How do we overcome our flesh?

 

By Mariz Peṅaflor

In order to remove a certain habit, something must replace it.

In short, in order to overcome the flesh, the Word of God must become a physical habit in us.

1 Kings 16: 29-33

²⁹ In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. ³⁰ Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. ³¹ He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. ³² He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. ³³ Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.

-          In these verses, we will see that Ahab angered the Lord because of serving idols, especially in the persuasion of his wife Jezebel.

 

What are idols?

In the Old Testament, idols are usually the images that people used in worshipping. It could be statues made of human hands, or the stars, or animals like bull-calves, etc. (2 kings 21:1-6)

It could also be people. This happens when we can compromise our faith just to please them. It means that, in order to “blend in,” we will not say “no” when we are being asked to go in some ungodly activities; or when we cannot say “this is wrong” when we are seeing our friends or family doing wrong. (1 Samuel 2:27-30)

These principles still apply in the New Covenant, because the God who made the Old Covenant is the same God who made the New Covenant.

But then, let’s elaborate idolatry more.

Idolatry actually means anything that replaces God as King in our life. Meaning, anything that we obey or gives more importance with, than doing the right thing is our king (idol). Remember, the king reigns and all subjects must follow his orders. If “it’s okay” for us not to obey God, then He isn’t the king of our life.

Our idols can actually be money. In 2 Peter 2: 15, Peter warned the church about this matter, that we should not love money so much that we will be willing to reject God for it.

Also, our idols could be ourselves. How? When we can set aside spending time with God just because we are still sleepy on a Sunday morning, or we have a “gathering” somewhere’ or we are too busy so on and so forth. If we wanted to spend more time in our personal wants than giving to God what is due, we become our own idols.

Not only these things, it could also be job, or fame, or dreams, or family, or husband, or principles, etc.

Now, how can we overcome these?

                Let’s go back to our first statement. In order to remove a certain habit, something must replace it. How can we replace our sinful desire with God’s desire for us?

1.       Let us read first the Bible.

We may disagree at first to God’s principles, but if you read carefully, cover to cover, then read it over and over after that, we will begin to see the heart of God.

A lot of times, we don’t want to accept what’s written in the Bible because it opposes our desires, our principles, and also hurt our feelings.  But have we ever asked ourselves, “Why would God hurt me when He is the one who created me, even in His own image and likeness?”  (Genesis 1: 26). That’s a very smart question. Of course not, he doesn’t want to hurt us. In fact, since only God sees the biggest picture of our life, what He actually wants is the absolute best for us. It’s just that we don’t want to give up our sinful desires to give room to God’s plan.

It’s because we wanted to be happy, right? And we wanted to do what makes us happy.  Once upon a time, I also followed my heart’s dream. But then, I realized that heartaches are more than the happiness I received. And so, I tried coming back to God.

Happiness in the world is out of context, because true happiness can only be found in the One who gives it. In Revelations 1: 3 (GNT) we will read what true happiness means. It means being able to experience joy in the presence of God, in eternity.

2.       Pray to God that He may open our hearts.

Reading the Bible for the first or second or more times is really challenging. And sometimes we just don’t get what’s being said. Well, it is because only those who really have desire to understand, and won’t give up studying it, will be worth the understanding. God will surely reveal himself to those who seek for him (Matthew 7:7).

3.       Confess ours sins to God and repent for all of it.

Confessing everything to God, especially those sins that we keep secret is necessary for us to be forgiven.  Without repentance we cannot have access to God’s mercy.

True repentance isn’t just a one-time prayer of apology. It means, deciding for real that you will no longer do those things again. (Romans 2:4-8)

We certainly know that God sees everything that we do. We cannot hide anything from God even our thoughts so concealing some things isn’t hiding at all.

4.       Duplicate Jesus.

In Matthew 3: 5-8, John reprimanded the Pharisees because they wanted to be baptized as a show off, and not to turn completely away from their sins. He said in verse 8, “Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins. Meaning, being a Christian is not about labels but about our life being transformed (Romans 12:1-2).

 Jesus is the only Son of God, and only in Him was the Father pleased (Luke 3:21-22). Although in some passages in the Old Testament, we will read that God was also pleased with Noah, Job, Daniel and all other faithful people of God, they too were all waiting for the One whom God will send to teach us the right kind of life.

Now, Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promise. Fixing our eyes on Him and following His steps will lead us to the right kind of living (Hebrews 12:2).

All of us are God’s creation, but we cannot be considered God’s children, unless we become like His only Son Jesus Christ. Well, only God’s family can live in His house, or the eternal Kingdom of God.

Let’s live then just as Jesus lived. Let us duplicate his attitude, and his gentleness, and his actions that we can read in the Bible.

5.       By spending time with God, we will develop love for God.

If we do not love what we do, we will get tired of it in time. And so if we will not love the Lord we will eventually get tired of doing His teachings. That is why we need to love God first, so that obeying will not be a burden for us.

In 1 John 5:1-5, we will read that, “For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us.”

If we believe that God is our Father, then, let’s make an analogy- try seeing yourself as a son/daughter of your biological parents. Ask these questions: “Do you love your parents?”, “Do you become guilty inside whenever you shouts at them? Or lie at them?”, “Do you do things to make them happy or proud?”, “Do you always remember their birthdays?”, “Do you cook or wash dishes at home without being asked?” If you can do all these things because you care about your parents, then we must also see God as our parent in order to be able to love Him that much (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).