Daily Devotional (November-05-2024) DEATH DAILY.
Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 - “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 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.”
The self-discipline to refuse the promptings of the flesh comes from the greater power of the Holy Ghost. It also comes from fixing our eyes on the reward that we believe will yield us the greatest pleasure. This is what Paul understood when he came to the conclusion in our text above.
The flesh (the pleasure seeking mind of our body, the old man) does not think of tomorrow, it wants instant gratification, and when it comes to conquering the flesh, scriptures refer to it as a kind ofdeath (See 1 Peter 2:24). At salvation, we received the very Spirit of Christ that empowers us to walk in newness of life so that by this same Spirit, we are able to subdue the compulsive cravings of the flesh.
The first thing we must know and understand is that we have received power over the flesh. Glory to God! To conquer the flesh, we must choose life by dying daily to self. According to Romans 7:18, nothing good dwells in the flesh, and so to choose to follow the Spirit is to die to things that could potentially destroy us; sexual immorality, greed, gluttony, covetousness, idolatry etc (See Colossians 3:5). In essence, we are dying to death, and in doing so, we are choosing life.
The power of the Holy Ghost at work in us is greater than the impulses of our flesh and so, when it seems like the flesh is overpowering us, we must bring ourselves to the consciousness of the great power that we wield. We do this by reminding ourselves of who we are by looking into the word, and by ceaselessly praying in the Spirit. As you confess your identity, yield to the promptings of the Spirit to refuse the promptings of the flesh. Today and always, we win!
AFFIRMATION: By the help of the Spirit, I continually put to death the workings of of the flesh. Daily, I choose to decrease so that Christ may increase in me. I choose life even as I continually walk by the Spirit.
