“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24 NKJV
Imagine you have a full bottle of water and desire to pour some juice into the bottle. Can you pour out that juice? No. The reason is that the bottle is currently full.
The only way to pour the juice in is to pour the water out of the bottle first. If you try to pour the juice into a full bottle of water, you’ll have a mixture that’s neither water nor juice, with much content wasted. It’ll taste bad, and you’ll spit it out.
We desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit and do greater works, but we are still unwilling to empty ourselves of the fleshly desires in our hearts. Eventually, we become neither cold nor hot and taste off (Revelations 3:16).
One day, as an undergraduate, I checked my exam results and was disappointed. As I walked back to my hostel, I began a debate with God, explaining why I should have gotten a better result; after all, I was a good and a “not so bad” boy.
Then, immediately, I heard God say to me, “So, where do you stand?” I didn’t have an answer, and that was when I decided to be born again.
Our empowerment won’t come by satisfying the flesh. We’ll live in self-deception until it’s too late. It comes when we decide to pay the price of following Christ through self-discipline, showing love to those we feel don’t deserve it, and other parts of the fruit of the spirit.
In the flesh, these activities are difficult. By God’s spirit, we can do them.
How can we ensure God’s spirit fills us to work?
When we feel the pull to do a type of work and get started, we do it based on who we currently are. But we’ll realise that we can only move to the next level by changing habits, lifestyles, and beliefs as time passes.
This is intentional on God’s part. He never calls us to something we can do in our current state. We may start in our current state but eventually have to move higher, making different sacrifices.
We see ourselves making tweaks like living a fasted life, creating time to pray, asking the Holy Spirit for help so we don’t break someone’s bones, having more compassion for others, not compromising on quality, keeping our word, etc.
These changes transform us into who God has already seen from the beginning. As we work like Christ, we become more like Him, delivering more excellent results. We eventually master our passions and desires, giving everything to God.
“I live by the spirit of God.”
Who does God want you to become in the next five to ten years?
We are on a journey of accomplishment and transformation. As we hit our goals God’s way, we die daily to the flesh until we reach the mark and have no choice but to ascribe all achievements to God.
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