(190) You Can Overcome Your Flesh Nature

0:00 The real you is your spirit. And there's this war going on between your spirit and your flesh that your flesh wants to do the right thing, but it doesn't. And it doesn't want to do the wrong thing, but it does. And how am I ever gonna get out of it? But it's Jesus that gets us out of it. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] God promises in Joel 2, 28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promised outpouring. We equip for that outpouring so that we may engage in that very outpouring.

0:42 I'm Philip Bus. And I'm Sharon Bus. We are so moved by the Holy Spirit to minister as much as we can to help build you up in the spirit realm, to help you overcome the flesh. We all have to overcome our flesh. And you can overcome your flesh nature. We want to give you pointers for how to do it. Thank you so much for joining us today. Before we get started talking about how to overcome the flesh, we want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to go to our website, globaloutpouring.net, and be sure that you have signed up for at least one of our email lists.

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2:06 And also, we are getting ready for Christmas. I trust that you are too. Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, it's a good thing that we have a sale, even if you aren't into celebrating Christmas. And we know that Jesus probably really wasn't born on the 25th of December. But it's kind of like Queen Elizabeth was born in April, but the UK only celebrated her birthday in June, because that's when the weather was gonna be good. So you don't have to necessarily celebrate your birthday on your birthday. He was probably really born in September, or maybe October, around the Feast of Tabernacles time. But anyway, we have a sale going on in our bookstore, and you have this opportunity to take advantage of a 20% discount on the books that we publish.

2:53 And if you want to have an instant download, you can get one of our PDF versions. Most of our books are available in PDF, so that you can get it right away. And if you're overseas, you don't have to wait for it to be shipped, because shipping overseas is awfully expensive anyway. So we're excited today to talk about what's kind of like continuing on a theme that the Holy Spirit has been giving us about learning to walk in the Spirit and not walk in the flesh. Last episode, we talked about how immature the bride probably is based on the prophetic dream that I had about the little girl that's dressed up as the bride, and she's trying to fix herself up, but she's just a little girl.

3:38 She hasn't even made it to adolescence yet. And the Lord wants us to grow up in Him and grow up in the things of the Spirit so that we're not moved by the flesh, and we're not moved by the things that move the world, but we're moved by the Spirit. So today, before the Lord, I was hearing in my spirit from John 3-6, I heard in my spirit, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So we know that this comes from the story of Nicodemus coming to see Jesus, and he's declaring how he knows that Jesus has come from God and is doing the works of God.

4:25 Philip, would you please read John 3, starting with verse 3, from the Passion Translation? Jesus answered, Nicodemus, listen to this eternal truth. Before a person can perceive God's kingdom realm, they must first experience a rebirth. Wait, wait, wait. Let me just read the footnote to that. Okay. The Greek word can be translated born from above. However, in the context, Nicodemus understood it as a rebirth. The Aramaic word is clearly born from the origin. Nicodemus came seeking knowledge Jesus offered him life. You know, I love that. And it also could mean born from above.

5:06 Born from above, yeah. Yeah, that's what it says in the margin of my Bible. Yeah, mine. I think mine has that too. So take on from verse 4. Nicodemus said, rebirth? How can a gray-headed man be reborn? It's impossible for a man to go back into the womb a second time and be reborn, Jesus answered. I speak an eternal truth. Unless you are born of water and spirit wind, you will never enter God's kingdom realm. Wow, hang on. Let me read the footnote to that one. The pure water of the word of God. Jesus said, unless you're born of water and the spirit. So this is the footnote about the word water. The pure water of the word of God cleanses us and gives us life.

5:49 Some see in the water and spiritual analogy, the creative beginning of Genesis 1, where God's life-giving spirit fluttered over the chaotic waters. New creation life comes the same way. Water and blood gushed from the side of our Lord Jesus. He was the last Adam who gave birth to his bride from his pierced side. The water and the blood. Beautiful. Verse 6. For the natural realm can only give birth to things that are natural, but the spiritual realm gives birth to supernatural life. So that's the verse that I heard this morning. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

6:29 Would you read that verse again? For the natural realm can only give birth to things that are natural, but the spiritual realm gives birth to supernatural life. Yes. You shouldn't be amazed by my statement. You must be born from above, for the spirit wind blows as it chooses. You can hear it sound, but you don't know where it came from or where it's going. So it is within the hearts of those who are spirit-born. Okay. Let me just read a couple of footnotes here from verse 8. You can hear it sound, but you don't know where it came from or where it's going. The footnote says the word for blow can also be translated breathe. The word for sound can be translated voice, and the same word for spirit can also mean wind.

