November 3
The Enemy of the Soul
1 Peter 2:11

Fleshly lusts ‘war against’ our soul.  Fleshly lusts, or evil desires that rise up in our flesh, war against our soul in the sense that they will try and get us to make the choice of giving in to them rather than yielding to our spirit-man who wants to obey the Word of God.

There may be some things that are not necessarily sinful but they are desires of the flesh that don’t profit us spiritually.  Fleshly lusts are wrong if they cause you to disobey the Word of God and they are unprofitable to you if they use up your time and lead you away from God’s Word and plan for your life.

God wants us to enjoy life but we have a choice to make about what we do with our time.  We have a choice of what to think on and what we continue to think on is what we will eventually act on.  We will do that which we continue to think about.  So if you don’t want to do something, quit thinking about it!

Our time and attention is best used to think on those things that will lead us closer to God, His Word and His plan for our life.  When we give too much time to the desire of the flesh (even if they’re not necessarily sinful), then we are not going to have as close a walk with the Lord as we could.  And since we’re ‘strangers and pilgrims’ in this world, we will feel most at home and comfortable when we are in the presence of the Lord.

Confession:

I will abstain from fleshly lusts.  I am a foreigner to this earth.  My home is in Christ and I will spend my time pursuing a closer walk with Him rather than fleshly desires and pleasures which war against my soul.