The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

Last Friday I posted this opening scripture in an effort to write about the awesome power the Spirit filled Christian would possess, after they “puton the LordJesusChrist”…  I explained this piece of scripture as follows…

“But puton the LordJesusChrist”, in the opening scripture…means that the Christian has humbly decided to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit…  Their own agenda has been set aside, to place God and His will as most important in their lives…  To walk in the Spirit, all known sins have to be confessed, repented of, and turned from with reverent, heart-felt prayer…1 John 1:9…  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from allunrighteousness.  (NKJV)

I cannot leave this idea of putting on Lord Jesus Christ each and every day, to protect and empower the Christian…until it “It is Finished” in my own mind…  I started writing about this topic, because of a video I watched that was done by John Piper from www.desiringgod.org, that can be found at the following link…  http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/put-on-the-lord-jesus-christ-part-1 

I then listened to John Piper’s part 2 audio sermon, on what it means to “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ”…that can be found @ http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/put-on-the-lord-jesus-christ-part-2   …I would urge every reader to spend the time on both of these godly, life lessons by John Piper…but alas, very few of you, if any, will spend the time…

Today’s writing stems from one small piece of John Piper’s part 2 audio sermon; and is centered on “make noprovision for the flesh”…  The problem with the younger generation today, is that the morals of what is right and wrong in God’s eyes, is not compatible with the what they believe is acceptable in today’s denigrated and morally corrupt society… 

Friends, the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever…Hebrews 13:8…  What God teaches us in the Bible about sin, has not changed since the last Book of Revelation was penned by the Apostle John, towards the end of the first century A.D.

The sins of the world (including the lust of the flesh), were described by the aged Apostle John, in…1 John 2:15-16… Do notlove the world or the thingsin the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—thelust of theflesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.  (NKJV)

Many of today’s young Christians want to have their cake, and eat it too…  They believe they are good Christians, while at the same time they are drinking alcohol to a point where their mind and their body are no longer connected (Intoxication)…  Many young adults believe having sex of any kind outside of marriage is deemed to be OK, because this is, after all…“what healthy, young adults do”…

Unfortunately friends…there is scripture after scripture in the Old and the New Testaments, that reveal the acts of fornication and adultery to be sins in God’s eyes…  I cannot believe how many scripture verses (22), that I found at the following link, which are found in the Bible about fornication and adultery…  http://christianity.about.com/od/Bible-Verses/a/Adultery-And-Fornication.htm  

God created sexual intercourse to be a beautiful thing between a married man and his wife…  Anything else in the way of sex outside of the bonds of matrimony (or any sin, for that matter), is a sin that will separate the Christian from walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), in sweet fellowship with the Lord…because any sin left unconfessed, turned from, and repented of…will grieve the Holy Spirit…Ephesians 4:30…

The temptations to drink to the point of intoxication…or to partake in sex outside of marriage…or any other temptation to sin…all start with an evil desire in our mind…  It’s not a sin to be tempted…it becomes a sin if the desire in our mind progresses into a sin…James 1:14-15… But each one istempted when he is drawnaway by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, when desire has conceived, it givesbirth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.  (NKJV)

This is where the Christian must remain strong by the full power of the Holy Spirit…to combat the spiritual warfare the Christian will face each and every day, because of their fleshly carnal desires, and the temptations to sin that Satan is so masterful at disguising…  

I often write about God’s 6 pieces of spiritual armor, which the Apostle Paul describes, in…Ephesians 6:10-20…to combat Satan’s attacks…  The Apostle Paul speaks of putting on “the armor of light”, at the same time he tells the Ephesians (and Christian today) to “puton the LordJesusChrist, and make noprovision for the flesh, to fulfill itslusts”, in the opening scripture…

Romans 13:12b-14… Therefore letus cast off the works of darkness, and letusputon the armor of light. ¹³ Let us walkproperly, as in the day, notinrevelry and drunkenness, notinlewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. ¹⁴ But puton the LordJesusChrist, and make noprovision for the flesh, to fulfill itslusts.  (NKJV)

Christians that are engaging in “drunkenness,” and/or“inlewdness and lust” through illicit sex outside of marriage…have to choose between satisfying their own selfish desires of the flesh…or pleasing their Lord and Master, Jesus Christ…  For me, this is a “No Brainer”, because I have experienced my life now with Christ in control (most of the time – praise the Lord !!), providing God’s richest blessings…vs. a life where I was in control…where my God given supernatural peace and the joy from being Spirit filled (Ephesians 5:18-20), were gone…

God promises that He will chastise and/or scourge His wayward redeemed children (Hebrews 12:5-11)…until they hopefully become trained by it, and become God’s obedient children once again, in...

Hebrews12:11…  Now nochastening seems to be joyful for the present, butpainful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to thosewhohave been trained by it.  (NKJV)