NONE BUT THE HUNGRY HEART

Friday, March 30, 2018

3-30. Previously Prepared

“Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh is at rest from sin” (Phil. 2:5, Wey; 1 Pet. 4:1m).

Too late! Too late! If we seek to deal with sin by reckoning at the moment it becomes an issue. Our stand and attitude from the beginning of each day is to be a settled matter as we rest in our risen Lord Jesus: the death of the Cross separates me from the enslavement of sin and self, and I continually abide in my new life, Christ Jesus. My life is “hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

“The reckoning believer is to meet every proposal of self-gratification armed with the mind to suffer in the flesh. Sin is the gratification of self, but ‘he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from the domination of sin.’

“If you allow yourself to entertain a suggestion of self-gratification—if you consider it, and give it a place in your mind—you are defeated. You have laid aside your armor, and will fall an easy prey to the foe. But there will be no response to the suggestion or temptation if you stand armed with the mind to suffer in the flesh. That which is proposed to you is exactly opposite to what you are set for. It is suggested that you should be pleased and gratified in the very thing in which you are fully minded to suffer. You are now in conflict with sin—not going along with it; you suffer in the flesh, and have ceased from the practice of sin.” -C.A.C.

“So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires but [he lives] for what God wills” (1 Pet. 4:2, Amp.).