"The Weakest Link"

In the last blog we talked about how easy it is even when strong in spirit to slip into the flesh. Peter recieved the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, and than a few verses later we see Peter rebuking Jesus telling him that he would'nt have to go to the cross. Jesus goes on to nickname him Satan. Peter had very clearly gotten into the flesh. We talked about the fact that the flesh is "the weakest link" I stated that we find our "weak link" in the account of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. When satan tempted Jesus the very first time it was in turning the stone into bread. Why? It was because at this moment it was Jesus highest point of vulnerability. Our "weak link" will be found in our vulnerability. The enemy will not hit a person where their strong, but where they are weak. Hes a total coward and plays by no rules. He's going to hit where it counts. We must be ready! When this all went down in the life of Jesus, he was PREPARED! Men shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God(Matt 4:4) Where did Jesus get that? It was from the book of Deuteronomy. My point is Jesus was prepared for very moments like this because of time in the word! Expierence will not defeat the devil, only the word of the living God will defeat the devil! If expierence could make any dent in the devil, Jesus could've very easily used his own. This temptation happened just moments after he was baptized is the Jordan river and the dove descends upon him and the voice of the Father audibly heard by everyone said "This is my beloved son in whom Iam well pleased". It was his time in that book that enabled and empowered him to resist by the power of the spoken word! I want you to understand "the flesh" does not rule you, you RULE it! "Christianity is not a life of attainment, but its a life of RESISTENCE" Without the resistence of air planes can't fly, without the resistence of water ships can't sail, and without the resistence of gravity men can't walk! Every single one of us has a flesh. Its the biggest enemy there is to faith! Its bigger than the devil, because were able in the authority of Jesus name and power of his word to cast him under our feet! However we cannot cast out the flesh, it must be crucified. In more future blogs were going to talk about how this very thing is done. Before we close this blog, lets identify the flesh. What exactly is "the flesh" Is it fornication or adultry? Is it swearing murmuring or backbiting? Is it eating an extra pieace of pie or bowl of icecream? NO! These are all WORKS of the flesh. When we attempt to go after these things its like were attacking the symptom and not the SOURCE. The book of Galations gives us a list of the "works" of the flesh. now the works of THE FLESH are manifest which are these: Adultry, fornication, uncleaness, lasciviousness, Idolotry, withcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkeness, and revellings(Gal 5:19-21) A good way to put it is these are fruits of a greater root. The bible defines the flesh as a MINDSET. Its a erroneous way of thinking. Every thought is followed by an action, every belief is followed by a behavior. The eigth chapter of the book of Romans makes this crystal clear. For they that are after the things of the FLESH, DO MIND the things of the flesh, to be CARNALLY(fleshly) minded is DEATH(Rom 8:5,6) We find here that it indeed is a house of thoughts, its a systematic system. Where does it lead DEATH. We will describe later in descriptive detail how to "strive for mastery" thus gaining and granting over it victory in the name of Jesus!