Flee And Pursue!

"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:22

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

Flee! Avoid! That is very hard in these increasingly sinful days. With T.V., the internet, increasing lawlessness in our countries leadership, its a wonder anyone can stand! Thanks be to the grace of Christ! The truth He reveals, when applied, has the ability to set us free! So what are some key truths in these passages of scripture? Let's talk about what I feel the Lord is trying to say to us.

In this reference, Paul is telling Timothy to flee youthful lusts. I think we as believers, sometimes in our minds, stop the verse there. Interestingly enough though it doesn't stop there! Not only does Paul say to flee, he also says to PURSUE! When it seems like sin is increasingly difficult to quit, I would say 10 times out of 10 we are not PURSUING! He says to pursue what? "but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Righteousness! Faith! Charity! Peace! With all of the true saints. But why? Because these "Pursuing acts" get us in the Spirit. You see we are not of a lazy faith, but a faith that says "faith without actions is dead". Meaning, some people errantly say, "If God takes away the desire for this (being sin), then I will quit" But on the contrary, He has revealed what you are to do in His word. He has already blessed you with the DESIRE to quit, now appropriate that desire! People underestimate the power of the Spirit when we take steps towards Him. God said in James 4:8 "Draw nigh unto Me, and I will draw nigh unto you". Some people have it backwards, they want God to take it away from them without any discipleship (discipline) on their end. We are in training for eternity Brothers and Sisters!! Let's pray for, and encourage one another to not only flee these things BUT TO PURSUE WALKING IN THE SPIRIT AS WELL. Now let's talk about walking in the Spirit.

Thanks to a Pastor by the name of Timothy Davis, God revealed to me that our flesh and spirit has the ability to flip-flop. I believe the mark of a mature saint is mastering this "art" of walking in the Spirit, and denying our flesh. Notice in the above verse it says, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16. Awesome! Notice it says, that if I walk in the Spirit, I WILL NOT FULFILL THE DESIRES OF MY FLESH! That is so awesome! It doesn't say, "You might not fulfill the desires of the flesh" or, "You probably won't fulfill the desires of the flesh." It says, "IF YOU WALK IN THE SPIRIT YOU WILL NOT FULFILL THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH!" Isn't our Lord awesome! This reminds me of the verse ! Corinthians 10:13 which says, 13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. And the way of escape is fleeing and pursuing. If you just have the first part of this equation, you will fall everytime. PURSUE WALKING IN THE SPIRIT! Draw close to Him! He loves you! Also, use your spiritual weapons against the enemy! (See the devotion, "Rhema Resistance" on the left side of the web page)