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Cure for Ridding Flesh

The cure for ridding flesh

February 24, 2017 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

I’m mid-way through “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray and loving it. He made a statement, which I would call “the cure for ridding flesh”, in a recent chapter that stood out to me:

The first lesson is this — You may be a very earnest, godly, devoted believer, in whom the power of the flesh is still very strong.

He’s gentle in his comments, and quick to point out that it is only the work of Jesus to make us aware of the power of our fleshly self.

He goes on to give the solution:

Are there not some saying: “Ah! that is the problem with me; it is always the self-life, self-comfort, self-consciousness, self-pleasing, and self-will. How am I to get rid of it?”

My answer is: It is Christ Jesus who can rid you of it. No one else but Christ Jesus can give deliverance from the power of self. And what does He ask you to do? He asks that you should humble yourself before Him.

It must be a theme to the melody of my life — or perhaps I’m quite dense and God knows I can’t handle anything new — but the pursuit of humility and surrender continually stand out to me and prove to be one of the most passionate topics I write about.

But I love that the cure for ridding flesh is humility before Jesus.

When we acknowledge His all-knowing divinity and our weakness in our own strength, we’re left without any choice but to surrender to his power. The Lord knows our needs and is generous to save us. If we humble ourselves to Him, He is faithful to begin the process of removing our dependency on ourselves. I love it! (And desperately need it!)

Filed Under: Surrender

We Are All Dead Featured Image

We are all dead

June 24, 2016 by brianmichaelsteck 1 Comment

The Indwelling Life of Christ by Major W. Ian ThomasI can’t take credit for this beautiful analogy, but Major W. Ian Thomas writes in his book The Indwelling Life of Christ about Adam’s death in the Garden of Eden.

God spoke to Adam and said,

In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.Genesis 2:17

Adam then went on to live to be 900 years old. What death did Adam die?

This is the paragraph that hit me:

Death is the absence of life. What life did Adam lose that day? The life of God! God withdrew His Holy Spirit from Adam’s spirit. This was spiritual death.

We are all dead

Do we realize that, apart from Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit, that we are all dead?

Some of us who believe in Jesus will surely meet Him when we breath our last breath, but having lived lives devoid of His presence and completely dependent upon ourselves; never having enjoyed the fullness of what God intended for us as His Sons and Daughters.

Major W. Ian Thomas goes on to write:

God intended that a threefold moral interlock should govern our relationship to God and God’s relationship to us:

  1. Our love for God, reciprocating His love for us. This love is evidenced exclusively by…
  2. Our dependence on God, because He created us in such a way that His presence is indispensable to our humanity and true function. This dependence can be expressed only by…
  3. Our obedience to God.

What a beautiful picture of life!

True life is unequivocally bound to God, evidenced by our love, dependence and obedience to Him. His perfect Son, Jesus, died on our behalf so that this spiritual union between God and us could be reestablished. He died so that we could live!

  • Are you living your life in your own strength?
  • Could leaning into His Spirit be the game-changer?

Filed Under: Surrender

Night Sky - A Fasted Lifestyle Featured Image

A Fasted Lifestyle

February 21, 2016 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

I’m probably the least qualified to talk about a fasted lifestyle, but I feel prompted to take a moment and reflect on this way of living.

A Fasted Lifestyle: The King went first

When Christ, a perfect man and sinless lamb, allowed himself to be sacrificed on the crucifix, it wasn’t for show. He was the priceless son of God; there was greater pain than any of us can imagine involved. After a completely obedient life, Jesus — the same Jesus that spoke the universe into existence — humbled himself before the very humans he created. Beaten, jeered, spat on and murdered, he endured the greatest injustice of history — all to make things right between us and Him, because He wants to know us.

Worship: Responding to the Greatness and Glory of God

A fasted lifestyle is the natural byproduct of being encountered by this reality. We don’t fast or worship or pray out of sheer duty and obedience — although there are times when it’s good for us to fast, pray and worship when we don’t feel like it. A fasted lifestyle looks like absolute surrender in all areas of our lives, tied with an ongoing resolve to systematically surrender our freedom for the sake of knowing Him more.

He surrendered to know us more. We surrender to know Him more.

So freedoms like food, sleep, community, music, coffee, discretionary time, chocolate, beer, wine — things that, by themselves, are holy and good — we willingly give over to Him for a period of time, so we can experience Him more fully.

To be clear, entering into fasting of any kind is not about earning a thing. Frankly, it’s not even about pleasing God. As Joe Couch says:

It’s about saying no to something we love for the sake of something we love more.

Practical next steps

Still your heart and mind and ask God what He wants you to surrender today. It might be that he wants you to wake up earlier or get alone for couple hours. He may want you to say “no” to sugar for the day or hide away in worship for the day.

Whatever He puts on your heart, just obey. And when it hurts because you miss it or are hungry or lonely, let that be a gentle reminder that you are giving up something you love for something you love more.

Allow a fasted lifestyle to become your new way of life. Allow God to call you into deeper places with Him, one small sacrifice at a time.

Filed Under: Surrender Tagged With: Fasting, Surrender

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