MAKING YOUR HISTORY:
CONQUERING THE FLESH
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid
(February 27, 2020)
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after 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, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ...(Romans 8: 5-39 King James Version [KJV]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus Yahshuah,
My brothers and sisters, I pray God bless your souls. Oftentimes, I fervently pray, my soul loves you, LORD. Those times I speak of, are not always the heavy-laden burden down times but also the times I feel lifted up in the Spirit. However, you feel the weight of the cross, as our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus felt the weight of the cross when he struggled to carry the cross up Calvary. Therefore, the sustained power of God, lifted the cross, in the one body, for the cross meant salvation through redemption resurrected to the quickening of rebirth; for being born again, a new creature, is the light of Christ Jesus that we, in the one body, carry each and every day.
Most importantly, to Conquer the Flesh is not as easily a done deal as even the children of GOD—-the elect seemingly contemplate every day, for we struggle in the war of flesh and spirit, for righteousness sake. Let GOD open your eyes to the Truth of demonic activity, near you. Do you know to whom you belong? Are we lost in this world yet again, the blind leading the blind?
More importantly, let your spirit be your guide to lead you out of the temptation that desperately and ultimately desires to take your life. Your disbelief deceived you in your waking hour when you were supposed to be awake to the false doctrines coming out of false prophets. Stay in the faith of Christ Jesus. Do not let the demonic activity lead you to the slaughter.
Moreover, your flesh appetite is controlled by you [a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food. For example,”he has a healthy appetite". Also, amusement is the state or experience of finding something funny. For example, “we looked with amusement at our horoscopes"]. In research, we find “appetite is the desire to eat food, sometimes due to hunger. Appealing foods can stimulate appetite even when hunger is absent, although appetite can be greatly reduced by satiety. Appetite exists in all higher life-forms, and serves to regulate adequate energy intake to maintain metabolic needs.”(Wikipedia.org). Furthermore, in research (18, September 2017, Semeco, A.), we find that “a loss of appetite occurs when you have a low desire to eat. Different factors can cause poor appetite, including mental and physical illness. If your lack of appetite lasts for more than a couple of days, it can cause weight loss or malnutrition.” (healthline.com).
Howbeit, we do not understand the appetite of the Spirit? Jesus said, Feed my sheep.[John 21: 15-17 King James Version (KJV),
“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”]. In 1611, we find research, “King James Version, John 21: 17:
“He said vnto him the third time, Simon sonne of Ionas, louest thou mee? Peter was grieued, because hee saide vnto him the third time, Louest thou me? And he said vnto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I loue thee. Iesus sayth vnto him, Feed my sheepe.”
King James Version (1611) - View original scan of John
Interestingly enough, in research we find, in the Orthodox Jewish Bible, Yochanan 21:17, “Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to him the shlishit time, Shimon Ben Yochanan, do you have ahavah for me? Kefa was grieved because Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to him the shlishit time, Do you have ahavah for me? And he says to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, Adoni, You have da’as of all things. You have da’as that I have ahavah for You. Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to him, Feed My kevasim.”(bible study tools.com).
With that said, we find God’s discussion on the appetite of his flock, in Ezekiel 34: 1-31:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them." ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: “as I live," says the Lord God, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"-- therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them."
‘For thus says the Lord God: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord God.
I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment." ‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture--and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet." ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: "Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.
Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people," says the Lord God.' " You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God," says the Lord God.”
Understandably so, we do not want that you lack the knowledge to clearly comprehend what Jesus did to properly and sufficiently feed the lambs of God. When we say feed the sheep the Word of God, we know there are followers of Christ Jesus Yahshuah with varied appetites, in need of the Word, some believers might have extremely strong appetites that require continuous feeding and it might seemingly appear that they are feeding on the Word of God yet still not fed because they lack the understanding of the Word of God. In research, we find appetites such as: hunger, ravenousness, hungriness, need for food, taste, palate, desire, relish, voracity, greed, gluttony, stomach, edacity, esurience; so much so that the shepherd observes “a strong desire or liking for something; an unquenchable appetite for life". Now, gluttony is a deadly sin. In research, we found in Seven deadly sins, that “Gluttony (Latin: gula) is the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of waste. The word derives from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow. In Christianity, it is considered a sin if the excessive desire for food causes it to be withheld from the
needy.” (Wikipedia.org). Also, in research: “The one whose concern is with that which enters the belly will discover that his value is found in that which goes out of it - Imam Al-Ghazali. Additionally, Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.Because you were weaned improperly as an infant. Your punishment in Hell will be you will be force-fed rats, toads, and snakes. Gluttony is linked with the pig and the color orange.
Nineteenth-century Russian Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov said of Gluttony:
“If you please and pamper your stomach, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath and fury, you will coarsen and darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention and self-control, your sobriety and vigilance.”
In the Summa Theologiae, medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said of Gluttony: "Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire... leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists." (2, 148, ad 1)More research in the book, Devils, Demons, and Witchcraft (Lehner, E. & J., 1971) says “those who commit the Sin of Gluttony are punished in Hell by being forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes.” [Amazon.com, Product description and back cover: “Throughout history, artists have grappled with the problem of depicting clearly and forcefully the principles of evil and suffering in human existence." With this view, the Lehners have collected 244 representations, symbols, and manuscript pages of devils and death from Egyptian times to 1931. Reproductions from Dürer, Holbein, Cranach, Rembrandt, and many other lesser-known or unknown artists illustrate the fascinating history. The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries are stressed.
The book is divided into 12 chapters, each with a separate introduction. Most of the illustrations are collected in five of these chapters: Devils and Demons, including Belial, Beelzebub, and the Anti-Christ; Witches and Warlocks, their animals, forms, and rituals; The Danse Macabre, with the Dance of Death Alphabet by Holbein and representations of all classes leveled by the common force of death; Memento Mori, including a skull clock, a macabre representation of the Tree of Knowledge and Death, and the winged hourglass and scythe; and Religio-Political Devilry, the fight between the Papists and the Reformers, and symbols of devils in other political disputes. There are also chapters on the Fall of Lucifer, Faust and Mephistopheles, Hell and Damnation, The Apocalyptic Horsemen, Witch-Hunting, The Art of Dying, and Resurrection and Reckoning. Anyone curious about witchcraft, death, and devils will be interested in this book. It is particularly useful to teachers, artists, and illustrators who need clear reproductions for the classroom, for models, or for commercial uses. Death, devils, and their history are very much with us today.”].
In closing, the appetite of the Word of God, we pray will nourish your sound mind, in the light of Christ Jesus. However, the darkness in the practices of evil in today’s world challenges those with a strong conscious and possibly debilitates believers with a weak conscious. As comprehensively aforementioned, what comes out of the mouth is of greatest concern more so than what goes in.[Matthew 15: 11-20, “Matthew 15:11-20 King James Version (KJV):
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”
We pray, your help comes from God [Psalm 121] and that you draw closer to God than ever before to cover you by the blood of the lamb, our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.[James 4: 8-17, King James Version (KJV):
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Christ be with you. God be with you. Walk with God. God bless
