How to Die to Self/the Flesh

HOW TO DIE TO SELF

“So then how do I die to self?” my husband asked me after we read together the first two messages given by the Holy Spirit. “I am not quite sure” I replied but I am asking God. I have thought about this topic long and hard over the years. There are bible scriptures that tells us what to do and what not to do, but the success rate to completely and truly die to self has not been high or even slightly evident at times. If reading these scriptures was all we had to do, would we have not all died to self already?

The apostle Paul admonish us in Philippians 2:12 to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We are to die to self, die to the carnal desires and passion that are within us. These desires and passions do not hold God as its supreme being; in contrary it is the esteemed character and ways of satan. This is not what the children of God should hold on to, yet this is a great struggle for many on a daily basis.

So I asked God “Papa how do I effectively die to self?” God shared one word with me “MOTIVATION”.

Motivation means (1) ‘the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way’, (2) ‘the general desire or willingness of someone to do something’. We do not for the most part lack general or average motivation in our life but rather we need consistent spiritual motivation. This does not come by solely committing our self to follow ‘out of fear’ but rather to follow out of love. This does not come by following the Ten Commandments and other instructions in the bible surface deep. Did not the Rich Young Leader say that he kept all the commandments of God already? Yet at the instructions of Jesus to sell all his possessions and give away everything to the poor and follow Him, he couldn’t. The bible says he walked away grieving for he had much possessions and he was not willing to depart from them.

He walked away grieving! Not much has changed among people from then to today. We often walk away grieving for not being able to die to the Old Man in order to serve God. We walk away grieving on many occasions when the flesh lash out at people, at our kids, at our husbands, at the store and even at work. The purpose we attempt to die to self is to be able to follow Jesus and ultimately gain Eternal Life. This is what the rich young ruler wanted, Eternal Life!!! Yet the stakes were too high for him, much like it is for many today. We are not ready to give up the satisfactions of life or lay down the stubbornness of the flesh and surrender all to God. Jesus told him, sell everything, give it to the poor, and FOLLOW ME!! This calling is the same for our lives today, FOLLOW ME!!! Like the rich young ruler many today lack the motivation to give up the world and Follow Jesus. Why would they do such a thing? Why should they do such a thing? Sounds familiar?

This is the sad reality of many professed Christians we live around. God Forbids! Can you imagine the result on judgement day among the professed followers of God? It will not be a good outcome, if we who hear today, do not learn and apply swiftly as we are taught.

Motivation, what is the motivation that we need to die to self, what is the motivation that we need to die to the carnal nature that separates us from god. Firstly we need to know who God is and fall in love with Him over and over again. Get to truly know God! {God’s call to us is to first get to know Him to Follow Jesus and learn of Him in order to be like him. We do not only focus on learning Christ’s acts or skills, primarily it involves 1. learning His life, 2. cultivating His mind and 3. learning His character}. Excerpts from Devotions of a Disciple!

Ephesians 4:20-24, “²⁰ But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

We must get to know who the God that we ‘believe in’ is. Who is He? As we start knowing who He is then we start learn of Him. This will make us to love Him and trust Him and then our reason and desire to die to self will be strong. We will have the grace as mentioned in Titus 2: 11 – 13 “¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

This spiritual motivation can only happen after we first get to know God, it is not based on a pretentious or false relationship with Him. It cannot be established by having a ‘barely there’ devotion mentality to God. Jeremiah 29:13 says “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”  EXB says “You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me”. This is not partial, it says with ALL of your heart. This is the first step, a vital step, in order for us to dye to the flesh/self. Your decision here will either yield life, life more abundantly and life eternal or you will experience both a first death and the second death as stated in the book of Revelations. This is your make it or break it step, this is your path to being either Hot or Cold or Luke Warm. You do not pass ‘GO’ (as in the monopoly game) if you are not successful with this step. It is simply a MUST for those that are serious minded and want to become Vessels, for those who want to hear “Thou good and faithful servant”.

We have to build an intimate relationship with God, being devout to Him, spending time alone with Him, spending time to pray with Him in the early morn as Christ did, speaking with God, learning to hear Him, listening with sensitive ears. These are the criteria’s needed in order to GET TO KNOW HIM and TO LEARN OF HIM. This is not an overnight achievement or relationship it gains strength and depth in the time spent in the secret place with God.

Psalms 91 speaks about ‘Dwelling in the Secret place’. What does it means to dwell? To ‘Dwell’ means “to live or continue in a given condition or state” Christ gives his treasures openly to those that dwell in the secret place with Him. Christ will meet you in the secret place. He made it clear that we should not be like the publicans or the Pharisees who do all their alms in the open for vein glory; but rather we should do our alms in the secret place of the Most High.

Matthew 6: 1 – 6 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. ² Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. ³ But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

⁴ That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. ⁵ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

IN THE SECRET PLACE… this is where God wants us to meet Him!

Being in His presence daily, continuously feeling Him as you go through the day. Having such a close connection with Him that you can feel the moment His presence is absent, you can feel the moment you draw away from the Father. It is sin that makes the Father turn away from us. Balaam knew this when he advised Balak on how to defeat the Israelites. This is not an activity those, who are not serious minded about Christ, will do! This is a step only those that are seeking God wholeheartedly will do! Where do you stand?  