7:15 If our new birth is so mysterious, how much more will be the ways of living each moment by the movement of the Holy Spirit? One can understand how confused Nicodemus was, for he took everything at face value and couldn't see a deeper meaning. And then at the part where it says, so it is the same with those who are spirit-born. You don't know where it's coming from. You don't know where it's going. So the footnote there says, or the spirit moves as he chooses, and you hear his voice, but you don't know where he came from or where he goes. The Aramaic is so rich and multi-layered in this passage. Perhaps it could be paraphrased as the wind, the breath, and the spirit are moved by mysterious moods and in their own wonderful ways.

7:59 When you feel their touch and hear their voices, you know they are real, but you don't understand how they flow and move over the earth. The same mysterious way is the way of everyone born by wind, breath, and spirit. Oh, that's beautiful. Isn't that tremendous? So it's really all about learning to walk in the spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. You know, the desires of the flesh. When you say lust, you kind of automatically... It sounds automatic. Think it's something really evil. Yeah, or sexual. Sexual, yeah, it's more sexual.

8:40 But other desires can be, go to play golf three times a week. You know, if God wants you to spend time with him, that kind of gets in the way. Yes, the distractions. Distract anything. Any distraction can be a lust of the flesh. It's true. You can go into that. Yeah, and you know, the Lord really began dealing with me some months ago about not spending so much time listening to things on YouTube. I mean, they were all perfectly harmless. Like, you know, I really like archeology. So I was listening to all kinds of things about archeology. And I like, you know, there's various things that I like that are particularly with Bible stuff and listening to various teachers.

9:25 And you know, it was all things that were seemingly even profitable to the spirit realm. But the fact was that I wasn't taking that time to just be quiet before the Lord and listen to him. I was hearing all these other voices. So I really felt like he was speaking to me to shut out all these other voices and, you know, not be so moved. And it's not like you can't listen to our podcast. But it was about having too much distraction. And even all these distractions were something that was kind of feeding my flesh.

10:06 It was kind of feeding my intellect rather than feeding my spirit. You know, I probably got some things in my spirit about it. But the Lord is wanting us to learn to focus on him and focus on the light of life that he is to us, to deliver us from darkness and all those little shady things. You know, shade is dark. When you have the light of the sun on an object, it casts a shadow that's keeping you from being directly in line with the sun, right? The sun isn't shining directly on you. You're still getting light around you perhaps, but there's a shade that's- Something is eclipsing you.

10:51 Exactly, exactly. It's eclipsing the light and keeping you from seeing the fullness of what he wants you to see. He wants you to see him. He wants us to know him. That's really what it's all about. So focusing on the light overcoming darkness is what we're gonna be talking about today of how the light of God can help you deal with those various things, whether they're distractions that are seemingly innocent or whether they're sins. You know, there are some sins that are, it's kind of like a trap. Yeah. Like a snare. And you get ensnared and you know how the devil entices and he entices and he entices.

11:37 And then as soon as you do the thing, then he slimes you with condemnation. Condemnation, yes. Yeah. That's right. So God wants to help us overcome those things. So the idea of that which is born of the flesh is flesh. The word there in Greek for flesh is sarx. And if you're taking notes, it's Strong's number G4561. And the outline of biblical usage that I find in my Blue Letter Bible app that I use, the definitions here are flesh, the substance of the living body which covers the bones and is permeated with blood of both men and beasts.

12:20 So flesh is flesh of man, flesh of animals. And it means the body. It means the body of a man, used of natural or physical origin, generation or relationship, born of natural generation. It can mean the sensuous nature of man, like an animal nature. And it might be without any suggestion of depravity, but it also might mean the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin. And we're all tempted because we have fleshly nature, right? Yeah. And then there's the physical man as subject to suffering. And a living creature, because possessed of a body of flesh, whether man or beast, and then the flesh denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.

