The Struggles Believers Face In Their Attempts To Overcome Sin As Exemplified By the Apostle Paul! Part 1

19 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mark 14:38.       Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Sunny days are here again! Glory Hallelujah! Yes friends it’s another sunshiny and warm day, warmer than yesterday, with temps up in the high teens, and people are already out walking without a lot of clothes on. Let’s hope that spring is truly in the air and the devious weather doesn’t turn around and bite us in the you know where. (smile) 

Now, et me apologize for the lateness of the Bit, what with it being Wednesday and I had to go to my church group at mid-morning, then I had an afternoon doctor’s appointment. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the medical help, but it’s intruding too much on my normal day to day affairs. 

Anyway, today, we’re going to look at an interesting scripture…sorry, all scripture is interesting… (smile) where Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane with His most intimate disciples, Peter, James and John, going through an agony of soul and spirit over His upcoming crucifixion. But every time He goes away to pray in private, He comes back and finds them sleeping. One time when He came and found them sleeping, He admonished them thus, saying to Peter: ‘Simon, sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.’ (Mark 14:37-38) 

And right there my brethren we have a major human problem. Our spirits are ready to follow God, but our flesh is weak, readily falling to the temptation of the enemy and his evil associates. Unfortunately, this did not start recently, but way back in time as Genesis tells us of man’s wickedness. ‘And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart (intent or thought) was only evil continually (all the day long).’(Gen. 6:5) 

And one could easily mistakenly believe that we’re living in those times because the wickedness of man in this generation is so perverted and pervasive that I’m sure the Lord is saying the same thing about us. Why are we so wicked and ungodly eh, and have no LOVE for ourselves and each other? Note I didn’t mention God in that, because it’s so obvious that we have no regard for Him whatsoever, otherwise our wickedness would not be so all pervasive. 

But thankfully, there are some scriptures that try to explain our wicked situation, like this one from Bruh Paul to the church at Rome, where he talks about his struggle against sin. ‘For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal (fleshly), sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not (I don’t understand why): for what I would (want to do), that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.’ (Rom. 7:14-15) Now that’s a problem we all have my fellow believers, because we have a sin nature that tends to lead to sinful rather than godly stuff. 

And Bruh Paul was no different than us, as the scholars explain. ‘The law is spiritual, means that it has the characteristics of the Spirit and is consistent with the character of God. Meanwhile, I am carnal, explains the biographical nature of what follows and is designed to reveal the real struggle the apostle experienced in the flesh. His experience is also exemplary, for it shows the problems all believers experience in their battle with sin.’ And that’s no lie, as Bruh Paul continues to show. 

‘If then I do that which I would not (I don’t want to do), I consent unto (agree with) the law that it is good. 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 then good that I would (want to do) I do not; but the evil which I would not (don’t want to do), that I do.’ (Rom. 7:16-19) 

Oh my fellow believers, how many times have we found ourselves in such a situation eh? Wanting to do the right thing, but ending up doing the wrong one, and we’re at a loss as to why we did what we didn’t want to do, instead of what we wanted to do. It’s certainly a human predicament, as we’re so often dominated by sin and sinful pursuits. And we’ll stop there for today, as Bruh Paul goes on make several other tough statements that would make the Bit way too long and confusing to digest all at once. If God spares life tomorrow, then we’ll continue with Bruh Paul’s epic struggle with our sin nature. 

Now, let’s go home declaring (chuhhh!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting all and sundry know of our wonderful position in Christ Jesus. As one strong and sincere voice: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And please, let’s not forget the added promise that if we endure with Jesus right to the very end, then that future will be even more glorious than we can ask or imagine. So, let’s make plans to meet at the very end and together enjoy the marvellous future promised then nuh! Much LOVE!

…man’s sin nature was inherited from our forefathers…but it can be made to bow…by the works and words of Jesus

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 13 August 2020 Mark 14:38.

