flesh Archives - Colin Dye

The Arm of Flesh Will Fail

Colin Dye — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:22:13 +0000

Read: 2 Chronicles 32:7-8. Once again, God?s people were in a time of extreme difficulty.

Trust in the Lord, the Arm of Flesh Will Fail you

A powerful Assyrian army had swept throughout Israel conquering everything in its path. Now the entire army surrounded Jerusalem and stood at the door calling for surrender. Nevertheless, Hezekiah, king of Judah had the answer, ?Don?t be afraid there are more with us than with them!? Why? Because all the enemy had was a mighty army, but the people of God had a greater presence with them ? the LORD himself! One with God is a majority against any fleshly opposition. Trust in God ? not the arm of flesh!

Key Thought

There is no need to be afraid, dismayed or intimidated by anything the enemy does against you. God is with you and that?s enough for every situation. Trust in the LORD and don?t ever rely on the help of the flesh. How can mere flesh compare with the might and power of your God?

Prayer

Forgive me Lord for my doubts and fears. I refuse to be intimidated by the circumstances and people who oppose me and I choose to trust the power of God and not the power of man.

Discipleship Steps

Knowing that God is with you to help you fight your battles against the world, the flesh and the devil makes all the difference. Once you let God in on the situation it totally transforms before you. Your thinking changes as fear, doubt and intimidation disappear. You see the enemy for what he is ? a mere empty boaster. What is the might of man against the glory of God? And what can the defeated spiritual forces of Satan do against you? God is with you!

Read: 2 Chronicles 32:7-8

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6 steps to Freedom from Sexual Sin

Colin Dye — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:04:27 +0000

Today I want to give you six keys that will help you to break free from the bondage of sexual sin.

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1.15

1. Make a decision

How do you get set free from sexual sin? First of all, as with any form of bondage, you need to make a decision that you want to be free. If you are in sexual bondage then you have to look honestly at what you have become and the damage that your sin is causing. How much of your life are you wasting by fighting sexual ?fevers?? Do you long to be free from the sense of guilt and failure that your sexual sin produces in you?

The standard of God?s Word, and what He wants for you, is for there to be ?not even a hint? of sexual immorality in your life. So there is a decision to make and the stronger the decision you make, the easier it will be to get free. Instead of continually fighting off sinful sexual urges which sap your spiritual strength and divert you from your purpose, make a decision to be free and take the steps that follow.

2. Receive prayer and deliverance

Receive prayer and deliverance to be set free fom sexual sin in your life

Next you need to receive prayer and deliverance. I am not referring to deliverance from demonic forces necessarily, although demons often do attach themselves to habitual sexual sin and there can be a supernatural bondage there. But it is important that you receive prayer, and deliverance if necessary, and allow God to break the bondage in your life and bring healing and restoration to you.

3. Discipline yourself ? learn new habits

Habits of the flesh need to be broken and the only way to do that is to discipline yourself to learn new habits. Especially for men, begin with ?bouncing? your eyes away from any sexual image. It really can make a big difference. Normal God-given sexual desire is manageable, because we realise that there is a fire burning on the inside of every man! Whether he?s a believer or an unbeliever, there is a fire there, we are no different! The thing to do is to keep the fire low. Don?t deliberately pour fuel on the fire. If you walk into your office and you see a girl wearing a low-cut blouse, bounce your eyes immediately, because if you don?t, you?ll put fuel on your fire and by lunchtime you?ll by totally distracted! However, you can control normal sexual desires that God has given you if you don?t let them grow out of control. Don?t make life tough for yourself. And ladies: watch your thought patterns. Bring then into line and don?t let your emotions carry you away.

4. Engage in discipleship

Discipleship is a very important part in the process of getting free and staying free from sexual sin. Put another way, get yourself into mutually accountable relationships with other believers. Everyone needs others around them, regardless of their position or status, because no one is immune ? that they can relate to honestly and pray with. Cell groups or prayer partners can be very beneficial in this regard because in them we can help each other, not as policemen but as fellow soldiers, to overcome our difficulties. If we are serious about the business of sexual purity then we also need to help one another.

5. Learn to walk in dignity

Sexual freedom is not about doing your own thing sexually ? just whatever you feel like doing ? it is about bringing your sexuality to order, to be harnessed for God?s purposes. That is true sexual freedom, and when you walk in freedom it brings dignity. When your desires are under control, that makes a true man.

Be intimate with God

Being a man or woman of God is about taking the dignity that God bestows on His children and walking in that freedom. Learn to respect your dignity and that of others. Men, learn to respect women ? respect them physically, emotionally and intellectually. Women, respect men ? understand the differences, but don?t exploit them.

6. Learn to walk in intimacy

Finally, learn to walk in intimacy. One of the biggest effects of sexual sin is that it robs us of dignity and intimacy. I?ve discovered in counselling men in particular who have sexual problems that every one of them speaks of a loss of intimacy. In other words, they have been seeking intimacy in the wrong way. Rather, focus on developing your intimacy with God so that when the time is right and it is time to ?awaken love? (see Song of Solomon 2:7) you will be glad that you disciplined and prepared yourself to be a real blessing and a gift to your partner in marriage.

Read also 😕What is Sexual Sin and Why is it Wrong?

