Christian Living

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A Form of Godliness
By Rick L King
Jan 15, 2011

2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The Bible tells us in Luke 6:44 “For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes”. My intent in this article is not to judge or criticize anyone, but to rather cause an awakening within others to look at their walk and see if it is producing good fruit for the kingdom.

So much of what I keep seeing in the body of Christ, is people going through the motions but there is no power nor changes actually happening. There are so many religious spirits in operation that people seem to just go blindly along and keep walking and speaking the Word, yet few things are actually taking place. The church has taught us for years to walk the Word. This is true to some degree but we are missing the power of the Holy Spirit. The Word by itself does produce some things but will not produce what God intends until it is led and anointed by Him. Religion puts us into works. Religion seems to put blinders on us as we are thinking that we are doing the right thing. Works are fleshly actions taken by man trying to walk the Word. This entails much legalism and religious practices. It looks good, yet is the fruit what we want to see? I had wrestled with this in the past often as I was realizing that what I was doing just wasn’t working. There is a real difference between walking the Word by our flesh and walking in the Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and anoint the Word. We know that it takes the anointing to break the yoke. The anointing is sent and controlled by the Lord alone. Yet, so often we see preachers and teachers saying go do this or that and this will be the result. Maybe this has been effective for you, but it has not been for me. So what is missing? What I see is the scripture above about having a form of godliness but denying the power.

Until we can understand the difference between our flesh initiating what we do and the Holy Spirit initiating our works, we will never get the true picture of what the Lord really desires. The Lord desires for us to walk in power. The power that comes from only the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that Jesus depended on when He walked in human form on earth. I recently questioned a person about their use of the name of Jesus. This lady often tells the devil in the name of Jesus to go. Yes, there is power in the name of Jesus. You will never get me to say otherwise. Yet, we need to look deeper concerning it’s use.

The Word tells us that: Ro 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Ro 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. I want us to consider this. Some say that because we accept Jesus and are born again that we are always led by the spirit. I whole-heartily disagree. To be in the flesh or in the Spirit is a choice. We are servants to whom we yield our self to obey. Ro 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? The Word also tells us in Ga 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Notice that the passage starts out with the word walk. It is saying that we are to do that. It does not say that we automatically do that. It is a choice on our part. If we choose to walk in the spirit then it says that we won’t fulfill the lusts of our flesh. This is like the scripture that says to whom we yield our self. We can yield to the Spirit or the flesh. We can allow the Spirit or the flesh to rule. It is a choice. So knowing this and that if we are in the flesh we don’t please God, then consider this. We know that the devil knows God’s word. He can speak it through people all the time and does. We can speak the Word while in the flesh also. We are not pleasing the Lord because we are in the flesh. You say, but we are speaking the Word so that must be alright. Sounds good, but there is no fruit and we are not pleasing the Lord. The Word needs to come by the Spirit of God not by our flesh. We are told that we need to be led by the Spirit. Ro 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We can be led by our flesh or the Spirit of God. One promotes what we want and the other promotes what God wants. One is anointed and powerful and the other is just dead works. When we trust in self to do and be in control we are actually in rebellion against the Lord. For sake of length to this article I will not write all about this but you can read Isaiah 30 and 31 and see what I am referring to. Isaiah says that we are rebellious children that take counsel but not of His Spirit. He goes on to say that we trust in the Egyptians (men) or horses (flesh) instead of His Spirit. He calls that rebellion. Why so you may ask? It becomes a control issue. When we are in control we are actually making self to be like God just as the devil did when he was booted from Heaven. Our control says that we know best and are making our self a god. We are calling God a liar saying we know best. We seem to have this backwards theology that God is here to answer all of our requests to please us. That is far from truth. We should be pleasing Him. We please Him by only doing what Jesus did and surrendering our will and desires so the will and desire of the Lord could be done. We don’t teach this much anymore because people will get unhappy that they have to die to self to live. The Spirit is the giver of life, not our flesh. Mt 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Now because of all of what I have said, it becomes more obvious as to why when we are in the flesh it cannot please the Lord. Flesh is a control in agreement with the enemy. Do we really think that the Lord will anoint and empower what we want if comes then from our flesh? God watches over His Word to perform it. He is obligated to do what He says that He will do, not what we think He should do. Hopefully we can now understand the difference between the flesh and the spirit.

In order for us to be empowered by His Spirit we must do what Jesus did. He gave up His will to do the Father’s will alone. Have we done that? Is finding out the will of God more important than our will and what we want? We find the will of God by spending time with Him in worship and prayer and intercession. We draw near to the Lord. We desire to hear His voice more than anything else. We desire to please Him alone no matter the cost. We desire for Him to lead and guide us by His Spirit more than anything else. This is surrender and dying to self. It is desiring to know what He wants and when He wants it. It is all about being obedient to His voice and His voice alone. What God leads He empowers. It becomes then totally only about Him and not us. We can never take any credit as we learn that it is His power alone working through us, We know that we didn’t come up with the idea nor did we ever know how to make it work.
As I said earlier, so many have been duped by the enemy and are walking around doing this and that and being religious and there is no power or good fruit coming forth, because they are being led by their flesh instead of the Holy Spirit. If we want power and good fruit it must come only by this way.

Zech 4:6..Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord….

Don’t be among those that the Lord speaks to and says in ….Mt 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

It is our choice to either be led by our flesh and be religious, or to be led by the Holy Spirit and experience His power.


Comments? Please address all to comments to my email at [email protected] as I don't have access to messages on this site. Thank you.

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