Battle Plan – Strategy 8 – Make No Provision for the Flesh

(The list of these strategies in chart form can be found here.)

Strategy 8: I am not making any provision for the flesh. I do not make arrangements of time or place to permit sin to gain a foothold.

 One would think that this would be the easiest strategy to implement, but unfortunately, it is one of the hardest because in all reality, we love our sin too much. So often we have a divided heart. We need to say with David, “Unite my heart to fear Your name” (Psalm 86:11).

Paul writes the following to the Christians at Rome, “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:13–14, NKJV)

There are lusts which war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11), and these should be avoided because of the destruction they cause within our very person. One of the steps in overcoming these lusts is to avoid making provision for them. When we speak of making provision for something we are talking about making arrangements so that all that is needed will be provided. When a man makes provision for his family so that they will be cared for if he should die, that means he has made financial arrangements for a regular income. He has annotated procedures for handling the paying of bills and maintenance issues around the house. He has labeled important folders and documents so that his family will know where things can be found without a lot of additional hassle.

When we make provision for the lusts of the flesh, we do the same thing. We make sure we know how to locate whatever it is that triggers our lusts. We know where to look in our mind. We know where to look on our computers. We know who to hang around with that will provide the stimulus we “need” to fulfill our lusts. Sometimes these arrangements are so subtle that we hardly realize that we are doing it.

The author of the book of Hebrews writes, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, NKJV)

Here we can see that the Word of God is able to help us discern between the thoughts and intents of the heart. Sometimes our heart can plan an innocuous trip to the shopping mall, but the deeper intent of our heart is to search out something — book, magazine, car showroom, theatre – that will strengthen our fleshly lusts. Our conscious mind almost convinces us that the obvious purpose – shopping for our wife for Christmas – is the real reason, when in reality there is a more sinful, devious purpose that we almost don’t see ourselves. Regular reading and meditation on the Word of God will make us more sensitive to those real motives and will encourage the repentance and victory that we desperately need.

As a teenager I was encouraged to write the following sentence in the front of my Bible: This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.  Haven’t you found this to be true in your own experience? When we avoid the Bible, our sensitivity and discernment go down. The Scriptures are able to help us discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. The more we know the Word of God, the more aware we are when our own motives are not really what they seem.

Priority Goal 8: Today I will make no arrangements for the flesh. I will make it as difficult as possible for the flesh to find and use its lusts against me.

Battle Plan Series – Intro – part 1

Every day we are confronted with temptations that attempt to distract us from our primary focus of service and obedience to Christ. These temptations often derail our attempts to live a godly life. Every day we are engaged in a battle to defeat these temptations and to stay the course. What I hope to do in this series is to review some of what the Bible teaches as to methods and strategies we can use to fight successfully. I plan to provide you with 10 or 11 specific statements that you should be able to make about yourself and about your spiritual life. These will be supported with passages of Scripture to help give you a strong foundation for those statements. If these statements are true of you, you will be in a better position for success in this battle against sin, lust, and temptation. If the statements are not true of you, it should provide motivation and a goal that you can work on in order to improve areas of weakness.

You can download the Battle Plan Chart here.

The first thing we need to realize is that this battle is universal among Christians. As you read this material you are going to be tempted to think that this is a battle for someone else. Often, when we speak of lusts, as we will in the following section, people immediately focus on sexual lust, and if that doesn’t happen to be your problem, you might stop reading thinking that you have everything under control. That is a dangerous position to be in because if you are not aware of a battle for your heart and soul, the devil has you right where he wants you. But as soon as you realize that this applies to you just as much as anyone else, and as soon as you take up arms to defeat your own lusts, you will find a battle greater than you ever imagined could exist.

The first step, then, is to ask ourselves the question: “Do I really want to pursue righteousness and holiness, and count everything loss in order to know Christ and the power of His resurrection in my life?”  In order to accurately answer this question, there are some truths we need to consider.

In 1 John 2:15-17 we read: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

There is a distinction between the things of the world and the things of God. These verses very clearly teach that it is not possible to love the world and love God at the same time. This means a decision is required. Do I really want to abandon the world for Christ?  This is an overarching decision, but it is also a decision that has to be made hundreds of times a day. Making the decision during a momentary temptation without having made it as a principle of your life will make the battle ultimately impossible to win. So, before you go any further you need to decide – Christ or the world.

