The Desires of the Flesh

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. -- Romans 8: 5

We need to understand how Satan works pertaining to the desires of the flesh (five senses). The secret to Satan’s success is the secrecy of his moves. However, God’s Word will teach you about these desires and how to counter them in His Word. Right now, you may be influenced by the desires of the flesh and yet you will think it is God’s Word that is directing you.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. -- Matthew 24: 24

This describes the purpose of this teaching. You must be able to separate truth from error and the Word of God will allow you to do this. Let me tell you a true story about something that just happened to me recently. I was able to separate the lies and deception that an automobile dealership tried to put upon me.

When it comes to cars, I sometimes think that I cannot be fooled and I cannot be ripped off by a mechanic. My wife took a car to a dealership for the first time. The car runs perfectly and looks like new and was given an estimate for inspection. The car is 15 years old and is worth about $500 on the market. To me, I wouldn’t sell it for $4000. The estimate stated that we need at least $1500 worth of work to get the car inspected. The next night I got underneath the car for an hour and I searched for what they said was wrong. I COULD FIND NOTHING!! They wanted almost $100 for a plastic gas cap that sells for $12.99. Even though the car has nothing wrong with the tires or the balance, they said I needed to pay $90 to have the wheels balanced -- and there is nothing wrong with the car when it drives -- nothing at all. They said the car needed tie rod bushings and I couldn’t find anything wrong. They actually quoted an estimate of $750 to do front end work.

At 2 AM in the morning, I finally got to sleep. I slept about four hours and I got up and got in the car and went for a ride. I found an honest mechanic and he inspected the car no problems at all. What is the purpose of telling you this story? The people at this

corrupt dealership were interested only in the desires of the flesh -- the love of money. That is why I sent my wife over to get the car inspected. They think women are stupid and I set them up to see what type of dealership this was. I canceled my appointment and now they lose at least $1000 that they would have stolen. But they were greedy and greed is a desire of the flesh. Why did this happen? Because I took action on what was on my heart and I was determined to get my car inspected without going back to this dealership. Why am I telling you all this? So that you are able to recognize the desires of the flesh. They are satanic and they are devilish and they are designed to destroy you in any way that they can, especially by stealing from you.

I can do all things through Christ which [who] strengthens me. -- Philippians 4: 13

It doesn’t matter if you believe this or not and it doesn’t matter if no one in the world believes it. It’s still God’s Word and it still is the only truth in the world today. I have put this verse into practice countless of sometimes and it works with precision every single time. I knew that this dealership was coming straight from hell. And I knew that I was able to do something about it because God’s Word says that I am more than a conqueror.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that [who] loved us. -- Romans 8: 37

You should read the next two verses which will help you to understand the context of the chapter. You need to get on your own and not just depend on my teachings alone.

I acted on that verse - and I came out a super-conqueror as God’s Word said I would. Glory to God. I felt that you men and especially you women can identify with this teaching and with this example.

Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. -- II Corinthians 8: 21

Did the people at this dealership provides things honest to me? The opposite is true and if you understand God’s law of giving equals receiving, that dealership will fail. Many times I think that God sends me to places like this because He wants that place to be taken out. I do what God tells me to do. Let’s get off the subject because it is rather sickening. I must say one final thing and that is that I find it hard to believe that people can try to steal so much money from another person and be able to go to sleep at night. Eventually that type of behavior catches up to a person. I had a very difficult life when I grew up and I always wondered how so many evil things can happen. How is it possible that people can be so evil? When I learned the Word of God, I jumped for joy and I told God that I would do whatever He needed done on the face of this corrupt earth. He took me up on my offer and overall it makes me understand and be able to live the more than abundant life. Don’t you ever let an unbeliever take advantage of you and you do nothing about it. The Word says that we are more than conquerors in every single situation. It’s only individually true when you believe it and you apply it in your life. Believing is a verb and it connotes action. Hold your pencil a few feet above your desk. When you drop that pencil, how sure are you that it is going to hit your desk? You cannot be unsure or wavering in your believing and expect to receive anything from the true God.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. -- James 1: 6, 7

Up to this point, we had discussed in detail a real-life situation pertaining to automotive mechanics that are crooked and dishonest. As I said, I went over this example in detail because I believe that many of you are able to identify with this type of example.

