admin
07-18-2007, 10:39 AM
“Have you not brought this on yourself, In that you have forsaken the Lord your God when He led you in the way? Jeremiah 2:17
The road to spiritual maturity is often blocked by problems or conflicts that
bring out the worst instead of the best in us, and distract us with anger, hurt, and remorse.
As hard as it is sometimes to admit, sooner or later we must come to the realization that we are often our own worst enemy!
The free will that God has given us includes the freedom to make bad choices in friends, jobs, actions, and conduct.
As we look back honestly on lost friendships, broken marriages, failures, or other disappointments we will often find that they are the consequences of our own pride, anger, selfishness, laziness, childishness or
other self inflicted wounds.
“If only I hadn’t__________”, or “if only I had__________” are the laments of a heart that is taking responsibility for being its own worst enemy.
We can only overcome the enmity of our flesh by overcoming our enmity with God by being born again of the Spirit through receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.
After we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us to begin the holy transformation of turning our bondage from the self centered and self gratifying control of our flesh into our spirit filled life in Christ which produces the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that makes our hearts our best friends instead of our worst enemy.
As we continue to bury the old enemy of our flesh daily through confession with godly sorrow and true repentance, we will find less and less bad choices over which to lament, and more and more wise choices over which to rejoice as we begin enjoying the blessings of doing life God’s way.
Father, help me to overcome the enmity of my flesh by the power of your Spirit living within me. In Jesus’ name, Amen
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:
“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.”Romans 8:
--Homily Grits
The road to spiritual maturity is often blocked by problems or conflicts that
bring out the worst instead of the best in us, and distract us with anger, hurt, and remorse.
As hard as it is sometimes to admit, sooner or later we must come to the realization that we are often our own worst enemy!
The free will that God has given us includes the freedom to make bad choices in friends, jobs, actions, and conduct.
As we look back honestly on lost friendships, broken marriages, failures, or other disappointments we will often find that they are the consequences of our own pride, anger, selfishness, laziness, childishness or
other self inflicted wounds.
“If only I hadn’t__________”, or “if only I had__________” are the laments of a heart that is taking responsibility for being its own worst enemy.
We can only overcome the enmity of our flesh by overcoming our enmity with God by being born again of the Spirit through receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.
After we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us to begin the holy transformation of turning our bondage from the self centered and self gratifying control of our flesh into our spirit filled life in Christ which produces the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that makes our hearts our best friends instead of our worst enemy.
As we continue to bury the old enemy of our flesh daily through confession with godly sorrow and true repentance, we will find less and less bad choices over which to lament, and more and more wise choices over which to rejoice as we begin enjoying the blessings of doing life God’s way.
Father, help me to overcome the enmity of my flesh by the power of your Spirit living within me. In Jesus’ name, Amen
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:
“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.”Romans 8:
--Homily Grits