Mortify The Flesh

HERE is a great lesson in the adventure of faith. When we have received Christ we are no longer a part of this world, but the flesh is still with us and must be dealt with. This was not the only lesson concerning separation in Abram’s life, to be sure. Later on he must separate himself from Lot, then he must sacrifice his own son, Isaac, and finally even Sarah must be buried. Sanctification is not one single spiritual experience, but a series of burials, a succession of funerals, of judgments upon the flesh, or, as Paul puts it, of daily deaths, daily mortifications of the old man and of the flesh and of the world.

Many believers stand in desperate need of just such an experience today. Those whom God has greatly used in the past will testify that, after they were saved, there came a time, when God called for a definite surrender of their lives before they could be fully used of Him. Call it whatever you will, but when we specifically obey God in putting away that of which we have been convicted by the Word, there comes a definite blessing and a going forward spiritually. Such an experience, however, doesn’t just happen once in the Christian’s life, but often.

As Abram walked with God he received new light all along the way, which called for new yielding and new obedience as he grew in faith. New obedience came when he separated from Lot, when he refused the spoils of Sodom, when he was obedient to God concerning his own son, Isaac. There were blessings all along the way, second, third, fourth and fifth blessings. As often as we follow new light and yield ourselves to His will, we too may experience the fresh blessing of the Almighty.