victory over sin that the Lord provides. 

Here's how:

I. Choose to walk  in the Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit is a choice.  The Lord is more than willing to accommodate us and help us if we are willing to  try.  The Word of God says in Galatians 5:16 "Walk in the Spirit and you shall  not fulfill the lust of the flesh." 
The Greek word for walk in this verse is peripetao and it means to live, deport oneself, follow as a companion, be occupied with, or walk about.  When we get up  every morning we make a choice about what we will walk in or be a companion to  or in other words, be occupied with.  Our day must start with a fresh focus on  the Lord and a fresh decision to walk with Him. From the time I got saved I started walking in the Spirit. You don't have to be a seasoned saint to be a spiritual believer. All you have to do is stay Heaven focused. The Word of God says, to set your mind on things above ( Col.3:2).  For 33 years now, I have been a strong advocate of early morning Prayer.  Early morning Prayer helps us get Christ centered and stay Christ centered throughout the day. Then I pray throughout the day. I worship. I listen to sermons. I listen to the Word of God on CD. I keep bringing myself back to the "things above." Doctors and Dieticians  all agree that eating a good breakfast is the best way to start your day. But  none of us just eat one meal a day. We want lunch and dinner. We like snacks  sometimes. So also we should eat of the Lord's Word often. Naturally speaking,  that is true also. Start your day with the Word of God and a fresh infilling of  the Holy Spirit and keep feeding on Him throughout the day and you'll be able to  stand against all the wiles of the devil.
Colossians 3:1-5 tells us how we can  walk in the Spirit. 

1. Know that you  were raised with Christ. 

"If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God."
Romans 6:11 says, "Likewise you  also, recon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ  Jesus our Lord."
We need to remember that we're a new creation. When we start to get depressed about  something we need to remind ourselves, that we were raised with Christ. When  temptation comes we need to say, "I am a new creation and that has no hold on me  I've been raised with Christ." When fear tries to torment us, we can say, "God  has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.  
The more we worship the Lord and seek the Lord and live in His divine presence, the more we have revelation of our position with Him. In our spirit we are already seated together with Him in heavenly places in Christ.  "And raised us up ogether and, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6)."  When we feel stressed, or discouraged, or overwhelmed, we need to have a  little "sit down with Jesus".  The Native Americans had pow wow's. Businessmen  have conferences.  Believers need to have a time of sitting down on the Lord's  lap spiritually and telling Him all about our situation. A little communion with  the problem solver of the universe will make us feel 100% better. 

2. Refuse to let  sin reign in your mortal body.

Our society runs ads telling our teens to "just say no to drugs." But without the power of God they have little ability to do that.  When the peer pressure rises and the enemy bombards their minds with fears of rejection, it is so easy for them to give in.  The only way they can be sure to resist that kind of pressure is to have Jesus in their hearts and their minds renewed with the Word of God. Fortunately God doesn't ask us to resist temptation without the power to do it. He shows the "exceeding riches of His grace" (Eph.2:7), by changing our heart and desires so that we easily say no to the sin that used to ensnare us. 
Our refusal to let sin reign in our mortal bodies is born out of the ability that He  alone can give.
As we truly consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, the life giving power of Jesus Christ, gives us the ability to say no to sin. It is actually Christ in us that is saying no. Jesus has no problem saying no to sin, and he's the one working inside us.  As we abide in Him we have the power over sin. We can simply to refuse to obey sin now.
Hallelujah. It is great to have the  victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.  There is no bondage we can't  over come in Christ.  When sin knocks at your door, you can refuse to let it  have its way because you have Christ in you the Hope of Glory helping you say  no.  

Have a blessed  week.

Bishop Darrell Ellis

The Just shall live by faith is a statement found several places in the Bible. When God wants to really emphasize a point he makes it appear several times in His Word. God places a heavy emphasis on faith. God is a faith God. He wants His people to be faith people. We can't begin to please God if we don't walk by faith. Here are some keys to a greater faith walk.