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The Word made flesh

Colin Dye — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:12:55 +0000

A scene from the movie "The Nativity"

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:1-6)
From the Atheist and Agnostic to the Hindu and the Muslim very few would disagree that Christmas celebrates the birth of a truly historical and human figure named Jesus. But once you make the claim that Jesus was not only fully human but also the eternal and divine Son of the God disagreement begins. The Bible insists that Jesus was more than fully human, that he was more, even, than the perfect, sinless human, for it declares that he was fully divine and fully human, that he was God in human flesh.
John’s Gospel reveals Jesus’ divinity particularly clearly, and it does this essentially by introducing him as ‘the Word of God’, the logos who is a personal self-revelation of God, and by recording a series of ‘I am’ sayings in which Jesus seems to identify himself with Yahweh, with the ultimate ‘I am who I am’. He is presented as ‘the Son of God’ throughout the New Testament; and all twenty seven books ring with the great cry that ‘Jesus is Lord’.
The Logos
The Greek word logos is one of John’s Gospel’s most distinctive words. Although logos sometimes means Jesus’ message and sometimes points to Jesus himself, it always means something more than just the words spoken. John’s Gospel begins with the Son’s ‘heavenly genealogy’ in chapter 1 verses 1-18 which makes it clear that the fully human Jesus is also the eternal Word, the full revelation of the fully divine God. It reveals, for example, that God’s Word: is involved in creating and sustaining the world (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6-9; 147:15-18); is invested with divine power and authority (Psalm147:15; Isaiah 55:11); and reveals God’s thoughts, concerns and purposes (Psalm 119:9, 105).
By identifying Jesus from the outset as the logos, John’s Gospel implicitly declares that Jesus was involved in creation, that he is invested with divine power, that he is the revelation of God, and that he is closely identified with God’s wisdom. All these ideas are then developed throughout John’s Gospel. John’s ‘prologue’ introduces a whole series of concepts which are expanded in the Gospel (such as light, life, truth, glory and the world), but it contains three basic ideas about Jesus which reveal the main characteristics of the Son as the logos.
John’s introduction also demonstrates the relation the Son has with the Father. John 1:1-2 echoes Genesis 1:1 and declares the Son’s pre-existence. John simply states that the logos was with God and was God: this underlines the Son’s divinity without blurring the distinction between the personal quality of the Son and the personal quality of the Father.
The Word was not created, He creates
John 1:1-2 reveals that the logos has the nature of God, but although the Word is God, God is more than the Word. We should recognise that John does not distinguish between the creative power of the Son and the creative power of God, but that he does distinguish the Son from creation. This means the Word was not created but always existed with God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
John 1:14 explains that the divine logos became human flesh and dwelt among men. We see this means that God ‘pitched his tent’ or ‘tabernacled’ in humanity, and that this points directly to the Old Testament tabernacle. This shows that John’s proclamation of the Son as the eternal Word does not dilute Jesus’ humanity; instead, it places the Son firmly in history as a flesh-andblood human being and it reveals him as a divine being who is in constant and eternal communion with God. Yahweh: I am what I am!
John’s Gospel uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ more frequently than any part of the Bible: this adds both dignity and authority to Jesus and to his words. John uses the Greek word ego, ‘I’, 134 times to attract attention to the Son – and to prepare us for the emphatic personal pronoun ego eimi, ‘I am’ which he seems to use to stress the Son’s full divinity.
Jesus’ ‘I am’ sayings are important because the phrase is used in the Old Testament as God’s personal name. God introduced himself to Moses, in Exodus 3:14, as Yahweh, ‘I am what I am’. For Jews, this invested the emphatic personal pronoun ‘I am’ with special divine significance. John records seven sayings in which Jesus uses ego eimi, ‘I am’, to describe himself:
I am the bread of life (6:35) I am the light of the world (8:12) I am the door of the sheep (10:7) I am the good shepherd who gives his life (10:11) I am the resurrection and the life (11:25) I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6) I am the true vine (15:1).
In every case, the ‘I am’ saying reveals a different divine function of Jesus – to sustain, illuminate, admit, care for sacrificially, give new life, guide and make reproductive. These are staggering claims, which are all first introduced in John’s prologue.
Through these seven sayings, Jesus makes personal what is declared in theory in the prologue – he reveals himself to be the divine embodiment of everything that people seek.
Then the Jews said to Him, ?You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?? Jesus said to them, ?Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.? John 8:57-58
In John 8:57?58, Jesus was asked whether he had seen Abraham. Jesus? questioners thought that his reply was blasphemous, and took up stones to kill him ? they understood him to be claiming that he was the divine ?I am? of Exodus 3:14, Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 43:10 & 46:4.
The crowds? reaction in John 18:5?6 further underlines the divine significance of Jesus? repeated claim to be the great ?I am?.

The empty tomb speaks of the resurrection of our Lord, who came in the flesh, died in the flesh and was risen for evermore

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, ?Whom are you seeking?? They answered Him, ?Jesus of Nazareth.? Jesus said to them, ?I am He.? And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, ?I am He,? they drew back and fell to the ground. John 18:4-6
The force of Jesus? absolute use of ego eimi in John 8:24, 58 & 13:19 must shape our understanding of his seven ?I am? sayings. We can say that they convey exclusively divine qualities. This Christmas let us be clear that the most accurate body of ancient literature available to mankind, the Bible, declares that a man named Jesus was born in into history, That he was the Word made flesh. He is not just fully man but also fully God, He is truly the only begotten Son of God!

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No confidence in the flesh

Colin Dye — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:17:49 +0000

Too many get discouraged when they fail to live up to the standards of what they believe is the christian life. “I’m not good enough to be a Christian”, “I cannot make it through”, they say. I have news for you. None of us can. “Without Christ, I can do nothing.” But “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Full sermon here http://www.kt.org/sermons/Colin_Dye (carrying discipleship)

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