Not all!

Hello everyone,

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

Primary Text

“But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].” 1 Corinthians 9v27 (AMP)

Paul mentions not wanting to be unfit and not standing the test after he himself has preached the Gospel to others. The King James calls it being a castaway. Beloved, if you keep listening to the flesh and the carnal nature, even after giving your life to Christ, instead of yielding to the Holy Spirit and through His help putting to death the deeds of the body, you will die. Not physically, but spiritually. Romans 8v12-13 (AMP) “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.” The thoughts and the temptations might come, but God has given you the power through His Spirit not to permit the deeds of the body but to fight it. That’s why we read the Word, to know what God likes and doesn’t like, and also to fight, because it is the sword of the Spirit. We also use the Word to grow in our faith, the shield of faith by which we can “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6v16).

Supplementary Text

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 7v21 (AMP)

Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your Word. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life, in Jesus name I pray, amen.