13:10 So it has to do with the physical being, the physical body, and the broken nature, the broken nature that doesn't go to heaven, okay? I've heard Dean Braxton, and I think Kevin Zadai has talked about this also, that when they went to heaven, because they both had a death experience, when they went to heaven, there was no doubt there. Right, uh-huh. There was no thinking badly of yourself there. No shadows there. No shadows, absolutely no shadows. Everything is light. And so what I'm trying to say is that there's a part of our nature that is somehow connected to our body.

13:56 It's sometimes it's described as the soul realm, but it's that fleshly nature that isn't saved yet. That's well put. It hasn't been transformed yet. It hasn't been transformed yet. We have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, right? So I just want to also make a comment because of who we are as global outpouring, and our heart from Joel 2.28 is that God is going to pour out his spirit on all flesh. And the word in Acts chapter two, where Peter is repeating the promise from Joel, the Greek word there is also sarks. So it's the outpouring of God, the outpouring of the spirit of God on all flesh.

14:44 So we have this wonderful thing to look forward to, and we can have as much of it as we want anytime. Anytime. You just press in for it because it is in the presence of God. It's coming from him. You can have as much of his spirit as you will give him room for. Yeah. How much you give him room for. How desperate I want, maybe desperate isn't the right word. It's just you go through your day and you're just getting, you're getting more and more oppressed and depressed. And that's a good time to stop and go worship. Yes. I mean, I'm preaching to the choir, you know?

15:25 But that's true. Maybe we have a listener who needs to hear that. Yeah. Just stop what you're doing and go worship. Just lift your hands. Yeah, there's something about lifting your hands. It's like, you know, the filament in a light bulb that has one on each side, has a little thing in the middle. Yes. And that's what burns, you know? And I always like to, you know, like worship. I always kind of relate that to lightning rods, two lightning rods. Yes. Just going up, okay, Holy Spirit, you know, just light me up, you know? Yes, or like an arcing between two posts, you know, the electricity arcing between the two. Yeah, like the light bulb. Yeah, yeah.

16:05 That was the proper way to say that, yeah. Worship will immediately help you to overcome. When you're being oppressed by something, when you're being tried by something, when something's trying to get you to connect with it and it's not from God, if you need to get back to God, you know, putting your hands up is a sign of surrender. Yeah. So when you want to worship and put your hands up, you are surrendering yourself to God. And it's amazing how things that are trying to bind you, like chains, will fall off when you raise your hands to God. And you just lift your hands and you begin to praise and you begin to worship and you begin to tell him how wonderful he is.

16:49 Come on, let's just try it. Father, we just give you praise. We give you honor, we give you glory. You are so awesome, so glorious. There's no one like you, oh God. There's no one like you, Jesus. You are such a savior. Oh, oh, we owe so much to you. Glory to your name. Glory to your name. Yes, Lord. Karobah Shambare De De De Dea. Thank you, Father. Hallelujah. We give you glory, Lord. Yes, Lord. Thank you, Father. Hallelujah. Now, didn't that help? That's like hitting, what is it on the computer, the F2 refresh?

17:29 Whatever the number is, I'm not sure. It's a refreshing. Yes, it does refresh you. It absolutely does. It says you can come boldly into the throne of grace. Yes. The throne is the originator of the glory of God. It comes from the throne of God. So the throne of grace, if you can just press in, just picture heaven and however you can picture the throne of God with the glory just coming out, and that just refreshes you. Absolutely. It absolutely does. If you're walking with the Lord, Yes. you have to be having this walk with him. Yes. Because if you're just a once a week, read your Bible or prayer, you're not there.

18:10 Right. But you can start right now. Yes. Right this second, you can start a walk. If you're not doing it, you can start this moment and say, okay, I lift my hands to you, Lord, I surrender. I give, I really want this. This is what I want. Because it reminds me of Romans 7. And I love how the passion translation puts it, but I'm not gonna take time to read it. I'm just gonna make the comment that in Romans 7 and somewhere in between verses 19 and 22, it talks about how the real you is your spirit. And there's this war going on between your spirit and your flesh that your flesh wants to do the right thing, but it doesn't.

