TELL YOUR FLESH TO SHUT UP
by Lemuel Niere
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:11
Left uncheck, your flesh will try to run you over, take charge of your emotions, and promote laziness in your life. It will tell you that you’ve done too much; that you’ve already done more than anyone else; that you don’t need to do any more than you’ve already done; and that you’re not as appreciated as you ought to be. Your flesh will advise you to kick back, take it easy, and cut yourself some slack. It will scream that if anyone deserves to do nothing for a while, it’s you.
Your flesh always tries to take everything to an extreme. If you allow it to control you, it will carry you into a state of laziness that sedates your whole outlook and destroys your productivity. You’ll lose your joy, hope, victory — even your very reason for living. In the end, you’ll become weak, powerless, and devoid of the desire or energy to pursue anything, let alone the high calling God has for your life.
When your flesh rises up and tempts you to be slothful about your dream, your business, or your relationship with God, what should you do? Or when your flesh coaxes you into believing you are too poor, too stupid, too ugly, too uninteresting, or too “run of the mill” to be used by God,
How should you respond?
It’s time to tell the flesh to shut its loud mouth! Grab hold of the power of God to change you, and the way you are thinking. As long as you allow that rank, stinking flesh to produce a “poor me” mentality, you will not make any significant contribution to the world. And that’s such a pity because God wants to use you! Instead of letting the flesh rule you, it is time for you to do as the apostle Paul ordered in Romans 6:11.
These powerful words could be interpreted this way: “Once and for all, deem yourself dead to sin. After that, keep it up! You have to keep counting yourself as one who has died to sin…” Command your flesh to shut its mouth, and remind yourself that the flesh lost its power at the Cross and no longer has the right to rule and reign in your life!
Instead of focusing on what you can’t do, it’s time to start thinking about what you can do when you become yielded to the Spirit of God. The only way you and I can ever accomplish what we were born to do is to put aside the lies of the enemy; tell our lazy, complaining flesh to keep its mouth shut; take charge of your emotions; and yield ourselves as instruments unto God.
