The Internal Enemy

As we press into God's Divine Will for our lives and wait for the Manifestation of the Kingdom of God, we must remain cognizant that the enemy is still going to come after us. The scripture says that the Devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5). So we must remain on guard. We must remain sober and vigilant. However, we must also realize that one of our biggest enemies, as one preacher said, is our "inner me". One of the greatest obstacles and opposing forces to the fulfillment of God's Divine Will being executed in our lives is right on the inside of us; and it's called The Flesh. You can describe it as the carnal mind, the sinful nature, the old man; but whatever you call it, we must not fail to recognize that we have something within us, that is not of us, that is designed to prevent us from doing what God would have us to do (Romans 7). This is the Internal Enemy.

According to Galatians chapter 5, the flesh or the sinful nature, is comprised of two key components: the affections and lusts. The scripture reads, "and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts". Therefore, we must attack the Internal Enemy on these two fronts. Remember, the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17). So in order to embrace a Kingdom Move of God, we must crucify the flesh appropriately.

The Affections of the flesh are really tricky because they oftentimes are not "overtly" sinful. This is what messes up a lot of Christians in regards to appropriately dealing with this component of the flesh. We're so focused on our "sins" that we oftentimes miss what's really serving to obstruct the Divine Will of God for our lives. The Bible makes it clear that we are to "set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3). Therefore, if you have affections invested in something or someone in the natural realm, over and above your affection for God and Christ, you are outside of the Divine Will of God. Once again, this can be tricky, because the areas that we're often inclined to invest our affections even above God are not always overtly sinful. Some of us have put our affections for our family above our affection for Christ. Some of us have put our affections for our job and career above our affections for Christ. Some of us have put our affections for our ministry and what we do for Christ above our affection for Christ Himself. And the list goes on. None of these areas are inherently sinful. But when they take precedence over your devotion and commitment and affection for Christ, they then become flesh-driven. This is why Circumcision of the Heart is so significant (Romans 2). We must address the Affections of the Flesh.

Lastly, we are admonished to crucify the lusts of the flesh. Most of the time the lusts of the flesh are fairly self-explanatory. But once again, be not deceived. We live in a society now where it's easier and a lot more convenient to "think" about our lusts as opposed to actually carrying them out. This is why Jesus said in the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, "whosever looketh on a woman (or man) to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart". Many of us think that because we're not "doing" the sin or actually carrying it out behaviorally that we're okay. Wrong. We must make sure that we're monitoring our thoughts and imagination, because it's a reflection of the state of our heart. We must do the self-inventory necessary to see if there's something in our heart or in our spirit that is desiring either that for which God has forbidden or what He has not ordained for our lives (2Corinthians 7).

Once again saints, let us be Diligent. The Time is Short and the hour is nigh. The King Is Coming....The King IS Coming. And when He comes at the hour for which we do not expect Him, it will be imperative that we have sufficiently dealt with The Internal Enemy.