I. Get into the presence of God daily. 

David understood what so many Christians today do not - the need to really seek God. 
When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek (Ps. 27:8)."
There is a place where the seekers of God know to go. It is a place they go to find peace, joy, and an overwhelming sense of God's glory. It's a place we call the "secret place" or the Holy of Holies; it's that place where deep calls unto
deep. There is no substitute for that place of communion with God. It is a place where we really hear His voice. It is a place where we are refreshed in our spirits, and we receive incredible revelation. It is a place where God can speak to us by His still small voice or by His Word. When we get into that place and then read the Word of God, the Word comes alive. When we have been in his presence we have knowing that all is well because he is with us. 
A lady (who we haven't seen in a long time) called today very frantic over a situation in her personal life. I knew that this situation was the result of her not having the covering of a local church, tithing, and seeking God and being in His presence daily. She needed someone who had been in the presence of God to speak faith into her life, which I did, but how much better if she had gone to the Holy One and spent time with Him. She would have had that peace that passed all understanding. In fact she would have avoided the catastrophe all together. Oh, that God's people would discipline themselves to seek His Secret Place. 

How to Make the Secret Place a place of refuge in your life:

1. Make it the first place you visit each day.

What we do first every day says something about what our greatest priority is. Of course I'm not talking about brushing your teeth or combing your hair or pouring a cup of coffee, but the first important event of our day makes a statement. Whatever we make our first appointment tells us something about the Lord. Make God your first priority. God is the first person I talk to when I wake up in the morning and He's the last person I talk to before I go to sleep at night. When I wake up I talk to God. He's my continual companion. Make the Lord your continual companion.

2. Worship God and pray in the Spirit until you sense His presence. 

The Holy Spirit responds to our heartfelt worship. Make your secret place a place of worship. One of the quickest ways to get into God's presence is by worshipping Him with singing.  Ps. 100 verse 2 says, "Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing."  If you're not musical put on a worship CD or tape and focus totally on God. He will meet you when you seek Him with all of your heart. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer. 29:13. 

3. Repent of any known sin the Holy Spirit reminds you of.

Repentance is a sincere heartfelt decision to turn away from the behavior and with God's help not to do it again. It is a change of heart that results in a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. Just being sorry is not enough. It has to be a godly sorrow. II Cor. 7:10 says, "Forgodly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death." 

4. Stay long enough to make it a memorable and pleasurable experience. 

Jumping up and going about our business too quickly does not allow the Lord to do the work in us that He wants to do. When we give God the time He wants, it becomes a very wonderful, pleasurable, and memorable spiritual experience that makes us cherish every moment and leaves us with a desire to return to the Holy place again. When we have a good experience doing something it makes us want to do it again. Being in God's presence is very wonderful. He satisfies the longing of our soul. There is nothing more fulfilling than going into the Holy Place with the Lord on a daily basis. Go at least once a day. If you can, go more often. He is so very awesome. There is no one like Him in all the universe. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

5. Make an appointment with God every day.

The most important people in your life deserve your best time. They deserve your undivided attention. God should be at the very top of that list. If He hasn't been then repent, and put this little lesson into practice.

Keys to A Greater Faith Walk II

II. Get the Doubt Out.

Doubt contaminates faith. When the man with the son with the mute spirit said, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mk. 4:24), he realized he had two opposing forces at work within. That is why James refers to "believers" who doubt as those who are double minded (James 1:8). The Greek word for double minded is dipsuchos, which literally means two souled. The soul is the mind, will and emotions. When we're double minded it's as though we have faith in our spirit man which seems like one mind and really it is the "mind of Christ" and we have doubt in our natural mind or our feelings
are running contrary to what we're believing in our spirit we feel torn. We go back and forth.
This kind of duplicity will end up in our faith eventually being "tossed by the wind" (James 1:6).
The most important thing we can do to stand strong in faith is get the doubt out. So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. 
We have a saying in our church. "Get the doubt out" Even mustard seed faith is strong when it is pure.
One of the ways to have effective faith is to chose to not doubt at all, and keep speaking the Word of God only and believing the Word of God, and Trusting in the Person of God until you see what God said come to pass.
Greater faith comes as we keep the weed seed of doubt from choking out that tiny mustard seed that is going to grow unto a tree of great faith.