Now we are going to go to the ultimate in truth and that is the Word of God. Since many of you already know part of the desires of the flesh, I am going to turn to a record in Galatians which sums up many important of the desires of the flesh. So we are shifting gears from my true story above to the truth of God’s perfect Word. There are a number of words and phrases in this chapter of Galatians that you may not understand completely. I will explain them to you in detail.

For the flesh (the five senses) lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these (desires) are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. -- Galatians 5: 17

Now if you just read what is written, this verse is not very hard to understand. The flesh, which is of the world, which is of the devil, it works against the Spirit, which is God. And then the opposite is said where the Spirit works against the flesh. In the simplest form that I can say this to you is that the true God fights against the devil and the devil and his five senses fight against the true God. Now we can see that the devil uses the five senses of man to carry out his works of the flesh. We are about to mention a number of these desires from Galatians. The true God fights against the god of this world with prayer, such as speaking in tongues, and by guidance according to the principles in His Word. And I should mention that the most important principle of the true God that never fails is the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. This is referred to as agape love. God’s arch enemy who is the devil only has available to him the five senses, which are all desires of the flesh. The only love that is available to the devil and to the people that he influences and controls is referred to as fileo love. This second type of love can be very strong, but it’s a counterfeit. It will fail you. This is why I stress over and over again that you must know God’s Word to be able to recognize the counterfeit. In the above verse, God speaks clearly that the desires of the devil and the desires of the true God are contrary one to another. They are opposite. I dealt with fileo love for many years with many girlfriends. Everything always seemed to fall to pieces no matter what I did. But then God Almighty gave me one woman of God unlike anyone I ever met. We’re still together after about 38 years. She may have stumbled upon the true love and Word of God – I do not know and I don’t give a damn. Unless you have God first in your life, I will almost guarantee you that you will never last in a relationship where agape love is missing.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. -- Galatians 5: 18

I must say that this Scripture appears to be very, very simple. But it is not if you do not understand what the Word of God says. What is this point about the law? The law is from the Old Testament and that’s what people live by. I am not going to turn to every Scripture, but I will leave you on your own once in a while. The fact is this: Jesus Christ came to do away with the law. If you read the Gospels you will see that Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. We are no longer under the law, but under the Word of God which began with the Church epistles starting with Romans. God says clearly that if you are led by the Spirit of Himself, then you are no longer under the law. Many so-called Christians put themselves under the law today. We have free will to listen to God or not to listen to Him. But do not think that you are under the principles and precepts of the Old Testament law. Christ came to do away with the law and he succeeded. And I must mention the first part of the verse, which is the greatest thing that could ever happen to a man or woman today and that is to be led or influenced by the true God. Then, and only then will you begin to manifest the more than abundant life.

Now comes the part when I wanted to illustrate to you from the Word of God as to what are just a few of the works or desires of the flesh. As I said before, I will do my very best to explain to you what most of these words will mean to you - so that you can understand them and finally rightly divide the Scriptures pertaining to the desires of the flesh.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. -- Galatians 5: 19 - 21

Now God starts out by stating that the following are the works of the flesh - the desires of the flesh.

ADULTERY: Now this means to commit adultery with one another; most of us know what this means and it is a desire of the flesh. A man or a woman who commits adultery with one another falls for a great trick of the adversary. The enemy will convince you that what you are doing is not wrong because you think that you love the other person. I advise you to go into the book of Proverbs and see what happens to a man who falls for a prostitute. It says something like he goes down into hell into the chambers of death. I would share with you something that a believer once said to me. He said there is nothing worse for a man to commit adultery with another woman or a woman to do the same with another man. There appears to be no escape from this type of sin and that man and woman will suffer for the rest of their life because of their act. You can believe it or not. Before I was married, one of my old girlfriends was chasing me down all over the state of Pennsylvania. She finally caught up with me and convinced me to stay overnight. I lied to my girlfriend who was a perfect person to me. The next day I told her and I cried all day long. I will never ever consider such a thing and I wasn’t even married at the time. A word to the wise should be sufficient. It’s a commandment of the Lord.

The following manner illustrates how a prostitute would seduce a simple man who does not know the Word of God.

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell. -- Proverbs 9: 16 – 18

Take note that the prostitute first seduces him with alluring words. She tells him that what they are about to do is sweet and pleasant. He doesn’t know that the dead are in her house and all of her guests, including him, are in the depths of hell. To my reader: REMEMBER !

Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me It is good for a man not to touch a woman [sexually as if she were his wife] Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man has his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. -- I Corinthians 7: 1 - 2

Don’t you ever give in to this desire of the flesh. You will suffer for days and months and years especially if you love your wife. You have free will to do as you please. Adhere to this commandment in the Word of God.

FORNICATION: There are two Greek words for fornication as illustrated in the lexicon. The first definition appears to be the same as adultery. However the second definition which is a different Greek word seems to be used of the sin of idolatry in the church of the New Testament as idolatry is of the sin with the Jews. You must understand that idolatry means that you are putting anything else before God. That is idolatry. I had learned from our research department that fornication is most often referred to as idolatry. Idolatry is a serious desire of the flesh and is one of the worst sins that a man or woman can commit. Do you put your job before God? How about some of you musicians? Do you put your music before God? How about your car? There are countless objects that you can put before God Almighty. I could be working on my car today. I could be playing one of my guitars. I could be walking my dog which is something I love to do. But what am I doing? I am keeping God first by doing my best to complete this teaching for you and for God. When I am done with this teaching, I will have more than enough time to do all these other things that I have mentioned. Act first and then you will see.

UNCLEANNESS: I have exhorted you time and time again to go and spend some money on a lexicon to the Greek and English New Testament by Bullinger. Yes, I will tell you that I don’t want any glory. Glory is for God. For each one of these definitions I have turned to my lexicon to make sure I give you an accurate knowledge of God’s Word – not guesswork. Uncleanness is, in a ritual since, means impurity. It is impurity in general, as opposed to holiness. It can be referred to lewdness and dissoluteness. When you walk into something called a church meeting and one person speaks in tongues and the other person gives the interpretation, it is an inaccurate knowledge of God’s Word. It has become a ritual in some churches because they do not understand the Word of God. Why? Because they did not study it and work it like we’re doing right now.

Let all things be done decently and in order. -- I Corinthians 14: 40

This has always been one of my favorite teachings. I simply cannot stand filthiness or anything that’s out of order. When I do some work on my car, I have my tools all set out and ready to go. I rarely have to search for something. In the church God wants all things to be done decently and in order. When this is not carried out, it is the works of the adversary – the devil. You probably don’t know this so I’m going to push a little farther than usual. When you walk by a bunch of garbage in a street or alley, that smell is generated mostly by devil spirits. Devil spirits love filth and disorder. God expects us to be clean in our bodies inside and out. Then you will receive the blessings that God has promised. Filthiness and uncleanness are desires of the flesh.

LASCIVIOUSNESS: I am using definitions from my lexicon and not from a regular dictionary. These definitions relate more to the old English which was used in the Bible. Now that we have that straight, lasciviousness is a desire of the flesh that illustrates excess or immoderation in anything. Anything that a person does to an extreme is not of the true God. In a modern dictionary, this term is stressed as pertaining to sexual desire. Now it is true that lasciviousness can be expressed in this manner. It can also be expressed as wantonness which is a constant desire in the mind for a certain thing or for a certain desire. Also lasciviousness is very similar to licentiousness which is a word that can be referred to as dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure. This again is a modern definition. The definition in God’s Word of lasciviousness is the one we should focus on and it means an excess or immoderation in anything at all. However, I must point out that the sensual pleasure pertaining to sexual gratification is out of control on the Internet today. So this is a another way or example of understanding lasciviousness. Either old English or modern English can express and explain lasciviousness which is obviously a desire of the flesh.

IDOLATRY:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. --- Matthew 6: 33

Although this subject has been mentioned previously in this teaching, this Scripture is one of the most important Scriptures you can ever learn and adhere to. God is saying that you must see and apply this principle so that you can experience all the things pertaining to the more than abundant life. Seek anything else first, and everything will be subtracted from you.

Whenever you put anything before God, you are practicing idolatry. God cannot stand idolatry and He never wants anyone to put anything before Him. That is what idolatry means – to put anything first before the true God. Idolatry is one of the worst desires of the flesh. Most people today do not understand or care to understand the Word of God. They will not study it and they simply ignore God in their everyday life. Some examples of idolatry has been mentioned under the above topic called fornication. God has the exact right moment in time as to when you should carry out HIs Word. This revelation I found out by myself by studying God’s Word. No one but God Almighty taught this to me. Even this teaching I waited until God gave me the green light to go ahead. Do not confuse anxiety with idolatry. If God has you bound in the spirit to get something done, you are still to listen to God. But if you constantly put something before God, you are practicing idolatry and you eventually will be destroyed in some area of your life. Idolatry is the greatest tool of the devil himself.

