We may wonder why, if we have been crucified with Christ, the flesh has any influence on us at all. It seems that crucifixion is a slow death.

As soon as you are born again (by believing and trusting in Jesus) you ARE a new creature. However, you still HAVE a fleshly nature. Your REAL self is the Christ nature, that ministry that you have BECOME. This ministry, Christ in you, is at war with your old fleshly nature. You ARE the spiritual man, but you HAVE a flesh.

Paul said something interesting about this in the Book of Romans. He pointed out that the more he tried not to covet, the more he coveted. Then, he said that since he agreed with God, it was not really him who was sinning but the fleshly nature that was sinning. It sounds like a cop out, but it is not. We are Christians (Christ-ones) with Christ in us, the hope of glory. The Christ Who is in us cannot sin. (1 Jn. 3:4-11) Christ is that spiritual man John talked about in First John. On the other hand, our old nature cannot do anything right. But we do have a will. If we willfully sin, then we are re-crucifying Christ in our minds. When we do that, God will not hear our prayers--not to get even but to turn us around and back to Him.

The self, fleshly nature, is on the cross to be sure. It is fighting for its very life. It is deceitful beyond measure and is motivated by self-preservation. It will continue to try to deceive us until it is totally dead.

Before we were born again, we had no choice but to do the will of Satan. We were free from the righteousness of God and slaves of Satan. No person who is not born again can do righteousness. They can do works that look like righteousness, but they are hypocritical works. They can only be self-righteous. The only righteousness that is real is that righteousness that God does through us by His Grace, which is through His faith. Real righteousness is by grace through faith.

FREE on-line BOOK (a classic): The Real Faith, by Charles S. Price

FREE on-line BOOK (a classic): The Meaning Of Faith, by Charles S. Price

When we are born again, we should know that we are two people. We have Christ in us. He has become our true identity. We also have the fleshly nature, the old Adam. He has to die. There is not middle-point of agreement between these two separate entities. When the flesh tempts us, that is not us tempting ourselves. We no longer identify or make provision for the flesh. That is the enemy of our souls that is tempting us.

The flesh is not the real you, if you have Christ in your heart. You are the ministry, Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Topic: The Sinful Flesh

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; Many have tried by carnal means.  They have...

Only the Holy Spirit can take out the stony places. With an emotional or intellectual response, there is no hope of discerning the Body of Christ. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. There is no hope for the natural man to see the Kingdom of the Heavens, the Kingdom of God. The emotional and intellectual response cannot deal with the stony places--these fail to successfully deal...

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Ezekiel 39:7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not [let them] pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I [am] the LORD, the Holy...

Isaiah 48:10-11 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another. Many are called, but few are chosen.  Look at the place where the chosen are chosen: the furnace of affliction.  God does...

Topic: Righteousness by Grace through Faith

You can know the will of God by being led by the Spirit. Then, the next question is this: \"How can I know it is the Spirit and not myself?\" Here are ten things you need to know about being led: 1. You must seek God on purpose Hebrews 11:6 God is and He is a rewarder--we will find Him if we seek Him. Matt 7:8 All who seek find Luke 11:9-13 God will give...

\"It is because of him [the Father] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.\" 1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV The battle for righteousness is a battle to correct the proper operation of the human spirit, mind/soul, and body. Of course, this includes correcting our relationship to God. Real righteousness is by grace through faith. Romans 14:23 tells us simply that...

The words of which God speaks are real.  They are Truth.  It is His Truth that sets you free from Satan\'s lies.  He who does righteousness is righteous. (1John 3:7) Real righteousness is by grace through faith. God\'s process for righteousness is by grace, and grace is through faith. (Eph 2:8-10) (some caveats about hearing God\'s Voice) FREE on-line BOOK (a classic): The Real Faith, by Charles S. Price FREE on-line BOOK...

We may have never realized just how very strait (constricted) (Luke 13:24) and narrow (Matthew 7:14) that way of righteousness is. It is very narrow and constricted. If God didn\'t tell us to think it, say it or do it, then it is sin. It is missing the mark. If God did tell us to do it and we get our flesh involved at all, to the extent that we...

You look into the royal law of liberty, and you see reality. (James 2:8) You see the Kingdom of God. (James 1:23) When you see yourself in this royal law of liberty, what do you see?  You need to see reality.  In reality, you are a new creature, created in righteousness. (1Cor 5:17) Do you think that the Christ in you can sin? Of course not. (1 John 3:9) Jesus is that...

The Process Righteousness consists of God leading us and us following. The problem is that we have no capacity within ourselves to follow God. So God has a way to give us the free gift of righteousness. God\'s method is \"by grace through faith,\" and this is the process. God speaks. God has already prepared our heart to receive and hear. (some caveats about hearing God\'s Voice) When we hear, God\'s faith comes. God\'s faith gives...

If a bird lands on your head, that\'s not really your fault... but you don\'t have to let it build a nest. When you are tempted, you may slip across into sin. (Eph 4:26) Temper, lust, covetousness, or disrespect may involuntarily spring forth. (1John 1:10) Think about it. When you have a thought of envy, do you analyze the situation and make a conscious decision to be envious as a first...

Down to earth righteousness is real and it has to do with the will of the person through whom the righteousness is done..  It is righteousness the flows from the Holy Spirit.  It is the flow of God\'s Own Love through the follower of Christ.  It is the fruit of the Spirit.  God speaks, leads.  The Christ follower hears and directs his or her will to follow.  God\'s Own Faith...

Sin: Acknowledging lies rather than Truth, so you step or slip off the narrow and restricted Way that leads to the genuine and absolute fullness of Life. Jesus: The Way, the Truth, and the Life.    Key Scripture: whatever is not of supernatural belief and trust is sin. Romans 14:23b Whoever does miss the mark (sin) also does lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. * 1 John 3:4 Owe no one anything, but to love one another:...

 All that is good comes from God     Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding,       Forgiveness,       Repentance,       love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance,       Faith       Righteousness   Don\'t try to make your own.     Yield your members to God\'s righteousness. Don\'t try to make your own righteousness.       Stand in His presence and receive...

Righteousness is by grace through faith. Why do Christians struggle so to be righteous when righteousness is the free gift of God. Salvation is by grace through faith. Salvation is more than being born again and escaping from the punishment for sin. Salvation is forgiveness and it is also being set free from slavery to sin and the sinful nature. Here\'s how it works: God speaks His vision of hope to us....

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.   Sin shall not have dominion over you.  Every person who has not been born again is absolutely controlled by the dominion of sin.  The unsaved can do self-righteousness, but it is not a true righteousness.  All true righteousness flows from the throne of God.  Real righteousness is by grace through faith. ...

Luke 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.   Real righteousness is by grace through faith.  ...

Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law,...

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: You see that they have purified their souls (soul, mind, heart, life are all the same Greek word.)  This purification is holiness.  There is a measure of holiness in those who follow Jesus.  It is accomplished by obeying...

 \"But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away.\"  Isaiah 64:6 \"For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness\" (I Thessalonians 4:7).  Some theologians assume that Scriptures that seem so completely opposed as these two are an indication that one of the Scriptures must be...