III. Keep Your Affection for God because Your Affection Determines Your Confession. 

Have you ever noticed that people talk about what is important to them? If sports are important they talk their sport of choice. If the party life is important to them, they talk about their last big bash. If material things are a priority the majority of their conversation is about material things.
This is confirmed by scripture: Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things (Mt. 12:34). 
People often, talk about themselves. Why? Because, the fallen nature is selfish and self-centered, at least until we begin to make Jesus the Lord of our lives. Before we are truly submitted to the Lord, we think it's all about "Mesus" rather than all about Jesus. Even after we're saved we can be very selfish if we don't "die daily" (I Cor. 15:31). 
The Apostle Paul said, I assure you] by the pride which I have in you in [your fellowship and union with] Christ Jesus our Lord, that I die daily[I face death every day and die to self].
He experienced a daily death to self. How? He went to the Cross in prayer, submitted to the Lord. Each time he came out of his prayer closet, a walking talking dead man. He was surrendered to Christ and His will, because his desire was for the Lord (Phil. 3).
When we die to self, we talk more about the Lord than ourselves. Our affection is on things above and not on things on earth (Col. 3:2). When we are Christ centered, we like Christ centered conversation. We like to be around people who lift Jesus higher. Our hearts are given to Christ and our tongues easily stand confessing the truth of God's Word rather than the obstacle we are facing.
Our affection determines our direction. Because our affection determines our confession and our confession determines our direction (James 3:1-4), our affection can hold us back or propel us forward. If we love God and His Word more than we love some vice or sin, we will easily get out of it. The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, " You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections (II Cor. 6:12). 
Choose to change your affection and you can change your confession. You can't change your confession until you change your affection. For instance, if a man keeps saying, "but I really like to smoke," he can't quit smoking. His confession is evidence his affection hasn't changed, and until that
changes it will be impossible for him to make a permanent change in his behavior. In order to change something we have to be convinced in our heart that it needs to change and we must want to change. When the affection changes the man changes. His confession automatically begins to take him in the direction he wants to go. When he starts saying, "I hate those cigarettes," You can substitute Fritos, or Big Macs, or diet sodas, or cocaine in place of the word cigarettes and break any habit with the Lord's help. Basically this is the essence of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of heart that results in a change of confession that results in a change of direction (behavior).
If you want to change something in your life, begin to see it as Jesus sees it. Then choose to change your affection for it. See how quickly you move in the new direction. It works for positive changes too. People who develop an affection for Jesus and start telling Him how much they love him are soon, praying, worshipping, attending church, tithing, and spending time in the secret place.
Change your mind, change your heart, change your confession, and change your direction today. Full deliverance and victory awaits the man or woman who sets their Heart on the Lord. Those who bear fruit, have an honest and good heart who hear the Word of God, accept it, hold it fast and patiently bring forth fruit. And those are they that were sown upon the good ground; such as hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold (Mk. 4:20 ASV). And that in the goodground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience ( Lk 8:15 ASV). It is impossible to have an honest and good heart that will accept the Word of God and hold on to it until it bears fruit unless we maintain our first love putting Jesus above all else. Our affection for God means so much. Jesus said if we love Him, we would keep His commandments. If we love Him His commandments are not burdensome and friends we love Him because He first loved us. Love is the key. As this beautiful love relationship grows, our faith will grow.

Have a blessed week.
Bishop Darrell Ellis
Anointed Word International Fellowship

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (ICor10:12.13).

Believers backslide when they start thinking that they stand, forgetting that they stand only in Christ, by His power and His grace for His glory. There has been a great falling away in the body of Christ because people have not done the things they need to do to stay strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Usually this is the result of a deficiency in their love for the Lord or a lack of self-discipline in rejecting temptation when it knocks at the door of their mind. Many today are seeking a compromising church with compromised preaching because they want a compromised walk. Deep down they want to give in to their besetting sin, because sin does have pleasure for a season. They want to have their sin, and Heaven too. But they find out sooner or later you can't serve God and Mammon. You can't have two masters. 

Rest assured, temptation will knock at your door. The question is, will you be ready to resist when it does? Most people think they are strong and will stand. Most believers are like the Apostle Peter andthe other disciples, " But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. 30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that thou to-day, even this night, before the cock crows twice, shalt deny me thrice. 31 But he spake exceedingly vehemently, If I must die with thee, I will not deny thee. And in like manner also said they all. Mankind, in his egotism has a tendency to think more highly of himself than he should. He tends to think he is stronger than he is. However if we aren't doing what we should to stay strong in the Lord and receive His grace we won't be able to stand when the temptation comes. Today I'll give you some things you can do to receive more grace which will assure that you'll be able to resist temptation when it comes.

