SCRIP-BITS

Oh Friends, on this fall Sunday morning, many of us are getting ready to go to church to fellowship with other believers, praising and worshipping our great God without any restrictions. Unfortunately though, a lot of other Christians in many parts of the world aren’t so lucky. They either have to hide to worship, or their places of worship are vengefully destroyed and their people persecuted. Right now in Egypt, a predominantly Muslim country, the Coptic Christians, who have lived there for some 2000 years, are feeling the sordid and sorrowful effects of religious persecution. Their churches are being burnt and their congregations flagrantly killed for no other reason than their religious beliefs. Please people, let’s cry out in fervent prayer to our most merciful and LOVING God on their behalf, and for all persecuted Christians around the world. We air our petty grievances to God without any problems, so it should be easy for us to advocate on their behalf to the ultimate advocate, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in whose name they are being persecuted. And our Bit very appropriately encompasses that situation. ‘Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.’ Yes Friends, we have to be watchful and prayerful at all times, not only for ourselves and our immediate others, but also for the millions of unfortunate believers around the globe who cannot worship in peace and freedom, who have to hide, be fearful, to give thanks to Almighty God. Yesterday we looked at the first part of our Bit; ‘Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.’  Today we’ll delve into the second half: ‘The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.’ That we all know Friends to be the living truth! The Spirit of God within us is ready, willing and able to do all we require, but the sinful, sensuous nature of our flesh is the weak link in the chain. Bruh Paul experienced it personally and explained it thus to the church at Rome. ‘Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would (want to do), I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that (which) I would (should) not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would (want to) do good, evil is present in me. For I delight in the law of God after (according to) the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!’ (Rom.7:17-24) Yes my people, the sinful nature of our flesh automatically wars against the Spirit of God that’s trying to lead us along the path to righteousness. And it’s not an easy struggle. We have to seriously and persistently fight that good fight whereby the Spirit of Jesus works in us to help us overcome the bright and lustful temptation of the world that can so easily overtake us. Bruh Paul also dealt with it in his letter to the Galatians. ‘This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law,’ (Gal.5:16-18) My fellow believers, right now the flesh is winning the war, as can clearly be seen by the evil, negative, fearful, ungodly direction and atmosphere that currently permeates our world. If we ever hope to turn that situation around, then we believers have to up the ante, have to increase and improve our spiritual walk. As soldiers in Jesus’ army, we definitely need to come up higher if we hope to proclaim His good name and His gospel all over the world, and further His righteous kingdom, as He greatly desires, and so commissioned us. We can’t allow the petty divisions and dissensions, envy and pride that are presently prevailing in Christ’s Church to bedevil us. For our sakes, so that we can keep our freedom to worship, and even more so for those believers being persecuted for their Christian beliefs, let’s pray fervently, and without ceasing, that the Lord will enable His mighty Spirit to work mighty works in us and help us to defeat our sinful flesh, so that we can walk in His awesome light. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen. Much LOVE mih people!…the potholes of temptation in our lives…can only be avoided and /or filled…by the Holy Spirit of Jesus…