Remedies II

 Your yesterday may not define your tomorrow, but your tomorrow cannot be a carbon copy of your yesterday. If your natural state is being defeated, dragged through the mud, just holding your breath, hoping you make it through another day, for that to change, you must do something different today than you did yesterday. We keep doing the same thing, expecting different results, and when they don’t materialize, we get all the more dour, despondent, and deflated.

It’s a downward spiral, and the only way to break the descent is to reach out and grab the arm that’s reaching for you. Jesus is always reaching; not everyone grasps His hand. Some think they can stop their freefall on their own. Others believe that Jesus may bruise their arms while holding onto them, and they’d rather be crushed by the stones below than humble themselves and admit they need help.

With each passing day, the flesh grows stronger, and it becomes more difficult for the individual in question to call out for help, to admit he needs it, or to lay aside his pride and surrender. While the flesh grows stronger, the spiritual man grows weaker and malnourished. This is why the longer someone practices habitual sin, the more difficult it is for them to wrench themselves free of their addiction or habit and run into the arms of Jesus. The devil doesn’t want you free; Jesus does. The devil doesn’t want you whole; Jesus does. The devil doesn’t want you clean; Jesus does. The devil doesn’t want you to have life and have it more abundantly; Jesus does.

There is a way to prevent the flesh from growing stronger, asserting control, and undermining your spiritual growth. In fact, it is a running theme throughout the New Testament and echoed by every contributor to its pages, including Jesus. That said, in recent years, it has fallen out of favor because humility has become something we try to avoid rather than embrace, and humbling ourselves is seen as weakness rather than virtue.

James 4:6-10, “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

The remedy for every deficiency we might have, for anything that might ail us, is encapsulated in these four verses. It doesn’t take a degree, higher learning, or diplomas; it only takes a willingness to follow through. God’s prescription is clear, but you have to take the medicine.

I have a friend who was diagnosed with high blood pressure the last time he went in for a physical, and the doctor prescribed something for it. A few weeks later, as he was rubbing his chest and saying he was not feeling his best, I asked him if he’d been taking his meds, and he said he hadn’t gotten around to filling the prescription yet.

God tells us what we must do to grow our spiritual man. He tells us what we need to do to have more grace. He tells us what we need to do for Him to draw near to us, but we must follow through and do as He instructs.

If you’ve not done as He instructs, try doing it before insisting that God no longer moves as He once moved or draws near to His children as He once did. The level of hubris required for someone to insist that God has gone against His word, His nature, and His promises all so He can accommodate one man’s preconceived notion that God simply doesn’t do those things anymore is beyond my ability to fathom.

Just because we are too lazy to follow through doesn’t mean God doesn’t do those things anymore. If the enemy has bruised you, it wasn’t because he was stronger than God; it’s because you did not resist him to the point that he fled. Running into the devil’s arms isn’t resisting him. Playing with sin as though it were not deadly isn’t resisting him. Convincing ourselves that we will strive against the darkness come tomorrow, isn’t resisting him.

Most people don’t overcome because they have no desire to. They don’t overcome because their sin has already overcome them, and they must be rescued from it before they can acknowledge how damaging it was for them. While they’re in it, it is pleasurable. While they’re in it, they do not consider the adverse effects of sin on their spiritual man and, in most instances, their quality of life.

The first steps to restoration, healing, wholeness, and freedom are to humble ourselves and submit to God. We humble ourselves by acknowledging we need help, that we can’t do it on our own, and that we are rudderless save for His intervention. By doing what He instructs and commands, by repenting, and by turning our back on the things that once consumed us, we submit to Him.

Some people do well enough with the first part. They humble themselves and acknowledge their need for help, but it’s the second part they have a problem with. They still want to be the captain of their ship; they still want to be in control, and they want to have authority over their sin only insofar as they can choose to practice it less but still practice it all the same.

You can have one or the other. You can have God or your carnality. To think that you can have both, that you can divide your heart in such a way where one does not attempt to overthrow the other, is foolhardy and unbiblical. Choose this day whom you will serve. Choose while you still can. Choose while there is still something in you that acknowledges the road you’re on only leads to darkness and despair.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.