I. Submit to God.

James 4:7 says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." 

I once had a young man in my office who had been struggling with drug addiction. It was his second visit. In a previous visit he had sworn off the drugs and had begun to attend church, read his Bible and pray. I asked him, "How long has it been since you used drugs." He hung his head and said, "I just blew it and I did some yesterday." I said, "did you do what James 4:7 says, as I advised you in our last session?" He said,"Yeah, I did it but it didn't seem to work." I asked him, "what exactly did you do?" He said, "I said, Satan get out of here in Jesus Name, just like you told me but that guy at work kept on heckling me and trying to get me to buy some crack and I eventually gave in and bought some." I said, "Did you have a prayer time yesterday morning?" to which he said, "No, not really, I had to get up early to be at work." I then reminded him that he had not done what James 4:7 says. He had not first submitted to God before trying to resist the devil. I said, "when you were tempted you couldn't resist because you did not submit to God first. The very first thing you must do to resist temptation is to submit to God. You must humble your self before the Lord and cry out to him for strength admitting you can't resist the devil without His help. Then you pray until you sense His grace and power helping you, to rise up and command the enemy to leave you in Jesus name."

The Apostle Paul understood submission to God. He referred to himself as a Doulos or "love slave" of Jesus. doulos was a person who was totally sold into slavery. He had no destiny of his own. He was not working his own plan or trying to fulfill his own agenda. He lived totally to fulfill the desires of his master.


The word Doulos is used in Romans 6:17, 18. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 

True submission to God means we have changed masters. We are no longer servants of sin and the devil. We are servants of the Lord and righteousness.

Paul knew that he must be submitted to God in order to resist the devil. No one can resist sin in their areas of dominant weakness unless they stay submitted to God. This means we must daily surrender to the Lord. We must become "slaves of righteousness" Slaves don't get up one day, and say, "I'm tired, I think I'll take a break." Or "I don't need to go to work anymore." Or "I think I'll go have some 'fun' and hang out with my old party friends." No, a doulos, love slave of Jesus, reports for duty, by getting in the prayer closet every day and dying to self and the flesh. The Apostle Paul tells us how: "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified (I Cor.9:27 NKJV)."

Don't despair, it’s a joy to serve righteousness. God will anoint you with the oil of gladness when you serve Him and His righteous ways. Hebrews 1:9  You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions." When we love God we'll love righteousness and when we love righteousness enough we will become God's love slave and serve Him. We will be like David, who delighted to do God's will. 

1. Submitting to God means staying prayed up.

What does it mean to stay "prayed up?" It means to get on your face the first thing every day, and pray until you enter the peace of God. Once you are in the holy place with God you abide there and draw from his strength filling up on the Holy Spirit. It means that you continue to pray throughout the day and that you abide in the Lord in a continual state of awareness of Him. You pray often throughout the day. The Apostle Paul said, "I die daily" pray until you die. That is, pray until your carnal nature dies, to it's desires and its will and your spirit man can rise up and obey the Lord.

2. Submitting to God means watching and praying.

Jesus said, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak
(Mt. 26:41)." 

The Greek word for watch is gregoreo and means to "watch for your life"or to "be alive." In other words it means to watch as though your life depends on it and literally it does. If you fail to be on guard against the enemy's wiles you could end up dead. Be on the lookout that you don’t fall back into old addictions. Be on the lookout that you don't fall for a "get rich quick scheme and lose all of your money." If some of the televangelists of the 80's had been watching like their life depended on it, they would not have fallen.

A man in our church years ago, who had been delivered from severe heroine addiction and walked with the Lord for about 7 years, decided to remove himself and his wife from our covering. For sake of anonymity I'll just call him Ron. I advised Ron not to go. I knew he wasn't ready to leave. I wasn't trying to control him, I just knew that he needed a pastor that knew his history and knew his personality and that if he moved he would not have that right away and the enemy would take advantage of that vulnerable time and that he would probably fall. He refused to listen. After he got out from under our accountability, as his pastors, he gradually began to slip in his walk. I first heard reports that he was drinking, then he was back into drugs and his old lifestyle, and eventually ended up dead at an early age. Ron stopped watching and praying and he reverted back to how he was before he accepted Christ. It didn't happen overnight, but it sadly happened. Part of watching is being acutely aware of pastoral counsel and discerning the right way to go versus the wrong way to go. When we're watching we're on guard for anything that would take us down, lead us astray or weaken us in our walk with  the Lord.

