C. S. Lewis said, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” The Lord strategically uses our suffering. It is never wasted. 

He is our example of endurance while suffering. Hebrews 12: 2 says, “…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…” Eternal life with Him is our joy.

In Romans 5:3, Paul gave great instruction for enduring. The Amplified says, “Moreover (let us also be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18. We endure by looking beyond our temporary ‘light affliction’ to the things that are not seen. Hope ~ the anchor of our soul.

Romans 8:17 says, “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” As I was meditating, I had a view of suffering I had not had before. 

When we forgive someone who has hurt us, we choose to bear the consequences of their sin against us without retaliation or bitterness. That is, according to Matthew 18:35, forgiving them from our heart. Jesus suffered under that same sin as He bore it on the cross ~ He forgave all past, present, and future sins regardless of the offense.

Verse 18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Sufferings: hardships, rejections, broken relationships, trials, afflictions, adversities, loss, and persecutions. We are called to endure. Hebrews 10:36

Therefore, any area of our spiritual life that defeats us, is a flesh-nerve that needs to be cut. By flesh-nerve I mean fleshly reactions. We wonder where they come from because they don’t seem to come from a thought. That’s the deception.

When we are deceived we don’t realize we are. Hebrews 3:13 says that the deceitfulness of sin hardens our heart. That means we grow callous over the hidden area. It makes us cynical and jaded in our thinking. It opens us to spiritual barrenness.

The great news is that God’s word can cut through that callous. Nothing is impossible for Him. I encourage you to lay your fleshly reaction before the Holy Spirit. Ask Him why you reacted the way you did. He will reveal the hidden. He will lead us into the truth that will set us free and keep us free ~ bringing the needed course correction.

Romans 8:12 in the J. B. Phillips says, “…to live life on the level of the instincts. Indeed that way of living leads to certain spiritual death. But if on the other hand you cut the nerve of your instinctive actions by obeying the Spirit, you are on the way to real living.”

Ephesians 4:22, 24 says, “That you put off, concerning your former conduct…and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Medical surgery can cut a nerve that renders a part of the body useless and non functioning. God’s scalpel, the word, is so precise that He is able to split between our soul and spirit, and discern our thoughts and intentions. When we walk in the Spirit, we are walking in the truth of God’s word. It is always at work to discern our thoughts before we think them.

I was meditating on Romans 8:13. It says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Galatians 5:19-21 lists 17 works of the flesh.

Rather than list them all, I am choosing some that we might more readily fall into in our thoughts. Thoughts always precede actions. When we stop a fleshly thought, we escape the snare of the devil. Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, and dissensions.

Here is my paraphrase. When we live and walk by the Spirit, any temptation to react in our flesh will be instantly quenched. 1 John 5:4 says, “…the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Temptations to activate our flesh are designed to weaken our faith. Walking in the Spirit ~ resurrected life empowerment.

Habakkuk 1:13 says, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon wickedness…” David beheld Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 11:2. Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes…” In Job 31:1 he said that he had made a covenant with his eyes.

What are you reading, watching, and beholding that is contaminating your spirit man? The enemy prowls around. He looks for chinks in our armor. Peter wrote out of experiential knowledge. 1 Peter 5:9 says, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith…”

Every temptation is designed to destroy our faith. James 1:14 says, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” Remember Sampson? 

The enemy said, “…Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him…” Judges 16:5. Sampson was unbridled in his lusts. He was drawn away with his own desires and enticed.

1 Corinthians 10:13 is a very well known verse. It says, “…with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” The way is to flee. Though most of you reading these devotionals are not youth ~ this verse still applies. 

2 Timothy 2:22 says, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” In my daily reading I am in 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 6:17 says, “…come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean…” 7:1 Amplified says, “…cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles the body and spirit…” Contamination permeates. Leprosy, which represents sin, goes systemic. Our cleansing agent is God’s pure word. Hebrews 4:12 says that it pierces in order to discern our thoughts and intentions.

Meditating ~ thinking through the truths of Scripture in a systematic way. It is line upon line. Isaiah 28:10. It is not mindless, it is purposeful, mindful, and intentional. It is very focused and strategic.

Have you ever listened to someone talk and your mind wandered? Then they asked you a question and you never heard them. Why? We did not discipline our mind to stay on task. Isaiah 55:3 says, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” 

Incline means to listen favorably. Tuning out a truth will cause us to veer off course. Paul said that he preached the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27. When we read God’s word systematically, we are bringing in His whole counsel. Picking and choosing what to believe will bring us into doctrinal error. Meditating organizes our mind through disciplined thought patterns.

We lose peace when we are in the flesh. It is a signal that we need to course correct. A caustic mindset is an internal stronghold. It is demonically influenced through thoughts that control us. They seep into our thought processes. The dictionary says that a mindset is an established set of attitudes held by someone. 

Prejudice is a mindset that can be passed down through generations. Habitual negative thinking is a mindset fed by the lies we have believed. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”

As we meditate on God’s word, His sharp two-edged sword pierces through to discern our hidden thoughts and intentions. Meditating will set us free from the lies we have unknowingly believed. It is bringing the word in, and chewing it thoroughly so that our heart can digest it. Meditating transforms ~ spiritual metamorphosis. 

The world’s way of meditating is to not think. When I am meditating on Scripture, I am constantly thinking. I’m matching up and connecting truths that correlate to the part of the verse I’m meditating on. 

I finished memorizing Romans 6. Once I memorized it I was able to sing it, and personalize it. That was my goal. Personalizing Scripture drives home the truth in an impactful way. Let me give you an example.

‘Shall I continue to sin so that grace may abound? Certainly not! How can I sin when I died to sin? It is only because I have momentarily forgotten that I was buried with Christ Jesus in the baptism of death.’

I meditate while I am eating. I am chewing the word at the same time I was chewing my food. I started meditating on Romans 8. Walking according to the flesh: fleshly mindset, enmity against God, cannot please God.