Gideon spent one night with his concubine and that one act of the flesh produced Abimelech, a wicked, evil man who slaughtered 69 of 70 sons of Gideon - Gideon, yet greatly used and anointed of God, allowed his flesh to overrule his spirit and it produced great turmoil for the people of Israel.
Jephthah served God in all his heart, saving Israel from great destruction, yet Jephthah spoke a rash vow before the Lord and by doing so it cost him his linage, meaning his only daughter died a virgin, never to know a man which would have helped produce a line of sons and daughters thru his own daughter. Jephthah's one moment in the flesh cost him his seed.
Samson was raised by Godly parents who were visited by an angel to announce Samson's arrival and what God would do thru his hands. Samson was a great judge, by his own hands he killed thousands of Philistines, yet, in all of Samson's great victories, his ability to cause fear in the nations which would harm Israel, Samson, though anointed and highly favored of God, his vice toward prostitutes, his weakness for women led him to Delilahs bed, and that one moment in the flesh cost Samson not only his eyesight, but his strength, his honor and sadly, his anointing, and it eventually cost him his very life.
Flesh is the hardest thing we, as believers, can deal with. Flesh will always fight spirit, it will always want its way - not God's way. This is why the apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." When the believer places their faith in what Christ did on the cross, the flesh will resist at every opportunity it can, but that saving faith will carry over and bring the flesh under control - because of the cross.
This allows the Holy Spirit to help us in those areas of our lives where we struggle, it fortifies us daily so that we can overcome the temptations of life. It's when we look to something other than the cross that the flesh (sin nature) begins to arise that we get into trouble - because flesh does not like to yield itself to the spirit of God. But if we are going to walk in the spirit, we must, as Paul once said 'die daily' so that we can grow and mature in the Lord and live an overcoming life.
Jephthah served God in all his heart, saving Israel from great destruction, yet Jephthah spoke a rash vow before the Lord and by doing so it cost him his linage, meaning his only daughter died a virgin, never to know a man which would have helped produce a line of sons and daughters thru his own daughter. Jephthah's one moment in the flesh cost him his seed.
Samson was raised by Godly parents who were visited by an angel to announce Samson's arrival and what God would do thru his hands. Samson was a great judge, by his own hands he killed thousands of Philistines, yet, in all of Samson's great victories, his ability to cause fear in the nations which would harm Israel, Samson, though anointed and highly favored of God, his vice toward prostitutes, his weakness for women led him to Delilahs bed, and that one moment in the flesh cost Samson not only his eyesight, but his strength, his honor and sadly, his anointing, and it eventually cost him his very life.
Flesh is the hardest thing we, as believers, can deal with. Flesh will always fight spirit, it will always want its way - not God's way. This is why the apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." When the believer places their faith in what Christ did on the cross, the flesh will resist at every opportunity it can, but that saving faith will carry over and bring the flesh under control - because of the cross.
This allows the Holy Spirit to help us in those areas of our lives where we struggle, it fortifies us daily so that we can overcome the temptations of life. It's when we look to something other than the cross that the flesh (sin nature) begins to arise that we get into trouble - because flesh does not like to yield itself to the spirit of God. But if we are going to walk in the spirit, we must, as Paul once said 'die daily' so that we can grow and mature in the Lord and live an overcoming life.
[Christopher Gregory]
Mark 14:38 ... Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Romans 8:3-4 ... For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
1 John 2:16-17 ... For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.❤
✞✞✞
Mark 14:38 ... Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Romans 8:3-4 ... For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
1 John 2:16-17 ... For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.❤