18:55 And it doesn't want to do the wrong thing, but it does. And how am I ever gonna get out of it? But it's Jesus that gets us out of it. Yes. And in Romans 8, it goes on talking about how there's no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Because like verse five says, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. In other words, you're thinking about flesh all the time. If you're after the flesh, you're just gonna be thinking flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, think, think, think, flesh, flesh, flesh. But if you're after the spirit, the spirit is moving in you and you're getting things from the Holy Spirit.

19:38 And then verse six says to me, to be carnally or fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is an enemy of God. It's not subject to the law of God and it can't be because it's flesh. So those that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you, you listener, you Philip, you Sharon, you're not of the flesh, but the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwells in you. Well, I know the spirit of God dwells in me. I know the spirit of God dwells in you. Listener, I know that if you're listening to this, it's probably because the spirit of God dwells in you.

20:22 And if he doesn't just ask him to come in, it's that easy. So if you're living in the flesh, you can't please God. But if you're in the spirit, the spirit dwells in you. And if you don't have the spirit of Christ, you're not any part of his. If you live in the flesh, you're gonna die. But if through the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. Hallelujah. And we talked in our last episode from Galatians chapter five about the works of the flesh, the, yeah, the works of the flesh and how, you know, there's uncleanness and pornography and all kinds of things that are contrary to the spirit.

21:07 And then at the end of Galatians five, it tells about what it's like when the spirit is operating in you. You have his fruit coming forth. You're producing. You're producing love because love is pouring into you by the spirit. You're producing joy because joy is pouring into you by the spirit. You're producing peace. Peace is all around you because you are walking in the spirit. This is what happens when we put down the flesh and enter into that spirit realm. So then we have first John chapter three verses two through 10 from the passion. Do you want to read that Philip?

21:47 Beloved, we are God's children right now. However, it is not yet apparent what we will become. But we do know that when it is finally made visible we will be just like him. Just like him. For we will see him as he truly is. Yes. And all who focus their hope on him will always be purifying themselves just as Jesus is pure. Yes. Anyone who indulges in sin lives in moral anarchy where the definition of sin is breaking God's law. And you know without a doubt that Jesus was revealed to eradicate sins and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in union with him will not sin.

22:30 But the one who continues sinning hasn't seen him with discernment or known him by intimate experience. Delightfully loved children, don't let anyone divert you from this truth. The person who keeps doing what is right proves that he is righteous before God even as a Messiah is righteous. But the one who indulges in a sinful life is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God was revealed was to undo and destroy the works of the devil. Hallelujah. Amen. Everyone who is truly God's child will refuse to keep sinning because God's seed remains within him.

23:13 And he is unable to continue sinning because he has been fathered by God himself. Here's how God's children can be clearly distinguished from the children of the evil one. Anyone who does not demonstrate righteousness and show love to fellow believers is not living with God as his source. Okay, so let's look at these words for just a moment. Where it's talking about sin, anyone who continues to live in union with him will not sin. If that is talking about living a life of practicing sin as a lifestyle. It's a habit. A habitual sin that this is how you live. You're living in that sinful nature where you just keep on walking in sinful nature.

24:00 It's another thing to have a stumble. Where most of the time you're walking with the Lord and then once in a while you stumble. There's provision with the blood of Jesus to overcome that. But there's also provision with the blood of Jesus to overcome habitual sin. This is where you welcome the Holy Spirit to help you. And one of the ways to help you with this is to replace that practice of sin. Like when you, like I remember my grandfather. At one time he used to smoke. And when he decided he was going to quit smoking, he started chewing gum instead.

24:45 Probably wasn't good for his teeth. But. Better for his lungs though. But it was way better for his lungs. You can replace teeth but you can't replace your lungs. True, I guess. But anyway, it's about replacing the thing that you shouldn't be doing with something you should be doing. And however that works for you, the Lord is going to show you what to do. Like if there's a group of people that you hang out with that they party on a certain day. Then go find a Bible study that meets on that day. And start putting in something else that is going to feed your spirit instead of.

