Philadelphia 14
Have you heard about, or been preached to, about your horrible, sinful flesh and that you must crucify it? Well, today we are going to demystify this ominous entity most people think is their body.
Let’s begin by identifying the word “flesh” as it is used in Scripture. There are various meanings for this word, so it is important to look at a verse and know how to interpret its meaning. The word flesh means:
- Meat of an animal, as in food
- The physical body (as opposed to the soul and the spirit)
- Symbol of what is external
- Kindred (family, tribe, nation)
- Human nature
- Carnal (worldly, physical mindedness/consciousness)
When preachers generally talk about “your flesh” (at least in my experience) they are referring to your physical body. This is true for many Scriptures but not all and when you interpret all of them to mean your physical body your mind ends up in a mess, especially when you have an idea that you are supposed to “crucify it.”
Let me tell you, you cannot crucify your flesh. Not even Jesus could crucify Himself. He was nailed to the cross and crucified by Roman soldiers. You are incapable of physically crucifying your body. Not only that, neither does Scripture ask you to crucify your flesh – your physical body. Scripture says it HAS ALREADY BEEN CRUCIFIED. How do you crucify something that has already been crucified?
From God’s eternal perspective in Christ your physical body has already died and passed from death to life. This God accomplished in the physical death of Jesus Christ. When He was crucified, so were you. Now, from a physical, mortal, and earthly perspective this makes no sense for here on earth we face death every day. But God is not referring to the day your physical body dies on earth, He has already shifted your body, through baptism, into the heavenly realm where your body is being transfigured into its eternal image.
You are no longer of this physical world. You are spiritual, you are an alien in a mortal suit. Your mortal body is in the process of being transformed into its eternal reality – you are in the process of putting on immortality through the Word of God. This process will be completed on the day of the resurrection of your bodies from the dead.
You are in the process of becoming what you already are.
When a baby is conceived in the womb it is not yet in the image of what it is going to become. It is still in its seed form but, with the process of time, the DNA develops the form and features of the child who is then manifest as a human being when it is born. So it is with you. You are born of God and God’s DNA, His WORD, is in the process of forming and fashioning you into the image of Jesus Christ as He now is, in His resurrected body, fully God and fully man. While we have been conceived in the ‘womb” of the Holy Spirit our final appearance has not yet been revealed.
We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18 TPT)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things (including your body) have passed away, behold ALL things (including your body) have become new. (2 Cor 5:17)
Now we start understanding what it means to live by faith. Faith is not about obtaining stuff and getting answers to prayer. Faith is about agreeing with what God says concerning you and accepting that as truth regarding who you are, NOW IN THIS WORLD.
You live by faith in the knowledge of your righteousness which has been given to you by God Himself. It takes faith to live in the knowledge of righteousness – that God has justified you and declared you to be without sin. It takes faith to live by the WORD that God has declared and decreed concerning you.
So, lift your head, turn your eyes toward the One who loves you and behold yourself in His face because this is whose image you are transforming into – spirit, soul, and body.
We are not finished …
Have an awesome weekend and I will see you through the “window” next week.
Love you always,
Yvonne
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