In this passage, the Bible focuses on lust.  Lust is a strong desire that is excessive to the point of being sinful. In this passage we have three components given for worldliness – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We don’t have time to go into each one in detail, but if you think about it you will realize that many of the things we do and decisions we make are made based on these lusts. We covet what we see other people have. We lust for sex or excitement or other flesh-based pleasures. We desire to have people look up to us as someone important or powerful or contented.  All of these temptations come from the world and not from God.

In James 1:14-15 we read this:  But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Here’s the issue then. The world and Satan provide attractions that feed the lusts that John referred to.  But our temptations come from within us, from our own lusts or desires and we are drawn away by them. Everybody has their own set of personalized lusts. Because of them, we are pulled in a wrong direction. The desires come from deep within us. They are part of our sin nature, our fallenness, our brokenness. As these desires are conceived and gestate within us they give birth to sin. Sin is a thought or deed that is not within the will and character of God. These sins begin to grow and then, as James writes, they bring forth death. The Bible teaches that sin has wages and those wages are death.

A Christian, having been born again and now a child of God, has a new desire in competition with the old tendency, and therein lies the conflict. Paul writes it this way in Galatians 5:17 – For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

So this leads us back now to the first point in what I’m calling Battle Strategies for the war on lust and sin. The first step is to ask ourselves, “Do I really want to pursue righteousness and holiness, and count everything loss in order to know Christ and the power of His resurrection in my life?” Do I really want this? Am I willing to work hard, suffer and sweat to gain it?

We’ll follow up with part 2 next time.

God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 9

Continued from Part 8

In Galatians 4:21 Paul asks us to look at the picture provided by Abraham’s two sons. If you know your Bible you will recognize these references are to Ishmael and Isaac. One was of the freewoman (Isaac) and one was of the bondwoman (Ishmael). The one born to the bond woman was of the flesh. He came into existence because of the Abraham’s scheming, not according to the working of God. Isaac, the child of the free woman, was a child of promise. He came into existence because of the promise of a miracle, which promise Abraham believed.

Romans 4:19-22 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

These are symbolic of two covenants (Galatians 4:24) – one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage and the other corresponds to Jerusalem. Sinai, of course, was the place where the law was given.

Paul concludes by saying this in verse 28, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise…. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.’ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

This is the warning and admonition with which we conclude this study. The seed of the bondwoman, representing life under the law, and the seed of the free woman, representing the life of faith based on the indwelling Holy Spirit according to the promise of God, are mutually exclusive. The warning is that we are not to be entangled again in the bondage that comes from trying to perform in order to reach an acceptable standard with God. So we are to live by faith, trusting God’s promises and living accordingly. We are to accept the forgiveness freely given by God and not beat ourselves up for our lack of perfection. God is working on each one of His followers and molding them more and more into the likeness of his Son. That’s His promise. We need to accept that and trust Him with the outcome.

So, my question of you is this: Have you trusted Christ as your only hope of eternal life and your only hope of escaping the curse? You can’t escape by working at it, because it is impossible to keep all of the law all of the time. Your only hope is that God is faithful to His word and will save those who come to Him through Christ.

God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 7

Continued from Part 6

During this time of childhood, Paul describes it as a time of bondage under the elements of the world. What are those elements? This is not a trivial question just for theologians. It is a practical one for us,  because if we find out that we are still trapped under those elemental issues, then we are still responding like children. We are living like adult children still under the sway and guardianship of our parents, and that is not a good place to be.

Let’s begin with a question Paul asks in Galatians 4:9: “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?” Do you see what he is asking? There is something wrong with desiring to be in that kind of bondage to what he calls the “weak and beggarly” elements. What are these? In the very next verse he says, “you observe days, months, seasons and years.” What does he mean by this?

Let’s look at a couple of other passages and then draw some conclusions.

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Colossians 2:20-22 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

So we can see from these passages that the elementary principles of the world involve man-made religion, human rules and regulations, religious exercises, and similar practices that are not from God.

