Open Heaven 15 November
MEMORISE: 1 Corinthians 9:27 – But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be castaway.
BIBLE READING: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (KJV)
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Read yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
One of the three expressways to sin is the flesh, which describes the sinful nature of the fallen man. The works of the flesh are listed in Galatians 5:19-20:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:17 says that the flesh lusts against the Spirit. We must be careful not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh as Apostle Paul warned in Galatians 5:16, knowing fully well that the flesh would typically want to behave sinfully. He himself lamented thus:
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Romans 7:24
To the glory of God, he found a solution to this problem as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:27:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Like Apostle Paul, we too can overcome the negative influence of the flesh by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour, and committing to live our lives to His pleasure.
Our annual New Year resolutions to live a godly life cannot help in this regard. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit can any man overcome the flesh. This is why Jesus is calling everyone, saying:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
As we cry out to the Lord for help to live for Him and Him alone, bringing our flesh into submission, the Holy Spirit will help us and we also would be able to say, like Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7:
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
May the Lord give us victory over the flesh, in Jesus’ name.
PRAYER POINT: Father, help me to uproot every seed of sin the devil has planted in my life and give me victory over the flesh, in Jesus’ name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Isaiah 56, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 59, Isaiah 60, Isaiah 61
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – Subdue The Flesh – written by Pastor Enoch A.
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Open Heaven 15 November 2021
