Our round kitchen table supports my eating, working, and reading. A three-legged pedestal supports the 60-inch tabletop. Imagine what would happen if it lost a leg. Trying to hold up one side of the table while trying to eat or type wouldn’t work. I’d soon give up and leave the table.
Jesus offers believers a full and satisfying life (John 10:10). But many Christians don’t experience that. Could it be we’re struggling to hold up our faith instead of using the spiritual legs God provides?
The New Testament talks about a Christian’s three-fold enemy—the world, the flesh, and the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3; James 3:15). God provides strategies to handle each area. Like the pedestal supporting my table, the three areas intersect and impact each other. However, it’s beneficial to make sure we aren’t ignoring any spiritual leg of support.
The World
The world here doesn’t refer to God’s creation. It speaks of the fallen world system under Satan’s control. This system hates Jesus and His followers and pressures us to conform to its standards. Unbiblical worldviews infiltrate every area of society, including churches. What support does Scripture provide?
- “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2 NASB 1995).The pressure to conform is so pervasive that we may not recognize our non-biblical worldviews. As I spent time in the Bible, I realized Jesus didn’t practice my Southern manners. I’d unknowingly been caught in the world’s subtle attempt to silence truth. Straddling the world and the Word causes double-minded instability.
- “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, ….For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:15-17 NLT). In contrast to the satisfying life Jesus offers, the world stirs up cravings for things that don’t gratify.
The Flesh
The flesh refers to the remnant of who we were before meeting Jesus, not our skin. Some translations call this the old nature or old self. While we’ve been crucified with Christ, the principal of indwelling sin lives on. Like a splinter in your foot, it irritates our spiritual walk.
We can’t tame the flesh, but the Holy Spirit empowers us to lay aside fleshly cravings and put on our new self (Ephesians 4:22-24).
- “But I say,walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. …But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:16-17, 22-23 NASB 1995).
- “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace” (2 Timothy 2:22 NASB 1995).
- “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Romans 13:14 NASB 1995).
We can’t flee the world, but we can flee situations that tempt our flesh and ban temptations from our homes.
As we walk in the Spirit, He guides, protects, warns, counsels, and empowers us to live holy lives. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer, but we must be continually filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) by submitting to His leadership.
The Devil
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7 NIV).
While we are to flee temptations, when we submit to God and resist the devil he flees from us. Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the whole armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil and his schemes.
From this brief overview, how is your foundation? Do one or more spiritual legs need strengthening? God provides all we need to live a good and godly life. Let’s use the spiritual legs He’s provided.
How is your foundation? Do one or more spiritual legs need strengthening? God provides all we need to live a good and godly life. Let’s use the support He’s provided. #SpiritualWarfare Click To TweetIf you live the Raleigh, NC area, I hope you’ll join me at Knowing God’s One Woman Conference where I’ll be speaking on “How to Recognize and Resist the Devil’s DARTS.”
Blessings,
Sometimes I link with these great sites:
#InstaEncouragements, #TellHisStory, #Let’sHaveCoffee, #Grace&Truth
Love this Debbie. My right leg has been feeling weak lately and I’m seeing my DIL PT who is helping me with strengthening exercises to restore my physical foundation. Your blog reminded me of the strengthening exercises needed in my life for my spiritual foundation. Also I loved the splinter analogy!
Stephanie, I started strength training last year to hopefully strengthen my bones. Instead of coasting as we age we have to be more diligent. That may apply to our spiritual strength too since our body and soul affect each other.
Thank you for breaking that down so clearly and beautifully.
Thank you, Ann.
Always enjoy ma’am, but this one is overflowing with “spiritual meat.” Those three legs are so important because when one weakens, the others will also begin to fail. As you noted, only two is imbalanced and will fail to remain upright. The same is true in our faith life also. If one area of our life succumbs to temptation, then each temptation afterward will become easier to fall into. Satan knows this and if we don’t detect and correct it, then he’ll begin attacking the remaining legs until we “haven’t got a leg to stand on.” While God will help us to strengthen our “legs of faith”, we have to be willing to submit to His divine strengthening. Like any exercise/strength-training program, there’ll be some initial pain as we begin to use and develop faith muscles we never knew existed.
J.D., you’re right. We rely on His strength and resources, but we have to exercise and use those faith muscles! Thanks for adding your insights.
Debbie, I love this image of spiritual legs that you’ve painted. What a disaster when one is wobbly … soon to be missing all together. I’m taking this image with me on this snowy February morning. Thank you.
Linda, stay warm, and thanks for reading.
Debbie, this is a great post about spiritual warfare and our three enemies – so often we blame everything on satan; but sometimes it is our flesh or our love for the world that is the real culprit. I appreciate all the scripture you shared.
Thank you, Jerralea. I think we forget to be on guard against the lure of the world and the lust of the flesh.
I know that my spiritual legs are always in need of strengthening. Your message provide strategies and encouragement for us to strengthen our knowledge, faith, and service. Thank you, Debbie, your messages are always informative and helpful for our journey.
Katherine, passivity doesn’t make a happy Christian, does it? Love hearing from you!
Debbie, great reminder that we must continue to renew or strengthen our spiritual legs. I know when I miss my exercise routine even for a few days, my muscles weaken and are sore the next time I work out! I think part of working out our own salvation is working out our spiritual muscles!
Donna, it is discouraging how quickly we can weaken. Our bodies are great reminders of our spiritual needs. Thanks for sharing.
Debbie, this is a wonderful and simple explanation of our spiritual foundation that anyone can understand. You’ve given me a practical evaluation tool. Thank you!
Thank you, Annie. God Bless!
I loved your message Debbie. It made me think about three friends together are like three strands twisted together is strong. Thank you for sharing
Yvonne, what a great connection. Now that you mention that, the number three seems to show up a lot in the Bible.
I appreciated this post, Debbie. May we remember we need to strengthen our muscles every day. Without doing so, they will weaken. We need to reading Scripture every day, allowing it to strengthen us and keep us steady. Your table is a good visual.
Yes, the world never stops bombarding us with its agenda. We need the daily washing of the word. Thanks, Joanne.