25:30 Your flesh. Your flesh. Instead of doing that sin. Instead of doing the thing that gets you in trouble. And that's real hard at first. But once you just start doing it and stick with it, then it comes enjoyable when you get into the word. Right. And the wonderful thing is you lose your taste for it. You know, it might be that you've practiced the same thing over and over all your life, but it loses its appeal. That's it, yeah. Years and years ago, I learned that I had a problem with low blood sugar. And I learned that the way to deal with low blood sugar is to not eat sugar.

26:13 Yes. Okay, it's actually the same diet that you would have if you were diabetic, that you avoid sugar. You shouldn't use sugar. It's not good for you. Particularly refined sugar, you know? Yeah. Limited what it get. You're low already and it puts you in a deeper low. Yeah, what happens is your insulin spikes go way up high. And then by the time all the sugar is used up, you've still got insulin in your blood and it drops your sugar to a place where you get weak and faint and all that kind of thing. So I learned not to eat sugar. And I got to the point where, you know, it doesn't appeal to me anymore.

26:54 I'm not interested in eating sweets. I used to have a sweet tooth. You know, I liked all those sweet things. I liked the cookies and the cake and the, you know, sometimes I'm still tempted by a chocolate chip cookie. And then sometimes I get to finish it for you. Yeah. Most of the time I just want to taste it and then that's enough. I'm not interested. But all I'm saying is, you know, this is an example of you lose your taste for it. And you're going to lose your taste for those things of the flesh as you replace them with the spirit. God is doing something in your life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I love 1 Corinthians 9, 27 that says, I'll just read it to you in the Amplified.

27:41 But like a boxer, I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached the gospel to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified as unfit for service. The Berean literal Bible says, but I batter my body and bring it into servitude lest having preached to others, I myself might be disqualified. New international version says, no, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I've preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. The word body there, I love this. This was a discovery for me. The word body is the Greek word soma. And it comes from the word sozo.

28:25 And the word sozo is Greek 4982. And it means to save or to keep safe and sound to rescue from danger or destruction. It's the word that's used talking about Jesus' ministry of healing and salvation and restoration and all of these things, deliverance, to save from the evils. So the word body comes from this word, salvation, or to save, the verb to save. And that verb comes from another word that means safe. Safe, yeah. So as I was pondering this, I thought, now what does the body have to do with being saved or to be safe?

29:15 And as I was pondering it, this thought came to me, maybe it's a stretch, but I thought it was a great thing to ponder. It came to me like you put your valuables in a safe to keep them safe. And it's kind of like maybe our Father intended that our body on earth was meant to be a place of safekeeping for our spirit, which is the real you and the real me. But the body was never meant to rule over the spirit. The body is meant to house it. It's our body, remember, our body is the temple of the living God, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Holy Spirit. And then that word for I make my body a slave, I bring it to servitude, that word means to be a slave driver.

30:00 Oh wow. To enslave it, okay? You're gonna bring it into subjection. That's what you're gonna do with your body. You're gonna bring it into subjection. Jesus gave his life to free us from slavery to the flesh. We don't have to be slaves to sin. We don't have to be slaves to the flesh. We are meant to be servants of the Lord. And not just a servant that is just a slave in servitude, but one who has a relationship with our wonderful Father, with his whole wonderful kingdom, that we have this love relationship with him. We have this love relationship with him that causes us to do things that are his bidding, to do things that are his way, to do things according to his will, because we love him.

30:53 That's the walk of the spirit. That's the walk of love. See, we're wired to be addicted to that love. Yeah, that's a well put. And that addiction to his love gets twisted by the flesh, so that we get addicted to other things, like a certain kind of food, or getting addicted to sex, or getting addicted to drugs, or getting addicted to caffeine, or there's things like video games. There's an addiction in video games. But God wants us to break that addiction by using his love, by getting so overwhelmed by his love, that his love will overtake us and deliver us, and help us to keep our bodies free from sin, to keep our bodies free from temptation even.