WITCHCRAFT: (i.e. SORCERIES) I found this particular example to be most interesting. As I went through my lexicon, for witchcraft, it referred me to sorcery. Believe it or not, the meaning of this word is the preparing or using of medicine. Now the next part is most interesting. It is the using of any kind of drugs, potions, or spells. In this day and time we are surely familiar with this subject. In actuality, this is referring to ENCHANTMENT WITH DRUGS. I don’t believe that this deserves a further comment as we are all familiar with the misuse of drugs today. It is one of the worst desires of the flesh.

HATRED: Obviously, this is self-explanatory to all of us. In I Corinthians 13 – in this chapter it states all the attributes of the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. One of the attributes is the fact that the love of God never fails. Remember, there is man’s love which is called FILEO in Greek and AGAPE love which is the love of God. Remember, the adversary who is the god of this present world always counterfeits what the true God does. You either walk this world with hatred or with the love of God. It’s your choice – you have free will. One brings blessings and the other one brings defeat. Hatred is one of the desires of the flesh.

VARIANCE: This refers to people who are always QUARRELING and involved in strife one with another. There is a term that I have learned in my advanced class and it is referred to as ambitious rivalry. These are people who are always contending and wrangling with one another. Let’s let it go at that and realize clearly that this is a desire of the flesh.

EMULATIONS: We are only going to talk about the bad sense of emulation and that is jealousy. The Word says that jealousy is the rage of a man. Of course way before I knew the Word of God, I did experience this emotion to a great extent. It happened pertaining to the girls that I dated. If a girl happened to leave me and went with another guy, I felt an extreme emotion which was nothing but jealousy. It ate away at me and caused me pain and suffering to no end. After renewing my mind to God’s Word, all that pain and suffering just seemed to go away. I realized what world I was living in and that now I am sanctified – I am set apart from the rest of this world and I do not belong in this world. I am mentioning one of my sonship rights which is sanctification.

For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. -- Proverbs 6: 34

WRATH: An intense passion of the mind; the turbulent commotion of the mind; rage; the bursting forth of the flame; wrath may issue in anger or revenge.

STRIFE: The second definition of strife in the Lexicon is unusual in that it means labour for wages, canvassing, intriguing. Other definitions for different Scriptures mean contention or quarrels - a fight, battle, or contest which seems to apply to a desire of the flesh.

SEDITIONS: A standing apart; dissension. You will find a great deal of dissension in the religious field where guesswork of the Word of God prevails.

HERESIES: I am going to use a modern definition as an exception here. An opinion or doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs such as the Trinity. The Bible does not teach the heresy of the Trinity.

Summing up the desires of the flesh in Galatians 5: 21, we have envyings, murders, drunkenness and revellings and such like. I would like to point out one Scripture because it is one of the adversary’s most deadly attacks on a person. I saw what this devil spirit can do to a person over a period of about 20 years. I warn you to keep away from this type of person.

And be not drunk with wine, where in is excess; but be filled by Spirit; -- Ephesians 5: 18

The verse is referring to being out of control and used. Now we should know that God never uses or possesses a person. Mostly all people who are drunk with wine are being used by the devil himself to conduct whatever activities he wants. I was able to witness a group of friends once drinking at a party. I purposely did not have one drink out of curiosity. It was a surprise as to what you will see if you ever do the same thing that I did. The personality of mostly all people had changed so drastically that I thought I was with a different group of people than when we began the party. It might be something for you to think on. The behavior change in mostly everybody was extremely curious and different for me to see. It’s been said in the ministry where I once studied that we should have no more than two drinks at a time. God gave us a fantastic unexplainable brain and we should never abuse the ability to think clearly.

I see no point in defining these last few desires of the flesh since they are self-explanatory. Try to remember that if a desire or emotion is not explained in a positive manner in the Bible, then it is most likely a desire of the flesh. It is of the counterfeit god. The enemy has many desires of the flesh - these are just a few.

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