Body and Spirit
Good morening everyone. Today I want to talk about the war between the body and the spirit. How many of you have ever fasted ? Now not because there was no food in the house or because you wanted to lose those 5 pounds for that date , I mean fasted for God. How many have told your body that I am not going to feed you ,God will feed us ? For those of you that have fasted what happened when you fasted? You got closer to God didn’t you. Why and how did you ? You relied on the Word to be nurishment for your soul and the soul sould to nurish the body.
When you fast God reviels so many things to you. You can step out and see your body at war with your spirit . Your body is saying , no screaming , “I want food.” “If you don’t feed me I’m gonna make you miserable”. “I’ll even make you sick.” Your spirit witnesses this , your spirit is seeing the war the body is having against you . Your spirit is being feed threw God but your body is saying no . This is how you grow closer to God . You depend on Him to tame your body . You depend on Him to nurish your soul. You depend on Him period.
Now when you are close to God like this and you see the war that your body is having , why don’t we see it when we are not fasting. Oh you may say “ but I do.” Realy ? Are you close to God every day to see when your body is at war with your spirit and you tell that gossip , or tell that lie (even thought it’s little lie) ,or to look at that swimsuit issue of that sports magazien and think thoughts you shouldn’t be thinking. Can you see the war that your body is having with your spirit when you eat that last piece of chocolate cake knowing that someone else wanted some , or when you find a way at work to get out of doing something to make someone else have to do it ( put it you own suggestions here). How about when you are driving home from work and instead of listening to something that will bring you closer to God on the radio or cd you listen to something that is only pleaseing to the body . I could go on listing things and never get done . These are all things of war that your body has been wageing against your soul with.
With this going on in your body it is fighting the soul and without you replenishing the soul it overtakes it . You start doing things that are pleaseing to the body. Your soul just keeps on takeing hit after hit and your soul loses that communication with your mind so you become to were you don’t see the body wageing this war . Your body seperates you from the reality of the punishment it is putting on your soul , Just as our sins seperat us form God your body is seperateing you from your spirit . That is why we need to be in the word , need to talk to God , need to pray , need to just give controle to God . He is the only one who can deliver us of this war in us. When you see this you become aware of it . If you can’t see this then your body is winning that war . Your body is keeping you in the dark . That is why Jesus said “I am the light” .
We will say “ I’m a good Christian . “ and yet we struggle. Why ? Because if it is only when we fast that God reviels the war going on inside of us. How long have our bodies been in control of us, and how long are we going to let them be over us. These little attacs I was talking about a minute ago, the are like sneek attacs from the enemy . Like morter fire , not a lot to do real damage by them selves but together and over time they do severe damage. This is why we struggle , our spirit is being overtaken and shelled allday from our body and our soul is not getting a good defensive battle plan or reinforcements . God is the General of this army in your spirit and Jesus is on the front line .
Without God being in our lives , I don’t mean just Sunday worship or Wensday night service, I mean in our lives , reading scripture threwout the day talking to him threwout the day and not talking only about how He can help you Praise Him , give thanks to Him, that is what nurishes the soul . That is what gives the soul ammunition to fight the body , to win the many wars the body takes upon us. For the Body is of flesh and Satan wants to rule the flesh. Without God and Jesus in your daily life how can you take on Satan and his attacs?
Jesus walked the Earth and was tempted by all things known to man. He knows the war that goes on in you and me. He also knows that threw Him you can win these wars ,but you MUSt have faith in Him and rely totally on Him . Jesus relied on God to replenish Him . He fatsed for God . He took over His body and did not sin. He wants the same for you . All you have to do is ask . Mathew 7:7 say to just “ask and it will be given to you “ . That’s all . Just ask for God to be your General and Jesus to be on the fronline of this war going on inside you . Just ask for God to reviel these attacs your body is hitting your soul with . Just ask . That’s all He wants . Just for us to ask . Ask Him to take control of us . Ask him to fight this war for us. Ask Him to come into our lives and save our souls, to save us from the death our bodies will have someday. Ask for that eternal life Jesus spoke about .Just ask.
For those of you that today are suffering for this war , that are a casualty of this war , that just can’t go on fighting Satan and your body , ask the Lord Jesus to come into your life . Ask Him to take your body and take control of it . Jesus has been wanting you to win this battle for a long time , is He asking you today , or did He ask you yesterday but your body wouldn’t let the message get threw . Is He asking now. Come as we pray.
Father I come to you today to offer this war that has been goin on inside me for so long , I ask for you to take control of it . I ask you Father to win this battle over my body . I hummble myself befor you Father and offer myself as is. To let you rebuild me and mold me into the person you had planned for. For me to do the will you have for me. To be Your servent . That your will shall be done . That you will use this body in your body . Father we ask these things in Jesus’s name , amen.