31:53 The tempter appeals to your selfishness, and causes you to think about sinning. And then, as I said before, then he slimes you. So, yes. Okay? We were listening to a podcast from John Finn, and he's a seer. You know, he's one of these, he's a gifted seer, where he has, you know, his dreams, visions, and he just sees in the spirit realm. And the Lord was teaching John about how demons operate, and the Lord shows him this Christian, and so this Christian has a habitual sin. The Lord didn't show him what the sin was, but he did it, and then he's under condemnation, and then you repent all over again, and this is something that would happen about maybe every couple weeks, you know, and he was thinking about this, what he's gonna do and all that, and he saw, in the spirit, he saw this sphere, round sphere around the man.

32:49 It was a sphere of light, because he's a believer in Jesus. He has this light, because you are the light of the world. But the more he's thinking about this, well, it's like the demons are just kinda talking to him. They're putting thoughts into your head. You know, sometimes you're doing something, and this thought will come into your head that's not a good one, or this or that, and it's just like they're trying to open up this sphere that you have, that you can't see. You have it, but you can't see this. And the more they keep doing that, you know, the more the man opens himself up to it, you know, and all of a sudden, he saw like an opening in the sphere. It's just like it opened up, and it was just enough for the demons to kinda wiggle in there, and all of a sudden, he just had this impulse.

33:36 He just had to do it. He did what he did. Maybe he was looking at pornography or something, and then at the end of it, you know, he just says, oh, you know, and he repents, and as soon as the man repented, he saw the sphere close back up, but the demons were going all around the sphere looking for an opening of some kind, whispering things to him, and as soon as he opened up to that, you know, and I thought that just makes perfect sense, because what you, what things you deal with and all that, and as soon as he repented, the sphere closed up, and well, the demons had to jump off. They had to get out, they'd get out off of him, and then the sphere closed up, you know, once he repented.

34:18 So isn't that, what did Paul say? I die daily. Yeah. You know, it's just like 1 Thessalonians 4, 4 says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. So what I think about with this story that Philip just told is Romans 13 verses 12 and 14 from the Amplified Classic says, the night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop, fling away the works and deeds of darkness and put on the full armor of light. And then verse 14 says, but clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and make no provision for indulging the flesh.

35:00 Put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature to gratify its desires, lusts. And that's really, really good. And then the Young's literal translation says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and for the flesh, take no forethought for desires. In other words, don't think ahead about desires. So what happens when you start thinking, okay, imagine this sphere around you. You have a sphere around you just like that man that Philip was talking about. You have a sphere of light around you and the demons are outside there whispering to you from the outside.

35:40 They are not there in you. They are trying to influence you, but you have every opportunity to silence them. As soon as one of those thoughts comes into your head, you just say, no, I am not gonna think that way. I've even heard that one of the things that you can do physically when you start having thoughts in your mind that don't belong in. That's what, I love it. That's what Pastor Tony Kemp says. Yeah, yeah. Brain chatter. There's brain chatter. And you can silence that. But one of the things that you can do when you realize that you're dealing with something or maybe even something in front of you like your imagination has a picture in it that doesn't belong there, start blinking your eyes.

36:31 Just do a rapid blinking and it'll help to break that electrical charge or whatever it is that's got something on your imagination and bring you back to where your eyes, your literal eyes, your physical eyes are looking at what you're surrounded by. And you can break off that imagination by just blinking your eyes. You just need to throw these thoughts off immediately. Don't let them dwell for more than seconds. Give them no chance to take root. Yes, because once it takes root, then it's harder to pull it out. Exactly. So what starts in your mind becomes your meditation and then that becomes part of what's in your heart.

37:19 And then out of the abundance of your heart. The mouth speaks. And whatever your mouth speaks becomes your actions. And sometimes, I don't know about you, but sometimes I talk to myself. And I have started recently, probably in the last year, maybe two years, when I find myself talking out loud and saying something as though I'm having an imaginary conversation with somebody or about somebody, I begin to repent instantly. I say, oh God, please forgive me for saying those words. I take them apart. I speak crop failure. I command them to fall to the ground and separate sound by sound and letter by letter so that they will have no effect because I don't want those words to have any effect.

38:10 I want them to be gone. I want them under the blood of Jesus Christ and not to be able to be used. Like, especially if I'm thinking, if a thought has come to me, an accusation against somebody. There's power in words. Yes, there's power in words. And we have to silence them. The ones that don't belong, we have to silence them. So we just learned that Paul disciplined his body. I keep my body under. Okay? So you have to discipline yours. I have to discipline mine. We have to discipline these thoughts that come to us. We are responsible ourselves for keeping the flesh in check. 2 Corinthians 10, three through six will help you.

