6-18-20 THOUGHTS

The Battle WITHIN...  Changing ME into a New Creature, a New Man.  
I must learn to walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE!

Rom 7:18-24   For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind  and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Rom 8:1-2     Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

There is an internal hemorrhage in each of us.  We live in a fleshly body, but our minds serve Christ!   We must take charge of this battle, and we must grow in the winning of it!
1Cor 2:14   But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised

Peter would have changed God’s eternal plan. He did not want Jesus to suffer and die.  He said exactly that to Jesus.  Jesus reply was strong...
Matt 16:23   But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s."
In a heartbeat, the perspective is switched from the PHYSICAL to the SPIRITUAL  
Rom 8:5-8    For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  6  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,   7  because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,  8  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Col 3:2  Set your mind on the things above,
                                 not on the things that are on earth.
My Prayer:
Holy God of heaven and earth, teach us to set our minds on the things above... on spiritual things. We are weak Oh Lord, and our physical nature draws us away from you.  By your watch care Oh Lord, may it not be so!  Help us to keep our hearts focused on eternal things and the things that will draw us closer to you.  Help us learn denial of the flesh and the self.
         In the precious name of Jesus                   Amen