3. Submitting to God means obeying His Word.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments (Jn. 14:15)." "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words…" (Jn. 14:23,24a).

I'm amazed at how many people today say, they love Jesus, but refuse to obey His Word. They don't really love Him. We are not really submitted to the Lord unless we obey His Word. He cannot be separated from His Word. His word is His will which is an extension of who He is. If we love Him, we'll love His Word and obey it. If his word says, go to church, then go to church. If His word says, pray then pray. If His Word says, tithe, the  tithe. It's simple. Following Jesus is not rocket science. It just requires a willing, submitted, obedient heart

II. Stop sin at the thought stage.

The very best place to stop sin is at the doorway of the mind. As soon as the enemy tries to get into our thinking we should stop it right there. The Lord told Cain, " If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (Gal. 4:7)." 

1. Cast down imaginations II Cor. 10:3-5

The enemy is a master at injecting thoughts into our minds. We must ask God to put a guard on our minds and immediately arrest those thoughts and cast them down. The best way to cast down wrong thinking is to replace it with right thinking. Right thinking is the Word of God.

The Greek word for casting down is the word kathaireōand it means to demolish or destroy. This means that we are to destroy imaginations and every high minded thought. How do we destroy them? By using the Word of God. The Word of God destroys wrong thinking. Every thought that does not line up with the Word of God is to be destroyed by the truth of God's Word.

We are to reject wrong thinking throwing it down and destroying it just like if someone were to put a piece of garbage like a rotten piece of a potato on our head. If you've ever smelled rotten potatoes, you would never tolerate one on top of your head. if someone did that to us, we would grab it and throw it down into the trash and get it off of our head
immediately. Then we would wash our hair out and make sure we got rid of every bit of the slimy stinking juice connected with that putrefied piece of garbage. We should do the same thing when rotten thoughts are put in our mind by Satan.  Don't tolerate them for one minute. Get them down out of your mind and wash you mind with the water of the Word of God. Plead the blood of Jesus over you mind. Make sure you keep your thoughts clean and pure. 

Temptation knocks when you least expect it. The enemy who is also called the tempter waits to tempt us when we are weak and vulnerable. Satan came to tempt our Lord Jesus when he was in the wilderness and He was physically
tired because of fasting. After he failed, the Word says, Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). Old Slew foot is watching, just as God is watching. He is waiting until you're vulnerable and weak. Have you ever noticed that you're most vulnerable to an outburst of anger when you're tired or hungry? I have. Also, I have noticed that people are especially vulnerable to temptation during holidays and vacations. The whole idea of a holiday or a vacation spells, party hardy to most of America . To them that means a time out from the Christian disciplines that keep them strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Many believers have fallen during these times because they slack off on their prayer time, meditation in the Word, and worship for an extended period of time. They let their guard down. This creates an opportune time for the enemy to work his work of temptation. When we take a vacation or a holiday, we must remember that our spirit man needs refreshment too. These are times when we can have an extra long time with the Lord before we start our day of other "fun". It's fun to spend time with the Lord. It's fun to meditate in God's Word. It's fun to attend a church in another city and see how they worship the Lord. We need to learn to rest in the Lord, not from the Lord. We might want to get away from the hustle and bustle of every day living, but we must not get away from the very source of life. We must take Jesus on our vacation with us. And as for holidays, well, those are supposed to be HOLY DAYS. That's where the word came from. 

Don't let sin exist in your thinking. Any thinking that contradicts God's Word is sin. These sinful thoughts are high minded opinions (II Cor. 10:4-6). They exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. We're to cast down those imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. In the days of the Bible cities were surrounded by walls as high as sixty feet high, and thirty feet thick. The soldiers were able to walk the top of the wall. Look out towers were positioned around the wall. When under siege enemy soldiers would try to scale the walls and come into the city so that they could open the gates and flood the city with their soldiers. The defenders of the city were supposed throw those invading soldiers off the wall. Likewise we are to defend the stronghold of God's Word against all intruders. We need to consider thoughts and words that are contrary to God's Word intruders that are trying to scale the walls of our stronghold. We are to cast them down. We must whack them with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Don't even begin let sinful thoughts of doubt and unbelief exist long enough to get into our mind. If we allow them entrance they will eventually overcome us like the Trojan horse. They will sneak into our minds and undermine the truth of the Word that
protects our very lives.

