We can never please God in the flesh. We can only please God in the Spirit through salvation in our Lord and Savior Jesus as a redeemed creature by His Holy Spirit that lives inside us as a new creation in Christ. If we live according to the sinful desires of this world, then we are living and walking according to the flesh and not by the Spirit. Walking according to the flesh makes us an enemy of God (James 4:4) that leads to death but walking according to the Spirit gives us peace and life in Christ as explained in Romans 8:5-11, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
We should never have any confidence in the flesh but only in the Spirit of God as illustrated in Philippians 3:2-3, “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Being filled with Christ living in us and through us is the only thing that matters even if we experience trials and sufferings for His sake and His gospel as we read in Philippians 3:7-11, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” We must NOT set our mind on earthly things for our citizenship is in heaven and not on earth as detailed in Philippians 3:18-21, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”
Paul reveals that when we walk in God’s Holy Spirit, we are called God’s children as the Spirit bears witness to this and we have NOT gone back to the spirit of bondage through fear as revealed in Romans 8:13-17, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Jesus explained that as we walk in His Spirit, we are called His sheep who hear His voice and follow Him where He knows us and grants us eternal life with Him as stated in John 10:27-30, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”
With Christ living in us, we have the guaranteed promise of salvation as an inheritance from God where we are sealed by His Holy Spirit according to His grace, mercy, and good pleasure as disclosed in Ephesians 1:7-14, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
We also cannot please God without having genuine faith through Jesus by His Holy Spirit dwelling in us of those who diligently hunger and thirst for Him as explained in Hebrews 11:4-7, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” As Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we are His bride, and He is our Groom. Jesus is head over the church and is our chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-22) as long as we walk according to His Spirit and remain steadfast until the end as disclosed in Hebrews 3:6, “but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”
Our body is the Holy Temple of God, and it is God who gave us this body for us to dwell in as a temporary dwelling place and for the Spirit of God to dwell in us. This vessel or temple is NOT ours but is on loan to us by God to use for his good purpose, glory, and honor as illustrated in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” Our body is a temple for the Spirit of God to dwell in because of the price Jesus paid for us on the cross and that we are to glorify Him in everything we do as revealed in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
We are called by God’s Holy Spirit to be worthy of His calling in fulfilling His will for us in Christ Jesus by being fruitful through our loving obedience we have for Him and for His kingdom as stated in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, “Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” As His children, we are called to be holy because God our Father is holy as detailed in 1 Peter 1:13-16, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ ” We are to continue steadfast in the faith for the goal and prize of eternal life with Christ Jesus as disclosed in Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Being a disciple for Christ is NOT easy and if it were easy everyone would take up their cross and follow Jesus as He commanded us. Paul tells us how we are in a spiritual battle as soldiers for Christ and we will experience trials where we should NOT concern ourselves with the things of this world (desires of the flesh) as explained in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” One of our greatest weapons in this spiritual battle we face with Christ is to take up the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We have no chance against the enemy in this spiritual warfare if our bible, the Sword of the Spirit, remains on a bookshelf collecting dust. We must read, study, and live by it for it’s the words and commandments from God’s mouth by His Holy Spirit as we read in James 1:21-24, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”
God’s word is His inspiration given to us to make us whole according to our loving obedience for Him as explained in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, “and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The Sword of the Spirit is living and powerful piercing through to the heart, soul, spirit, and mind as revealed in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
Watch this inspiring video by Servants for Jesus Christ – Be Filled With The Holy Spirit. Watch another inspiring video by Servants for Jesus Christ – Jesus Fulfilled All OT Prophecies. Watch another inspiring video by Servants for Jesus Christ – God Has Always Been. Watch another inspiring video by Servants for Jesus Christ – Greatest Book on Planet Earth. Watch another inspiring video by Servants for Jesus Christ – Beginning of Sorrows!
Do you know where you will spend eternity after you die on earth? Will Jesus be your Lord and Savior or your eternal judge – John 3:15-21, Romans 2:16, 2 Timothy 4:1? Jesus says He is the narrow gate to heaven where it is difficult to find and only a few will enter by it where many will enter the easy, wide and broad gate that leads to Hell and destruction – Matthew 7:13-14. Will you experience the second eternal death (spiritual death) – Revelation 2:11, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 21:8? Do you know for sure that you are written in the eternal Lamb’s Book of Life – Revelation 3:5, Revelation 20:12-15? The place called Hell is NOT a myth and is very real and an extremely awful place – Watch this Video!
Do you need Prayer?