The New Man - Inner Conflict

                                                    The  New Man - Inner Conflict

Galatians 5:16-17, 19-21

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 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.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

As we continue the series of New Man, this week we are going to look at Inner conflict. Walk in the Spirit as you are born in the Spirit now. Ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Flesh remembers the old way!

We have dominion over the outer man, over the sin, over your words.

Carnal mind goes with our old nature. But our new nature is in conflict with carnal mind.

1)    Walk and live in the Holy Spirit (habitual)

Every action need to be controlled and guided by the Spirit. Flesh is nothing but human nature without God. God is not in the picture. Every decision made is based on human experience, thoughts and sense knowledge.

2)      Flesh and Spirit are always in conflict

Romans 8:5-8 we have 2 things discussed here.

i) Mind of Christ – Always result in Life and Peace

ii) Carnal mind – Does not submit itself to God – Death

This shows we have control over our thinking.

The Carnal mind creates enmity putting up a wall against God. It develops darkness in those areas. God will not be able to show his power in those areas since we have built up wall thorugh our carnal thinking.

Romans 8:9 Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit

You are living the life of the Spirit. See any situation through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. This will change our attitude, perspective and outcome.

As we see earlier, Old man is dead but he is trying to hang around with carnal mind.

A perfect example we can see in Old Testament is Joseph. He is conscious of God’s presence in his life even in hard times. He yields to Spiritual mind so that he can see God is working behind the screen to change the evil stuff to Good in his life. He was able to forgive his brothers.

Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to   bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Women...in Christ!

Tomorrow is international Women's day. The whole world will be celebrating woman hood and feminism. We have long fought for equal rights equal pay and equality as home... the world marginalised women... however we have a God who is fair...he created us equals not just with men but He made us joint heirs with Christ. In a world and mainly in a culture like our where a girl child/ daughter is short changed.... our heavenly father neither saw us as a daughter nor as a son...he sees us just as His children. I wanted to talk about being Gods Women and how we are celebrating Him in us....

I came up with an acronym for WOMEN..

W- fearfully and wonderfully made "I will praise you for I am fearfully wonderfully made"Ps 139:14
O- owned by your master. He bought you with His life John 3:16
M- making you...working on you...to be His perfect bride "For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth." Hosea 2:7
E- eternity is how long you will spend with him. John 3:16
N- new being. Rev 21:1-4, 2 Cor 5:1-10

As a woman what are some principles we can follow...

1. “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Fearing God is being in reverence, awe of God and submitting to His sovereignty.

2. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
- dedicating our lives to know Him
-focusing our thoughts on Him alone so we don't stray
-to be hungry for Him...to not just intellectually know but to be in actions...pursuing doing what He asks.

3. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). It means living generously...with your time and resources.

4.“Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another” (Ephesians 4:32).
Often we find among women, we are critical, competitive and quick to judge. Today let's leave whats not pure, real and worthy of praise.... we need to be women who are real and raw.. with flaws and scars... we need trasperancy and accountability... let's leave behind all thats not pure and holy and love on our sisters. Bearing each others burdens in tenderness and love.

5. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. . . . Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, 22). Whether in highs or lows, in health or sickness, in plenty or lack... when it's the darkest God is closest! Rejoice your portion and mansion is being prepared in heaven, give thanks cause you are alive...

6.“Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12). We teach our children this... are we generous of our time? Worldly goods? Are we inviting? Are we our sisters keeper? Am I inviting destitute and prostitute... am I showing them they are loved, their worth could be above rubies?

7.“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). In all things... laundry too!

The Bible is filled with strong women...

Rahab and the spies... she risked her life for what is right... prostitute to heaven's princess

Queen Esther spoke up for God's people and saved a whole generation

Ruth obeyed and followed Naomi... she's in the genealogy of Jesus

Deborah sat at the gates as a judge and gave fair justice... mentioned as a judge

Mary bore Jesus...implicit faith!

Women God used to change the course of history. Will we be known as a woman of God?

Let's not let the world tell us otherwise... we have always been in God's plan...God created us equal in purpose and in His love and plans for us.

Even in Eden God created woman as an equal. It's only after the fall did the distinction in roles happen. Even in the fall God had a plan through woman... birth of Jesus. We have important roles...

Tomorrow the world will celebrate women's day...but we will celebrate how we were liberated from sin...our freedom in Christ. We are Daddy's girls, warrior princesses... tearing kingdoms down, building up Gods armies through our families and we're women called to be world changers! You highly favoured and blessed!