In addition, God has said that even His law was given to keep us under its guardianship until adulthood came. We were in elementary school as it were. Adulthood came with the coming of Christ. When a person is a child, he needs to be told what to do about virtually everything. He doesn’t have the maturity to know which vegetables he should eat and that he shouldn’t play in the street. He doesn’t know it’s good to go to bed at a decent hour to get a good night’s sleep. But when adulthood comes, he essentially has the maturity to make these kinds of decisions for himself.

In the religious realm, before the coming of Christ and the subsequent coming of the Holy Spirit, people needed to be told what to do and how to live. Humans innately develop religious rules and regulations to guide them and God gave His commandments to His people to serve that same function.

But after Christ and the Holy Spirit came, believers are recipients of the benefits of the New Covenant which promised a new heart, new motivations, and the presence of God’s Spirit (Galatians 3:14; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27). Under these circumstances the guardianship of the law is not necessary. A Christian has within himself the resources to follow God and do the things that are pleasing to Him. He is an “adult” in the sense that he has “grown up” spiritually. He has the internal resources he needs. He is treated by God as an adult son. There is obviously more maturing to go through,  just as in physical adulthood, there is a big difference between an adult 25 year old and an adult 60 year old in terms of wisdom and experience and so on. It’s the same in the spiritual realm. We are adult sons, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, but there is maturing to do as well. But we don’t need to be like children being told every move to make.

So the bottom line for the person who is in Christ, is that the days of the guardianship of the law are over. It did it’s job in the first part of human history but now in Christ, it’s responsibility has been completed. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit within you to guide you to do the right things. When you go back to the law to try to measure up, and to try to make yourself better, you are falling from grace and putting yourself back under the curse that we talked about at the beginning of this series. Believe me, you don’t want God to evaluate you based on how well you keep the commandments. We all get a failing grade every time.

Ephesians 1:19-21

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Paul’s prayer continues in verse 19 and continues into verses 20 and 21. I think it would be best if we consider the entire section in this piece, so it might be longer than some of the others.

Paul is praying that since our eyes have been opened, we may know several things. Verse 19 identifies one of those things as the exceeding greatness of His power toward those who believe. It is not just the greatness of His power, but the exceeding or surpassing greatness. These are superlative descriptions.

He then goes on to explain what he means by this by using the word “according.” How surpassing is this power, Paul? It is the same kind of power that God worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. Is that the kind of power, Paul? No. Paul says, “and” seated Jesus at His right hand in the heavenly places. How far up is that, Paul? The answer? Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named. But that is not all. Not just every name now, but above every name that ever has existed or ever will existed.

That is the kind of power that is working in every believer in Christ. This is not just for those who are “super saints.” This power is directed toward all of us who believe!


Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:45 AM October 12, 2020.

God’s Curse or Blessing – Part 4

Continued from Part 3

Galatians 3:17 tells us that the law which came 430 years after the promise to Abraham cannot annul or cancel the promise which God had made to him and his seed. You see, the law that the Israelites were given that conditioned either blessing or curses was given long after God promised a blessing to Abraham. That law cannot add conditions to the promise God gave him. God won’t hold Abraham and his seed accountable to the law in order to receive his blessing. That would be adding terms to a contract already ratified by himself.

The question arises though as to what this has to do with us. God had made these promises to Abraham and his seed, so where do we fit in, and why should it matter?

To answer this I’d like to jump down to Galatians 3:26 and 29 and put them together. Basically God is saying that we are sons of God by faith in Christ. If we are Christ’s then we are heirs according to the promise. He had summarized this earlier in verse 14. “…that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The blessing of Abraham… That blessing is ours! That means when God made the promise to Abraham and his seed, the seed he is referring to is us– those who have believed in Christ. Galatians 3:29 says it explicitly: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

The Christian answer then is that God blessed Abraham and his seed unconditionally. The law that came later could not cancel or add conditions to that blessing otherwise God would have been a liar in making such promises to Abraham. If I’m a Christian, I am an heir of that blessing because I am part of Abraham’s seed. That means that the promise that I am a recipient of, supersedes and precedes the giving of the law. There’s nothing in the keeping or the not-keeping of the law that can affect my status of blessing given by the promise of God. If I am required to keep the law in order to be blessed, God would be breaking His promise to Abraham, and by extension, to me. There is no curse hanging over the Christian. Let your mind and spirit think on this!