So how exactly does spending time with God help us to die to self? Well, have you seen young love walking on the street lately [young couples]? Breeze can’t pass through them. Young Love have caused many of our young people to do funny, daring and even life threatening acts to be with the one they love. Nothing is too much to do when you are in love like this. When we spend time with God we get to know Him and we fall in love with Him. The song says “I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again, He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by, Oh what a love between the Lord and I, I keep falling in love with him over and over and over and over again” Amen Indeed we will !!!

As a result of spending intimate time with God we catch ‘Young Love Syndrome’ which for us is more like ‘TRUE LOVE SYNDROME’ (For God) whereby nothing is too hard for us to do for our God. Spiritually motivated by the love for God and of God we start wanting to do the things that will draw us closer and closer to God. We start wanting to find our self in His presence always, we start wanting to abide in His ways continually to have His presence permanently around us. To do this we have to let go of sin, but now that we are spiritually motivated, we are willing to do whatever it takes. Having learned from Titus 2:11-13 we will go to God’s mercy throne begging for the grace that will sustain us in God’s ways. It is no longer a heavy burden to let go of the things that separate us from God.

This is the kind of motivation that we need in order to make the conscious decision to die to self-daily. To die to the carnal state that we inherited from Satan after Adam gave him dominion over the world; when sin was introduced to the world and death became a part of our existence. When we love God and have this spiritual motivation it will be easy to follow Him in all His ways. It will be easy to cultivate His mind and be like Christ in ALL that we do. Working, serving, sharing, speaking, talking, it will all reflect Christ likeness. Living in the realms of the fruit of the spirit will be a task we long to do. It will be easier to be obedient to the principles of God and allow reproof, rebuke and even chastising.

Replacing our personal reactions, responses and attitude with that of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, longsuffering and meekness will help ensure that the old man is indeed left behind and that our vessels are being prepared for divine use. Without this love for God our motivation will easily burn out. It will not last, it will fade away, it will not survive the fiery tests which will make us pure gold. Self-effort will not last, it will grow weary and you will get tired. When you think of it even our own understanding is limited, Proverbs 3:5–6 tells us “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths”. Yes even our own understanding is limited.

We do things out of fear or out of love. If we do not love God we will not want to please Him. If we do things out of fear for God then we will do them grudgingly. Love, especially love for God only comes after first getting to know Him in the secret place.

Do you spend time with God?

Are you meeting Him in the secret place?

Have you gotten to know Him?

Do you truly love Him?

Can you say without a doubt in your heart that you keep falling in love with him over and over again?

Are you then motivated to do whatever it takes to follow and serve Him however He asks you to?

Scripture states many things that we ought to do: 

Love God. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

Love your neighbour as yourself. “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:31

Esteem others above yourself.  “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Philippians 2:3

Do good. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:17

Walk In Obedience. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:33

Be humble, patient and gentle. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

Serve and Follow. “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.” John 12:26

Spread the Gospel “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15

We are to live peaceable among all….

We are to obey the Holy Spirit….

We are to ask for forgiveness…

We are to forgive…

We are to be peacemakers…

We are to teach men to do good…

We are to love as God loves us…

We are to follow Christ’s steps and example…

We are to love our enemies…

We are not to lust or commit adultery or fornication…

We are not to kill or steal or lie…

We are not to envy or covet…

We are not to speak blessings and curse out of the same mouth…

We are to be His holy people…

We are to be His children…

We are not to serve money…

None of these would be too hard to do if we love God, if we love Jesus. Love indeed covers a multitude of sin.

The reality of our busy lives today leaves us with very little time to be in the secret place with God. Is it no wonder we find dying to self to be such a difficult task. If we cannot get this step right we cannot expect to receive more from God. We cannot skip this step, it does not work like that. Noah could not have been saved in the ark, if he did not first built the ark. It was his obedience to listen to the instructions of God, and not only listen to them, but also act on these instructions which resulted in the very ark that saved him, his family and the animals.

We must spend time with Him in the secret, we must learn of Him here and cultivate His character to become like Him. Through this love for our God, love that comes from spending time with Him, love that develops as we learn of Him and His unconditional love for us, love that He first had for us, for this love, we are motivated to do anything to please him.

Motivation in our lives will then mean “The love for God that makes us to act and behave in His likeness” or even “The love for God that gives us the desire and willingness to be like Him.”

Again:

“You will not be motivated to do the things required to die to self/the flesh for someone that you do not love.”

“You cannot love someone that you do not know”

“You cannot know someone that you do not spend time with”

PLEASE START SPENDING TIME WITH GOD TODAY!!!!

THIS IS A STEP YOU SIMPLY CANNOT AFFORD TO FAIL….

{Jesus called those disciples so that they should be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, heal and cast out devils. Being with Him is the priority. It is as they are with Him that they can be sent from Him and by Him to do any assignment for Him.} Excerpt from Devotions of a Disciple!

{And this kind of learning cannot be done afar off in the first instance. It demands total devotion to the Lord and unto being with Him in order for the purpose of discipleship to be accomplished} Excerpt from Devotions of a Disciple!

The apostles learned Jesus during His time on earth walking with them. After they learnt His ways by example then Acts says they were given ‘great power’. This did not come before they learnt of Him.

Today the Holy Spirit is here to teach us the ways of God through the Word of God. Here is where we learn by His written example. Like the apostles we must also first learn of Him.

Do not be eager to have power without first learning of Him!

First learn, then in being with Him, He will send you out as the apostles.

May God have Mercy on our lives and give us the time to learn of Him!