BIRTH: The Art of Dealing With The Flesh and Spirit

Greetings and Salutations at the beginning of Lent. Is it almost over? Oh...it's only been two days. Lord...HELP!

On August 15th 2011...I will be celebrating my day of birth. I will be 60 years old. If I live to be 120 years old...I would be considered to be middle aged. I've got a feeling...that I am over the middle aged mark at this point in the game. My friend...Chip Payne...recently celebrated his 5oth birthday...and it dawned on me...that when he turns 60 years old...I will be 70 years old. That just AIN'T right.

Back on August 15th 1951...my mother Elizabeth Boyd gave birth to a boy at Allen Clinic in Murfreesboro Tennessee.

NOTE: At this point...let us focus on picture #1 and all join in with a collective Awwwwwwww....how cute.

This birth was the result of the union of Lonnie and Elizabeth Boyd 9 months earlier...and the cause and effect was pregnancy...and the culmination of BIRTH. Flesh (human beings)...gave birth to flesh (another human being). This does follow the Biblical principle...John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh...is...flesh..."

For the next 19 years...I went from a bouncing baby boy...to a skipping skinny kid. My life was shaped by my environment including my parent's values... my friend's peer pressure...the good, the bad, the ugly...religious upbringing...my free will and choices I made based on my flesh (not my body...but my nature).

In the fall of 1970...I was a paranoid, addicted, selfish, individual (who followed the crowd like a lemming running over a cliff). Why is it that we want to be individuals...and then dress, walk, talk, act like everyone else?

In the fall of 1970 Brenda led me to the Lord...and I accepted Jesus as my Saviour...and boy did I need saving. At that point on the space-time continuum, I went from being born the first time...in the flesh...to being BORN AGAIN...in the Spirit. I had received a divine touch here on planet Earth... and John 3:3...and began to see the kingdom of God. "Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly...I say to you...unless on is BORN AGAIN...he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). I went from being born of the flesh...because flesh gives birth to flesh...to being BORN TWICE...where "that which is born of the Spirit (big S) is spirit (little s).


I could NOT change myself. I personally needed a divine touch. As of this writing it is March 10th 2011. I was born again in the fall of 1970. I wish that I could tell you that...I matured spiritually from then to now on a regular, consistent basis...but I can't. I have had many HILLS...and VALLEYS. I have been on the MOUNTAIN TOP (great spiritual times) and I have been in the depths of the VALLEYS (in the lowlands and dark times).

I have walked in the Spirit and experience life and peace...and I have walked in the flesh and experienced death (a disconnect from His presence). I can't blame God, people, situations and circumstances for my flesh walk. I can't even blame the devil..."The devil made me do it."

The same principle of my natural birth back in 1951...was...and sometimes still is in 2011... flesh gives birth to flesh.

"It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE...therefore...KEEP STANDING FIRM and do not BE SUBJECT AGAIN to a YOKE OF SLAVERY. (Galatians 5:1)

NOTE: A great warning written to believers who had been BORN AGAIN.


"For you were CALLED TO FREEDOM, brethren; only DO NOT TURN YOUR FREEDOM INTO AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE FLESH...but through LOVE...SERVE ONE ANOTHER." (Galatians 5:13)

NOTE: Spirit walk can turn into flesh walk by a turning. It is not our calling to walk in bondage...but to walk in freedom.

"But I say...WALK BY THE SPIRIT...and you WILL NOT carry out the DESIRE OF THE FLESH. For the FLESH sets it's desire against the SPIRIT...and the SPIRIT against the FLESH...for these are IN OPPOSITION to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." (Galatians 5:16)

NOTE: Paul is writing to believers...who are struggling with the things of the flesh and Spirit.

That speaks to me of my struggles over the years. When I WALK in the FLESH...versus WALKING IN THE SPIRIT...flesh gives birth to flesh...versus...Spirit giving birth to spirit.

I will either be in the flesh...and the deeds of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)...OR be in the Spirit and having growth with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)

The way that this GROWTH PROCESS takes place in my life...is by death. "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus (that would be me and you via being BORN AGAIN)...have CRUCIFIED THE FLESH...with its PASSIONS and DESIRES." (Galatians 5:24) Once the flesh crucifixion takes place...then we must LIVE AND WALK BY THE SPIRIT. "If we LIVE by the SPIRIT...let us ALSO...WALK BY THE SPIRIT."


The way that we crucify the FLESH...is to IDENTIFY with the work that Jesus did...that we could NOT do. "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me...and the life which I NOW live in the flesh (physical body)...I live BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD...who loved me and delivered Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20).

We crucify our flesh and walk in the Spirit by faith in what HE DID...not what we do. Paul stated that "...I die daily..." speaking not of him dying for his own sin...but again...accepting what Jesus did in Galatians 2:20.

Paul questions some people who started out in the Spirit...but now were trying for perfection in the flesh.

"You foolish Galatians...who has bewitched you before whose eyes JESUS CHRIST...was publicly portrayed as CRUCIFIED? This is the only thing I want to find out from you...did you RECEIVE THE SPIRIT by the works of the Law...or by HEARING WITH FAITH? Are you so foolish? Having BEGUN BY THE SPIRIT...are you now being PERFECTED BY THE FLESH? Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? So then...does He who PROVIDES YOU WITH THE SPIRIT and WORKS MIRACLES among you...do it by the WORKS OF THE LAW...or by HEARING WITH FAITH?" (Galatians 3:1-5)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Flesh gives birth to flesh...Spirit gives birth to spirit. During this Lent season...this is my primary desire...to SAY NO TO THE FLESH...AND SAY YES TO THE SPIRIT...in my spirit, my soul, and my body. The flesh must get into line with the Spirit...and this time is where..with the HELP OF THE HELPER (The Holy Spirit)...I can discipline myself for the purpose of godliness. (I Timothy 4:8-16)

Love and Spirit-Filled Kisses
Rodney "Change My Heart O God" Boyd