“Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.” Rom.12:11 NLT
Today we will look at the third weight we should lay aside or avoid. “Some of the
materials here have been taken from Kenneth E Hagin’s mini book: Five Hinderances to
Growth in Grace” and the teaching of Nancy Dufresne on The Price of Double Portion
Anointing.
AVOID LAZINESS: Avoid being lazy towards your spiritual development. One of
the characteristics of those who are lazy towards growing in grace is the flesh
dominates them. They do whatever their body wants to do. “I discipline my
body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that
after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” 1COR.9:27.
Though your spirit has been born again, your body will want to keep
doing the things it used to do. To overcome this, you should let your spirit
take over and be the boss. Your spirit should dominate and lead your life. Your
spirit should be your master, your mind should be your servant and your body
should be your slave. The Bible teaches self denial, crucifying the flesh,
keeping the body under. “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
Matt.5:29. You are the one that will cut it out. God will not do it for you. It will
hurt when you cut it out but God will heal the hurt. Crucifying the flesh
includes cutting off wrong habits, wrong ways and worries that are hindering
your spiritual growth and development. If something you are doing does not
glorify God cut it off because the scripture admonishes us to do all things to
the glory of God. Rom.12:1 advises us to present our bodies to God as a living
sacrifice for this pleases or glorifies Him. Use your body in a way that God can
operate through you. Present your body to do what the scripture instructs us
to do. Do not present your bodies to sin. Rom.12:2 admonishes us to renew
our mind or take on God’s way of thinking which is His word. We should not be
lazy in dealing with our body and mind. You should not be lazy in serving the
Lord. Once we are saved our works matter. Do not spend your time doing
things that does not produce something for the kingdom. Busyness does not
equal to productivity.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Prosperity is the ability to use God’s power to meet the needs of mankind —-
Kenneth Copeland.