True Exhortation (2)

Hello everyone,

How are you doing on this day? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord.

Primary Text

“For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:” 1 Thessalonians 2v3 (KJV)

Another mark of a true exhortation is that it is not of uncleanness. As the Dakes concordance put it “We did not minister to your corrupt passions, but enforced your mortification (Colossians 3v5; Romans 8v12-13). Galatians 5v19-21 (NIV) spells out the works of the flesh: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” A true exhortation would not promote the things of the flesh, but instead point you towards living a life that pleases and glorifies God. Colossians 3v5 (AMP) for example says “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).” A true exhortation tells you that you do not and should not live indebted to sin, but to yield to God and through the power of the Spirit overcome the deeds of the flesh.

Supplementary Text

“So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh. For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.” Romans 8v12-13 (AMP)

Prayer

Child of God, if there is any area of your life where the flesh is still rearing its head, why don’t you begin to mortify it in Jesus name, and don’t give any occasion for it to breed. For example, you can say in Jesus name, I mortify envy (anger, jealousy…) in my body by the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit of God I yield to You, take full and complete control of me in Jesus name, amen.