For the flesh lusts against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
and these are contrary to one another,
so that you do not do the things that you wish.
Galatians 5:17
Our flesh is in constant battle with God
God asks us to deny the flesh and the lusts thereof,
the things we want to do that bring us pleasure
seeking after the world and all its desirable delicacies
The things that satisfy our flesh rather than serving God:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:1
Taking up your cross daily is easy to understand if you think about it
Christ talked about taking up the cross and following Him
even before He was crucified
When He carried His cross in honor of God the Father,
He knew what was going to happen
He could have escaped had he wanted to
He wanted to:
And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,
O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Matthew 26:39
Jesus knew what was going to happen
He had a choice to be obedient
or to give in to what his flesh was desiring:
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:8
The key is right there in that verse:
He humbled Himself
If we are to please God, that is what we must do,
humble ourselves
as much and as often as we can
It takes practice
It takes courage
It takes dedication
and reverence to the Lord
Putting His thoughts and ways above our own
Loving our sometimes wretched neighbors and enemies,
forgiving when there is no earthly reason to do so
lending to the poor,
treating each human as though he or she were Jesus,
choosing the ways of God over our own selfish desires
We all can succumb to the flesh
We all do succumb to the flesh
often as we are warring against it,
trying to obey God,
trying to carry our crosses
trying to serve the Lord and not our flesh
So many people cannot handle the idea of living for God
Some have even built whole doctrines to keep God in a neat little box
The Modern Day Pharisees and Sadducees are good examples
Their desires are to control the Word and how they and we are to obey it
That leaves out the Holy Spirit,
who is living and active and is constantly directing our steps,
or at least that is the desire of God to usward:
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord:
and he delighteth in his way. Psalm 37:23
Let Him be in control, not us
People don’t like this or that
So they have it figured out in their doctrine how to control God
While it seems they have pretty little teachings from the word of God,
those teachings are binding and harsh masters
The doctrine of man is flesh
Flesh in its most holy fleshly form:
Confining the word of God with the fleshly doctrines of man
Now the Lord is that Spirit:
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:17
He is teaching those who will listen
and showing them how to follow Him
in the freedom of the Holy Spirit as He directs
Taking our hands off the wheel
using our time for Him instead of for ourselves
lifting up those around us who He puts in our path
to be blessed by God through us, yes, through us
Just like all things,
it’s impossible to do anything for Him without Him
Without me you can do nothing
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing. John 5:15
That is how Peter failed and denied Jesus,
by trying to stand up for Jesus in His fleshly strength, not possible
If we can learn how to humble our flesh before the Lord
and let Him take charge, we will delight the Lord
and our flesh will be sad
But our spirit will be happy and joyous and satisfied