FEBRUARY 3
CRUCIFYING THE FLESH
OLUBI JOHNSON
Ephesians 4:22 -24 KJV
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
We must understand that when we are born-again, the divine nature is injected into our spirits, but the soul and body still have the sin nature in them.
The spirit is born-again, not the soul and body (Jn. 3:6; 1Thess. 5:23). The soul and the body have to be renewed, retrained or reprogrammed with the divine nature from the spirit and instruction from the Word of God by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12:2; Heb. 5:14).
This is why Paul says the flesh lusts against the spirit and spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17). The flesh means the sin-nature still resident in the soul: mind, will and emotions and the physical body.
However, the sin-nature in the flesh can and should be dominated, completely cleansed out and removed by the divine nature in the born-again human spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through the Word of God (Gal. 5:16-17).
This is because the life source, or spring, of the sin-nature (the old man or the sin-nature in the human spirit) has been destroyed or crucified in you, when you got born-again (Rom. 6:6-7).
Even after this removal or domination of the sin-nature in the soul and flesh has been accomplished, the satanic power in the air still seeks to operate through the natural desires in the mind and the physical body (Eph. 2:2,3).
However, there is now a fountain, or spring, of divine life in your spirit which can release an abundance of life that will totally dominate and ultimately, completely remove the residual sin-nature still in the soul and body (Jn.4:10,14).
It can even release the divine nature into the air to dominate physical circumstances to align with God’s will (Jn. 7:38).
So you can now overcome the power of sin in the soul, body and the air by the power of the Holy Spirit, through prayer and the Word of God to maintain this state of holiness or sanctification, like the Lord Jesus did (Heb.4:15, 5:8).
We should be diligent not to use our liberty to indulge in the lusts of the flesh (Gal.5:19-21). Do not stay in sin or under condemnation if and when you sin. Be quick to repent and forsake (Pr.28:13).
Habitually, daily use the life of God, the Word of God, prayer in the Spirit, with an attitude of the fear of God, to crucify the flesh and abstain from all appearances of evil (Heb.5:7, Rom.8:13).
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