Spiritual Life

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Spiritual Life Disciplines

• Part 3 The Enemy of a Believers Spiritual Life

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The flesh is the enemy

• The flesh is the inward principle of sin which is
  not eradicated in the believer
• Even Satan works on the flesh, not apart from it

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The flesh is the enemy

• The flesh
• Is hostile to God (Rom. 87, cf. 121-32)
• Is the source of sinful desires (Gal. 516, 24)
• Leads to sinful deeds (Gal. 519-21)
• Is at war with the work of the Spirit (Gal. 517)

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What the flesh hates is God, so it resists
anything that smacks of God especially
communion with him Kris Lungaard, The Enemy
Within (46)
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7 strategies of the flesh

• The flesh knows how to eat an elephant
  Indwelling sin takes advantage of our natural
  laziness and negligence in spiritual things,
  enticing us to lay aside spiritual duties one by
  one
• The flesh dresses us up in tuxedos and evening
  gowns If we insist on worshipping God, the
  flesh will make our religion into a formal
  affair, so that it has no power. The flesh will
  let us go through the external motions of
  spiritual duties, without an fear or reverence
  for God

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7 strategies of the flesh

• The flesh sends us down rabbit trails The flesh
  wants to sidetrack us from the simplicity of the
  gospel it steers us toward a substitute for
  passion for Christ
• The flesh turns sin into a cuddly pet Cuddly
  pets are sins that we domesticate and harbor in
  our hearts. We think of them as either too small
  or too great to take to God. Or we just plain
  get too attached to them to let go. Like
  Augustine prayed before his conversion, Lord,
  give me purity but not yet. Unrepented and
  cherished sins douses the fire of our first love.

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7 strategies of the flesh

• The flesh pumps up our heads and shrivels our
  hearts When the flesh gets a person to the
  point that he can sit under the teaching of the
  Word, and even delight in it for its intellectual
  beauty, yet not be changed, he has snuffed out
  the wick of his first love
• The flesh gets us to do our own thing The
  wisdom of the flesh is to trust in self (the
  flesh). Independence is the opposite of faith
  and love.

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7 strategies of the flesh

• The flesh is a cat that gets our tongue The
  greatest tactic of the flesh is the neglect of
  private communion with God. The person who calls
  himself a Christian, who says he loves God, yet
  does not seek his company and delight in it,
  cant be a true lover of God. His own flesh has
  deceived him. If he doesnt daily give his heart
  to God and receive Gods heart in return, if he
  doesnt daily renew his hatred of his own sin and
  his delight in Gods mercy, he has no
  relationship with God.

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The flesh must be fought by the Spirit

• The Spirit brings conviction of sin of sin so
  that believers are motivated to turn from sin and
  repent (John 168, 1 Thes. 15)
• The Spirit enables and empowers believers to
  change and grow in righteousness (Gal. 516, 25)

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The flesh must be fought by the Spirit

• The Spirit leads and guides believers so that
  they produce spiritual fruit (Gal. 522-23)
• The Spirit works through the Word of God to bring
  victory over the flesh (Gal. 516-25, Rom.
  85-14)