Mortify The Desire of The Flesh!

Read the following excerpt from Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 -10:

5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

A couple words I'd like to elaborate of their meanings:
inordinate = Exceeding reasonable limits; immoderate, excessive
concupiscence = A strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.

I was listening to a daily devotion for children. It mentions about the consequences of sin.

As human, we tend to make excuses for our mistakes (just like Adam or Eve). However, "these excuses won't change the fact that we have disobeyed." And of course, this can lead to God's wrath.

Well, Paul have clearly said that we have to mortify our fleshly desire. And the word "mortify" means 'to discipline (one's body and physical appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation'. Paul didn't stop there, but he also continues to explain how we can mortify the deeds of our flesh, which is to put off the 'old man' and put on the 'new man' in us.

Our mind has to be renewed and transformed to the likeness of Christ. We should no longer live our lives the old ways when we didn't know Christ. But, we should strive to please God with our body, soul, and mind.

We should listen to what the Spirit have to say.

To break the chain off of addiction whether it is to drugs, smoking, alcohol, anger, etc. will be almost as impossible if we do it with our own strength.

I am battling a type of addiction myself. However, I remember that day when I invited Jesus Christ into my life. The addiction went gradually disappearing.

At times, the temptation might come to us again. No one say that it takes only one Knocked Out punch.

Christ is on our side now. He is our faithful trainer. He is our faithful medicine man. He will care for us until we finish the game. However, our trainer won't let us just stand there in the middle of the ring acting like a punching bag.

Jesus, our trainer wants us to fight back. He wants us to evade. He wants us to run around. He wants us to punch back and knock the enemy out.

As Ephesians 4:27 says, "Do not give the devil a foothold." It continues on to Ephesians 5:15-21, "15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

Remember be filled with the Spirit.

Jesus loves you.