If you've been entertaining wrong thoughts, repent. God will forgive you. Then train your mind to cast down those thoughts by quoting the appropriate scriptures from the Word of God that directly opposes those thoughts. It is imperative that we stop entertaining wrong thinking. The word entertainment has the connotation of inviting someone into your home and giving audience to what they have to present to you. Entertaining wrong thoughts is like hanging out with bad people. Their influence will eventually get you in trouble. Kick bad thoughts out. Erect a stronghold of right thinking with the Word of God. Then use the Sword of the Spirit to oppose and cast down any intruding thoughts that are contrary to the Word.

Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you to think on good things (Phil 4:9).

III. Speak in line with the Word of God.

Jesus always spoke in line with the Word. In fact everything He spoke was the Word, because He is the Word made flesh.

One way the devil tempts us is to get us to speak what we see or feel, or what our flesh wants to give into, rather than speaking the Word. If we want the Word to work for us we have to speak it over our situation and we have to keep speaking it until we see the desired result. 

I was talking to a lady that said, "On Sunday I can't seem to get into the mood to go to church. All I want to do is lay in the bed and rest and sleep in. I'm so tired from the week of work I just want to rest." She whined, "I don't know what it is I can't seem to get to church, please pray for me that I'll want to get up and get to church. Pastor, I want to go to church and I know I need to go to church, but I just can't seem to get motivated" I told her, you have to change your speaking before you can ever change your life. I can't do that for you. You have to do it. She said, "But I can't…" and I stopped her. I said, what does the Word say in Philippians 4:13?" Before she could answer I said, "It says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So stop saying I can't and get motivated and start saying I can
get up and go to church. I can rest after church. I love church. I want to be in church. Church is good for me. I learn and grow at Church." I took her to James chapter 3 verse 4. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. I said "your tongue is your rudder. You have to change your rudder to change your direction. If you want to go to church, then start saying, I can get up and go to church. I can go to bed early and awake refreshed and ready to go to church. I can rest after church. I can do this." 

A friend of mine named Dave said, "You know when you're on those large cruise ships, they can turn the rudder and change directions of the ship and sometimes you can't even feel it."

So also when you start speaking according to the Word of God, at first you might not feel like anything is changing, but if you keep speaking it, you'll notice your course has been entirely altered and you will eventually arrive at your desired destination.

IV. Fellowship and Refuse to Isolate. Heb. 10:25.

The Word of God commands us to fellowship. Fellowship should bring joy to our hearts. Just as we must fellowship with the Father in order to receive the life flow of His Spirit, we also must fellowship with each other to exchange the anointed gifts of the other believers. We are strengthened by koinonia (Christ centered Holy Spirit type) fellowship. We are weakened by alienation and isolation. Isolation makes us vulnerable prey to the devil. "It's the banana that gets' separated from the bunch that gets peeled first." 

Isolation is a trick of the devil to weaken believers so they are more vulnerable to temptation. A good Bible believing church can be a safety net. When we are getting into error, other believers who are walking with the Lord can warn us. When we're feeling down, others can pick us up. When we're depressed, others can encourage us. When we're in need others can pray for our needs and even help meet those needs. There is strength in numbers when we fellowship with other people filled with God's Spirit. 

I have noticed that people who have come out of addictive behaviors have a tendency to isolate themselves from other believers. Those who have this propensity to isolate do so because relationships were a source of pain and rejection, sometimes of their own doing. The devil uses this to inspire them to "stay alone and stay safe." Reject this temptation like the plague. It is the first step to getting "peeled" It doesn't happen all at once, but if you isolate long enough the enemy will find a way to infiltrate your thinking. Caribou can fend off a pack of wolves if they stick together, but if they isolate, the wolves will take them down. So it is with an isolated believer. 

Refuse to get back together with old "friends" and stay closely connected to the body of Christ and you'll be better equipped to say no to temptation. Little lamb, you're not a wolf. Don't think you can survive hanging out with them. You'll soon be their lunch.