13 Aug 2020 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mark 14:38.     ​Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
 

And then it was Thursday… a beautiful Thursday by the way! And we way way behind the eight ball because of my late bedding down and thus late rising, but also due to a couple of chores I had to do before getting down to brass tacks. And that’s my mea-culpa. (smile) 

Today I have a couple of gems for us from our ‘P.S. I LOVE YOU’ Poster. Long time I haven’t shared anything from that. Some of you might not even know about. It’s just a cardboard poster with that title my young daughter gave me some years ago with some useful life quotes on it. And the first gem says: ‘Almost all of our unhappiness is the result of comparing ourselves to others.’ Quite true that! And the second tells us: ‘We can’t do much about our appearance, but we have total control over the kind of person we become.’ 

In these modern times of advanced medicine and technology, the first part is not so true anymore, because through those avenues we can now change our appearance a whole lot, but the second half is still and will always be true! Changing our appearance doesn’t mean a blooming thing if the kind of person we are doesn’t improve with it. In the long run, who we are, not what we look like, will always be the deciding factor in the outcome of our lives. And since I’m so sweet and generous, here’s a langniappe, a brawtha, something extra thrown in for good measure. (smile) 

‘To change everything, simply change your attitude.’ Wow! What wisdom and truth my bredrin! And do a whole lot of us ever need to change our surly, stupid, selfish, greedy, angry, resentful, hateful, gossipy, unforgiving, jealous, envious, ungodly, unkind, UNLOVING attitudes! Yes friends, all those negative attitudes are taking a severe toll on our individual lives and consequently are then flowing into our society, making it the negative, ungodly society it’s become. 

Some of you might choose to argue that the society itself first had the negative attitudes and we as individuals then adopted them. But that’s like the chicken and the egg story, about which came first. It doesn’t matter who or what infected the other, it just matters that we’ve been infected, and must first begin with individual change if we want to right the situation. And how do we accomplish those changes? I just came upon some very interesting words of Jesus, that memorable night in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

When the disciples couldn’t stay awake, He said to Peter. ‘Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.’ (Mark 14:37-38) And is that ever so true friends! The Spirit of God that dwells within us is ever ready to help us set our lives aright, but the weak flesh that we naturally possess, that desires the ungodly things of the world puts up a pretty good fight against it. And if we aren’t careful, and prayerful, it’s so easy to fall into temptation and thus destroy the godly character we’re trying to build. 

Bruh Paul calls it the struggle of two natures. As he explains in Romans 7: ‘For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal (fleshly), sold under sin. For that which I do I allow (understand) not: for what I would (want to do), that I do not; but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto (agree with) the law that it is good. 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.’ (Rom. 7:14-19) 

Yeh friends, even the great Bruh Paul struggled with his flesh; the desire to do good, but doing evil instead. And because of that, he’s also a great example, showing us ‘the problems that all believers experience in their battle with sin.’ Yes my people, our flesh; our minds, bodies and souls through the ongoing efforts of the enemy, are often dominated by sin and sinful pursuits. And Bruh Paul said it this way to the Galatians. ‘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.’ (Gal. 5:17) And that’s the gospel truth fellow saints! 

As the scholars explain. ‘ 5:17. One’s sinful human nature (flesh) and the Holy Spirit lusteth against one another, that is, they have desires and yearnings that are contrary to one another. The Christian, then, is a battlefield, having desires to do good and evil. The outcome is that ye cannot do the things that ye would: the flesh seeks to thwart the Spirit, who, in turn, attempts to frustrate the flesh’s evil desires.’ 

Oh, it’s definitely not easy my people! But let’s remember that with Jesus running our lives, we can do anything, for ALL things are possible with Him! We just need to bear down, to watch and pray, to stand steadfast and strong in our faith and belief in His crowning glory, and remember that through His death on the cross, and His resurrection, the victory’s already been won, we just have to walk it out now. And we do that by diligently and efficiently using the generous blessings bestowed on us to do Christ’s work. We call them our Thursday Blessings. 

And since a blessing is not a blessing until it’s been spoken, let’s declare (yeahhh!) them right now over ourselves nuh. In strong voice, with sincere hearts: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! 

I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’ 

Wow! What a magnanimous God we serve! It blows my mind every time I consider how generous and LOVING He is! So to show our sincere appreciation, let’s go out and share those blessings just as generously with others nuh, as we are meant to. Much LOVE!

…the mind…the battlefield of life…