"Wanting To Obey" -2

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5) I am confident that Paul had no problem with the things of the flesh after being stoned to death (Acts 14:19 & 20), and having been in the presence of the Lord for a moment (2 Corinthians 12:2-5); however, he still had to deal with desires of the flesh, which were the things that were given over to the opportunity to obey. Strange concept, I know, but if you think about it, our desire for the things of the flesh is the only way to prove that we are not minding the things of the flesh. Did that make sense? In other words; if we have the opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do in us, which is to strengthen us through His power, we are more than confident that He will accomplish it, time and time again. However, when we fail to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, we give way to the desires of the flesh being fulfilled again, and again. This I think can be seen in the statement Paul make in 2 Corinthians 12:5, "Of such a one will I glory (speaking of his out of body experience); yet of myself I will not glory (speaking of his fleshly body), but in my infirmities (speaking of those things that cause him to depend upon the Lord)". So, even though the flesh can cause us to stumble, in the light of obedience, it causes us to be strengthened in the Lord. This is where faith comes into play in a mighty way, because we must walk by faith, knowing that Jesus Christ has forgiven us of any trespass against Him, and accepting our infirmities as what they are: little pricks that keep us on our knees! Now then, we must look at something that I saw last night; which was in a dream, but could have been a vision; I don't know. Anyway; the power that we have to be obedient, which is not of us, is by His Spirit; the desire that we have to be obedient, is also not of us, but is provided by His Spirit living in us; ours is to earnestly seek to be in the Spirit, which will ensure that we do not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Doing this is the way that we are assured to have no condemnation, because condemnation comes from sin, and sin is the product of disobedience. Because of this fact, we desire the things of the Spirit; knowing that it is by His Spirit that we are going to be obedient, therefore we are after the Spirit as our helper to prevent us from walking in the flesh. The whole point of not walking in the flesh, is that we are not desiring to fulfill the desires of the flesh; which is where we get into trouble! As soon as we begin to plot a way to fulfill the desires that we might have, we give glory to the things of the flesh over the things of the Spirit; which can then lead way to fulfilling those desires because we have stopped earnestly seeking to be powered by the Spirit, and have given power over to the things of the flesh. Herein is the motivation which is towards us: "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10)