I need to add an additional thought here that I see I have failed to mention. The blessing we are referring to is a spiritual blessing. And that means, don’t miss this, it grants us all of the blessings of the New Covenant. I can’t go into all of that here, but a key component of that covenant is the complete and permanent forgiveness of trespasses and sins. Those who receive by faith the salvation God offers through Christ, are forgiven of every sinful thing they have ever done or ever will do! God removes all of our sins, casts them into the depths of the sea, never to be remembered against us again. And this blessing, including complete forgiveness, comes through faith, and does not depend in any way, shape, or form on how well we keep God’s commandments.

God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Galatians 3:10 reads: , “For as many as are of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Notice that it is necessary to continue in all things in order to avoid the curse. The problem is that many Christians are viewing life as a law-based scheme. They are attempting to please God, be acceptable to God, and grow in their Christian life by keeping the law. This approach is doomed to failure as we shall see.

Please stay with this. Things that are worth knowing and understanding are worth a little effort of thinking and studying. 

Paul begins his thought in Galatians 3:1. The first thing we read is that Paul appears somewhat frustrated by the fact that the Galatian Christians have been turned away from the truth of the gospel. We need to read carefully so that we can discern whether we too have missed the gospel. He appeals to the fact that the crucifixion of Christ had been clearly portrayed for them so that they would know what His death had accomplished. So he begins his detailed instruction with this question, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?” The answer to the question should be obvious – by the hearing of faith. Salvation comes by faith alone — trusting only in the promises God has made, which tell us that those who receive and trust Christ will be eternally forgiven and saved.

In verse 3 he asks another question. “Having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect by the flesh?” The answer should obviously be “No.” So the teaching here is that we begin the Christian life by faith. It cannot be earned. It must simply be believed. Similarly, maturing in the faith is achieved the same way — by faith. It is not accomplished by the keeping of rules. Growth in the Christian life and growing in Christ-likeness are accomplished by faith and not by submitting to the law. In order to illustrate this point, Paul brings up Abraham in verse 6. He explains that Abraham believed God, and it was counted as righteousness for him. God had just showed up at Abraham’s door one day and promised him some things, and Abraham took God at His word. God counted this faith, this believing, as righteousness for Abraham. That means, God declared Abraham perfectly righteous. These promises were made by God unconditionally. That means nothing was required of Abraham except to believe and receive those promises as a gracious gift from God. Because Abraham believed God, God declared him righteous.

In verse 7, Paul tells us, then, that those who are of faith (like Abraham was) are the sons of Abraham. God had promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him and verse 9 tells us the conclusion of this section: “Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” That means that if you have placed your faith in the promises of God given through His Son, Jesus Christ, you are one of those who are blessed along with Abraham. There you have one of the key words of this study: “blessed.” You see, we began this study with the concept of the blessings and the curses of God. This then sets up the basis for the argument Paul is going to use in the rest of the chapter and it is an extremely crucial argument if you want to understand your relationship to the blessings and curses of God.

According to verse 10, what is the standard for avoiding the curse? If we’re under the law, the standard is that we must continue in all of the things written in the book of the Law. We’re not allowed to deviate from it to either side. We must hit the nail on the head every time. This is exactly the point in Deuteronomy 26:

‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ” “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:” (Deuteronomy 27:26–28:2, NKJV)

That leaves us in a precarious situation, doesn’t it? Not fulfilling every command leaves us under a curse. The blessing is for those who “observe carefully all His commands.” But carefully obeying every single command in both deed and attitude is not possible!  That’s why God’s promise of blessing through believing is so important. Believing takes us out from under God’s curse and places us under God’s blessing, just as it did for Abraham. We are blessed because we believe, and the requirement of law-keeping in order to satisfy God has been removed. Being obedient is important for us as children of God, but not for merit, not for scoring points with God. Believing God’s promise credits us with Jesus’ righteousness. He is the one who scored all the points and merited all the blessing for us.