38:52 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. You have to get that attitude with your flesh that says, absolutely not, I'm not doing it. I'm not gonna think that way. I'm not gonna talk that way. I'm not gonna act that way.

39:33 I'm taking authority. I'm lining up with the word, and I'm casting down all of these things that are, these imaginations, they're just empty. They have no value here. And if whatever doesn't have value, throw it down. Okay? So we have to say no to those things, and then you go to war using the word. So the first thing is you're responsible to keep your flesh in check. The second thing is say no, and go to war with the word. Now Hebrews 412 says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

40:13 Would you find that, Philip, in the TPT? Because I think there might be something helpful there. For we have the living word of God, which is full of energy, and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet. It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our heart. Oh yeah, secret motives of our hearts. See, that's what God wants to do, and he wants you to learn his word so that you know what to use for each circumstance. Whatever kind of circumstances are coming up, the word of God is gonna cut them out for you.

40:56 It's like a scalpel. Submit to the surgery of God to cut out those things out of our flesh that don't belong there. Okay, so first we're responsible. Second, we're gonna war with the word. The third is to war with the prophecies that have been spoken over us. So first Timothy 118 in the Passion Translation. So Timothy, my son, I'm entrusting you with this responsibility in keeping with the very first prophecies that were spoken over your life and are now in the process of fulfillment in this great work of ministry and keeping with the prophecies spoken over you.

41:39 With this encouragement, use your prophecies as weapons as you weight spiritual warfare by faith and with a clean conscience. Beautiful. So whatever has been spoken over your life, the whole word of God is available to you to war with. But if you've received a word in your spirit or if someone has given a prophetic word over you, you can use that in warfare as you're dealing with your flesh because there are things that you're not gonna accomplish if you don't get lined up with the word of God and with the things that the Lord has put in His plan for you.

42:22 So you have to overcome your flesh in order for these things to come to pass. Think about Esau, think about the lentil soup that Jacob was making and he gave into his flesh. He was so hungry that he thought he was gonna die if he didn't eat right then. And he didn't value the thing that was in his future. That's how we war with prophecy. You understand that if you're gonna fulfill the thing that God said over your life, you're gonna have to say no to your flesh.

43:02 It's important to let things go that don't belong in your life and overcome them. So that's the third thing. The fourth thing is holy communion. When Jesus said, this is my body which is given for you, it's His body, it's His sarks, it's His flesh shredded. He was mutilated for us. So when we take that bread and we realize the power that's in it, Jesus said, you gotta eat my body and drink my blood or you have no part of me. If you want to walk the walk of the Spirit, use the power of the body of Jesus Christ to overcome the desires of your body.

43:52 And then you have the fifth thing is the blood of Jesus, the cup that Jesus gave for us. He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This cup, my blood. Drink my blood. It gives life where you are being tempted to fall into something that is gonna bring you death. Use the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. You can declare it too, but you can take the holy communion and you can stand there and say, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, I am cleansed from all sin and I'm not gonna give myself to it in the name of Jesus.

44:32 And you can overcome. So Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray for our listener right now. You can overcome, listener. Father, we're asking you to pour your Spirit out on this listener right now to enable him or her to overcome their flesh, Lord, to overcome the things that are temptations, to overcome the distractions, to overcome the things that even don't seem all that bad, but they're not leading into the walk of the Spirit. Father, pour out your Spirit on this one to prepare him, to prepare her for the things that you have set them aside for, to walk in this earth, Lord, to be a beacon of light, to be a carrier of your gospel, to be a carrier of your light and your life and your glory.

45:32 In these days, Lord, we're thanking you, Father, that you are pouring out your Spirit to give them the grace and the strength to overcome and walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your review helps the podcast grow, and you can also find the podcast on the YouTube channel, The Holy Spirit. Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit.

46:13 Check out our website at globaloutpouring.org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us, and donate. You can also browse our web store for life-changing anointed books. Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with this overwhelming, loving presence. Thank you.