V. Stay prayed up.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mt. 26:41). This is what I call staying prayed up. The more we pray the more alert we will be and the stronger we will be to resist any temptation. Watching and praying will keep us from entering into temptation. When we're prayed up, we loose our desire for what would have been tempting. We need the power of God to say no to sin. 

The first line of attack is against our prayer life. If the enemy can get us to stop spending quality time communing with the Lord, its just a matter of time until he can get us into other sins. It works like this: No prayer, no power, little prayer little power, great prayer great power.

If you do these things you'll be able to resist temptation when it comes knocking at your door.

Have a very blessed week. 

Bishop Darrell Ellis
Anointed  Word International Fellowship

Ephesians 4:8-16 Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men."  (Now this, "He ascended"--what does it mean but that  He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)  And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  
for the equipping of the saints  for the work of ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of  the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the  measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be  children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by  the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the  truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- from whom the whole  body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the  effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body  for the edifying of itself in love.

Every believer is called to the body  of Christ and has a place in the local church. We are all called to the work of  ministry. Many believers have the "I can take it or leave it attitude" regarding  the local church and their ministry in it. They look at it sort of like whether  or not they would like to go out to eat or stay home, however, involvement in a  local church is not a option to a serious believer. Here is how you can take  your place in the body of Christ. 

I. Know that God  wants to make you a servant (minister) in the house of the Lord. 

The scripture in verse 16 above  says, "every part does its share." That means you. YOU must do your share.  The  government used to have a poster out where Uncle Sam was pointing and the  caption read something like "Uncle Sam wants YOU"  Well, Jesus wants YOU. When  God called Paul, he said, But
rise and stand on  your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister  and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I  will yet reveal to you. 

Even if you are not  called to be a mighty Apostle, like Paul, you are called to
serve and do your share in the body of Christ.  God wants YOU. He wants your time, He wants your talents, He wants your tithes. If you will serve Him, He will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. If you run from Him he can make life pretty miserable, like He did to Jonah when he was cast overboard and swallowed by a whale.

1. You're just as  called as the pastor.

You're role might be different, but  your call to help is just as important. We need every part doing its share. Most  people think only the apostle, prophet,
evangelist, teacher or pastor is called  to minister. I can just go to church
when I feel like it and serve if I feel  like it. However the Lord is more serious about His calling and His ministry and  His church than that. His church cost Him a great price and He wants us to be  serious about serving in the house of the Lord.

Even though you might not be called  to preach or oversee the church, you're still called to be a part of the church.  You're just as called to attend, pray,
serve, worship, help, encourage, and  bless the people of God as the pastor. Can you imagine what would happen to the  church if the pastor and the elders only showed up about half of the time?  It  would fall apart in no time. The people would say, "I'm out of here, the pastor  doesn't care about the church." 

2. There is a  general call and a specific call. 

Everyone is called to general  ministry. Things like cleaning the church, praying before the services,  participating in work days, reaching out to people, inviting people to church,  and lifting up our voices in worship, are all areas of service everyone can  participate in.

Specific calls are those that not  everyone is called to. Not everyone is called to be a pastor. Not everyone is  called to lead worship. Not everyone is called to be an elder or teacher. God  sovereignly chooses certain people for these ministries. We need to know our  calling.

3. Answer the  Call.

At our house when we get a phone  call from an area code we don't recognize we usually don't answer the call. We  let it go to voice mail. We have learned our lesson by being flooded with  telemarketing and political calls. We have learned to be selective regarding the  calls we actually answer. When we are expecting an important call, however we  answer it.  When God calls you it is a "Very Important Call" – Answer it.

We are not our own. We've been  bought with a GREAT price. So, let's not be rude to the Lord Let's answer the  call.

4.Love is the  motivator.

The church today needs to teach  people the first commandment. "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken  diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with  all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due  season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn,  and thy wine, and thine oil.  And I will send grass in thy  fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

Loving the Lord is a commandment and  therefore a choice. It should be our first prayer and our greatest desire. For  if we would love the Lord will all of our heart all else will fall into place.  When we love God we will want to serve Him. When we love God we will  automatically want to live for Him. When we love God we will want to seek Him.  Worshipping the Lord is not a chore when we love Him.  
 
Bishop Darrell Ellis
Anointed  Word International Fellowship