Are You Under God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 1

The Bible says we are cursed if we do not perfectly keep all of the Law’s demands. How does this work and what hope is there for us to escape this curse? Paul’s teachings in Galatians 3 is very important for Christians to understand. Often we just read these passages and don’t really think through what God would have us to know and believe.

Let’s begin, though, in Joshua 8:30. In this passage, Joshua split the people up and sent half to Mount Ebal and the other half to Mount Gerizim. I know that’s not the most interesting beginning, and you may be tempted to tune me out, but please stay with me on this and follow the logic that God has laid out for us.

In Deuteronomy 27-28, Moses had commanded this event to take place when the people reached the Promised Land. The people on Mount Gerizim were to read the blessings that you will find recorded in Chapter 28. The people on Mount Ebal were to read the curses. You’ll notice that God’s blessing included every facet of life:

Deuteronomy 28:3-6 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

Similarly the curses were declared. There are curses to match each blessing:

“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out…”  (Deut 28:16-19).

Notice the summary curse in verse 27:26: “Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by doing them.” So the point is that in order to be blessed, one must keep all of the commandments perfectly. If you look at Deut. 28:47-48 you will see that not only the deeds must be done, but the attitude must also be perfect:

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you” (Emphasis mine).

Paul picks up this theme in Galatians 3:10 where he writes, “For as many as are of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Notice that it is necessary to continue to obey all the law in order to avoid the curse. The problem is that many Christians are viewing life as a law-based scheme. They are attempting to please God, be acceptable to God, and grow in their Christian life by keeping the law. This approach is doomed to failure, and since it is not possible to keep every single requirement of God’s law, you find yourself cursed. 

God doesn’t want you to be living this way. All false religions put an emphasis on keeping the rules and being rewarded for success and being judged for failure. Even as Christians, many of us struggle with a cycle of trying and failing, and wondering if what we are doing is going to be accepted by God. In His Word, God reveals a different way of living that avoids the impossible task of being perfect, and still puts us in the place of blessing.

To be continued…

Ephesians 1:14

Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. He is the first installment. Just as we, when we provide a down payment on a car, we are guaranteeing the owner that we will make good on the rest of the payment. So the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of the rest of the payment that God has promised us.

This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee until God redeems His purchased possession. In other words, God has purchased us. He has provided the down payment of the Holy Spirit. The ultimate redemption and claim of his purchase hasn’t occured yet. In the mean time, God’s Holy Spirit is present with us.

This truth is meant to encourage us with the truth that God will not renege on His promise. It’s absurd to think of it, but the idea is that if God were to back out of His promise, we could keep the Holy Spirit, because He is God’s down payment.

All of this is to the praise of the glory of God. Haven’t we seen this over and over in this passage? God’s glory and grace deserve praise. Everyone in heaven and earth needs to know how great God is.


Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:31 PM October 1, 2020.

Ephesians 1:11

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

In him we have obtained an inheritance. In other words, when we receive Christ, we enter into a relationship with God that makes us joint-heirs with Christ. That means we will receive the same inheritance that Christ receives. Ultimately we will rule and reign with Him. We are brothers and sisters to the Son of God.
Verse 11 repeats the fact that we have been predestined. God has planned and ordained the destiny of every one of his children. In verse 5 we are told that we have been predestined for adoption as his children. In this verse we learn that this predestination accords with God’s will. God never does anything outside of his own will. Everything he does aligns with His will. And remember, His will and plan have been the same forever. God never changes. So our predestination to be adopted as sons is in line with God’s eternal purposes.

Verse 11 goes on to tell us the character of God that this is all based on. God works all things according to the counsel of his will. Another way to put this is that God works everything according to the decisions that result from his will. We often will to do something, and then begin to put our will into effect. But many times, we fail to accomplish what we willed to do. God doesn’t have that problem. Everything He does is an out-working of His will.

And notice one other thing before we go on to the next verse. How many things does God work according to the counsel of his will? All things! There is not one thing going on in the universe that He has lost control of.


Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:47 PM September 24, 2020.