In my previous message, The battle for your soul, I introduced the Spirit, body, and soul connection and how your spirit and body are both engaged in a continual battle for your soul. In this message, we’ll take a closer look at what you can do to improve the odds that your spirit wins this battle.
So many Christians make the mistake of trying to resist temptation by their own strength. I’ve been guilty of this myself. I’m sure that everyone who’s ever lived, except Jesus, has been guilty of this at one time or another. The reason that resisting temptation is such a struggle is primarily due to the sinful nature that we were all born with.
In case you think this fight is a lost cause, consider this scripture:
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.1 Corinthians 10:13
The problem is that all too often we don’t choose to take the way of escape that God has made available to us. But fortunately, with the help of the Holy Spirit and by some changes in our daily habits, we can learn to resist temptation. Here’s how.
In this analogy, the white dog represents your spirit and the black dog represents your body, which is your sinful nature.
So, if you want to give the white dog the best chance to win, what do you do? That’s simple, you feed the white dog and starve the black dog. I know that sounds cruel but keep in mind that this is just an analogy which happens to translate well into the spiritual battle that’s waging war over your soul.
But how do we do that?
We do it by spending time with God in prayer and by studying God’s Word. The good news is that when you are born again your spirit comes to life because the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you (Romans 8:9). The Holy Spirit helps you to understand the bible, which is the Word of God (John 14:26). The benefit of reading the bible is that the more you know God’s Word, the better you’ll be able to discern between good and evil and stay on the narrow path that leads to life instead of the wide path the devil wants you to be on that leads to destruction (Psalm 17:4).
The Holy Spirit will even help you to pray (Romans 8:26) and give you the words to say when you share the heavenly things with others (Luke 12:12).
Here’s another thing that’s worked well for me. Although we received the Holy Spirit when we were born again, we are not always full of the Holy Spirit. To achieve the most powerful prayer life and to get the most out of our study of God’s Word it’s helpful to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. The way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is simply to ask our heavenly Father to fill us.
We’re influenced by the world primarily through what we see and hear. So, to reduce the world’s influence over our lives, we need to be diligent about what we choose to watch and listen to. Here’s a tip. You can turn off a large percentage of the negative junk that you see each day by using the remote control that’s already in your home to turn off your TV.
Oh, I’m not kidding.
Consider this… are you watching television programs that promote or glorify the things that are an abomination to God? Are these programs putting sinful thoughts in your head that could lead to sin? If so, it doesn’t matter how funny or how entertaining it is. You need to shut it off or at least change the channel because it's feeding the black dog.
Feed the white dog, starve the black dog
Yes, that’s right. The way to resist temptation is to feed the white dog and starve the black dog. I’m not talking about literal dogs here, so please put down the phone and forget about reporting me to P.E.T.A. This is a just a simple but useful analogy that I learned from Pastor Billy Crone’s Discipleship 101 video series.In this analogy, the white dog represents your spirit and the black dog represents your body, which is your sinful nature.
So, if you want to give the white dog the best chance to win, what do you do? That’s simple, you feed the white dog and starve the black dog. I know that sounds cruel but keep in mind that this is just an analogy which happens to translate well into the spiritual battle that’s waging war over your soul.
How to feed the white dog
In a nutshell, you need to “set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth”(Colossians 3:2). That sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? Scripture tells us to think on the heavenly things and not the earthly things because the heavenly things are the Godly things. If we want to be more like Jesus, this is what we must do.But how do we do that?
We do it by spending time with God in prayer and by studying God’s Word. The good news is that when you are born again your spirit comes to life because the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you (Romans 8:9). The Holy Spirit helps you to understand the bible, which is the Word of God (John 14:26). The benefit of reading the bible is that the more you know God’s Word, the better you’ll be able to discern between good and evil and stay on the narrow path that leads to life instead of the wide path the devil wants you to be on that leads to destruction (Psalm 17:4).
The Holy Spirit will even help you to pray (Romans 8:26) and give you the words to say when you share the heavenly things with others (Luke 12:12).
Here’s another thing that’s worked well for me. Although we received the Holy Spirit when we were born again, we are not always full of the Holy Spirit. To achieve the most powerful prayer life and to get the most out of our study of God’s Word it’s helpful to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. The way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is simply to ask our heavenly Father to fill us.
How to starve the black dog
Remember that the black dog represents your body, which is your sinful nature that’s influenced by the world we all live in. The problem is that when we give into our sinful nature, we risk loving the world more than we love God, which is a grave sin (1 John 2:15).We’re influenced by the world primarily through what we see and hear. So, to reduce the world’s influence over our lives, we need to be diligent about what we choose to watch and listen to. Here’s a tip. You can turn off a large percentage of the negative junk that you see each day by using the remote control that’s already in your home to turn off your TV.
Oh, I’m not kidding.
Consider this… are you watching television programs that promote or glorify the things that are an abomination to God? Are these programs putting sinful thoughts in your head that could lead to sin? If so, it doesn’t matter how funny or how entertaining it is. You need to shut it off or at least change the channel because it's feeding the black dog.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Are you watching TV five hours or more a day but can’t find time to read your bible? If so, then your priorities are out of whack. The more time you spend feeding the white dog the less time you’ll have to feed the black one.
What about the things we choose to listen to? Consider this for a moment… have you ever had a song stuck in your head that was playing over and over for hours or even days at a time? I sure have. Wouldn’t you rather have a song stuck in your head that praises and glorifies God instead of the lyrics to highway to hell by ACDC? I’ll choose the one that praises and glorifies God every time and fortunately, there’s plenty of great Christian music in every musical genre to choose from.
I’m not saying that you have to listen exclusively to Christian music all the time. Although that wouldn’t be a bad thing. What I’m saying is that you need to be mindful of what goes into your ears because it has a powerful effect on you. The music that this past couple of generations listens to has become increasingly opposed to everything that the Bible teaches us is good. Worse still is that much of today’s music is literally satanic in nature.
It’s understandable that we would make this mistake since our sinful nature doesn’t slink away quietly after we're saved. But it’s a mistake that we have to deal with if we want to live a blessed life and be more like Christ.
May God bless your life richly as you become more like Christ.
Daniel
Five ways to fight the virus of sin
What about the things we choose to listen to? Consider this for a moment… have you ever had a song stuck in your head that was playing over and over for hours or even days at a time? I sure have. Wouldn’t you rather have a song stuck in your head that praises and glorifies God instead of the lyrics to highway to hell by ACDC? I’ll choose the one that praises and glorifies God every time and fortunately, there’s plenty of great Christian music in every musical genre to choose from.
I’m not saying that you have to listen exclusively to Christian music all the time. Although that wouldn’t be a bad thing. What I’m saying is that you need to be mindful of what goes into your ears because it has a powerful effect on you. The music that this past couple of generations listens to has become increasingly opposed to everything that the Bible teaches us is good. Worse still is that much of today’s music is literally satanic in nature.
Don’t feed both dogs
The mistake that many of us make when we become Christians is that feed both dogs at the same time. We go to church, and maybe read our bibles and pray once in a while, but we continue in the worldly lifestyle that we were accustomed to before we were saved. The problem with this approach is that it makes both dogs strong instead of giving the white dog the advantage in the fight.It’s understandable that we would make this mistake since our sinful nature doesn’t slink away quietly after we're saved. But it’s a mistake that we have to deal with if we want to live a blessed life and be more like Christ.
May God bless your life richly as you become more like Christ.
Daniel
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The battle for your soulFive ways to fight the virus of sin
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