Choosing our attitudes and paths

It all began in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve broke covenant with God, the judgment rested upon all mankind. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, that all have sinned (Romans 5:12). Today all mankind walks in the image and likeness of Satan, because we all were born into sin and have this nature. Until we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior we walk in the likeness of Satan.Believe it or not, the flesh nature and the nature of Satan are the same. The flesh nature and Satan will always be in agreement with one another. According to Romans 8:7, the flesh is hostile to God and will not be subject to the Law of God. Our hearts loved the flesh nature, bringing pleasure to ourselves and doing those things that bring us personal satisfaction. Our motives were the same as Satan’s. Satan was in complete control of our life. In order to change this nature we must put to death the rebellious flesh (Romans 8:13-17). The Lord warned us in Luke 6:44 that we should be able to determine a man’s heart by the fruit of a man. Look at what we do and how we treat people, and also the words we say. Stay away from going part way on this (II Timothy 3:5). Those who choose to walk in the flesh — who are people pleasers and pleasers of self — will never walk in the power of God.Some are always learning yet never come into the knowledge of the truth (II Timothy 3:7). Overcoming the flesh nature and renewing our minds with the word of God will produce Christ likeness. Those who do not overcome the flesh nature will suffer from a state of double mindedness — which can include evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, deceit, pride, lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, blasphemy, jealousy, envy — and the list goes on.All of these things come from the heart. We have two hearts — one spiritual, which is our mind, and one physical, which pumps blood throughout our bodies. We serve God with out spiritual heart, our mind. Luke 6:45 tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.The fruit that we as believers should be bearing is in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. According to God, all of the works of the flesh are sin. We always have a choice as to which we choose to yield to, the flesh or the spirit. The one we yield the most will of course be the strongest and will determine ultimately if we walk with Christ Jesus or Satan.In this season, God is truly dealing with leadership in the church. In I Samuel 12:1, we learn about a high priest named Eli who had two wicked sons who chose to seduce women in the temple. Eli never dealt with the sin of his sons. He never removed them from their positions in the temple. He allowed them to continue contaminating the people and the temple.The same is going on in the church today. Wherever there is corrupt leadership, the people will be corrupt. If the head is sick the body will also be sick (Isaiah 1:2-9). Righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34). Whatever sin a leader tolerates will corrupt the people and will divert people to change.God is cleaning up his church. We must turn the hearts of the people in our nation, tribe, family and church. With Eli and his sons, the inaction showed the leadership was corrupt. An entire nation lost the glory of God, the presence of God, the Ten Commandments (the Torah, God’s teaching and instruction), God’s protection, the fire of God, the direction of God, the purpose of God and the plans of God.If you would like to contact us you may do so at P.O. Box 327, Lima, OH 45802, shar8jffrs3@aol.com or www.sharonjefferson.org.