SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

Dealing with the Old Self

Words of Faith Final

Dealing with the Old Self
Words of Faith 5-24-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL    
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><<><

Genesis 28
    [18] Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. [19] He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
    [20] Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear [21] so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God [22] and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

        Jacob had grown up mainly thinking about himself and how he could get ahead. His name means "heal-grabber" and implied that he was a "trickster," always trying to cut corners or make an inside deal.  
        The irony is that Jacob had tricked those around him into giving him what God would give him anyway! Now, on the way to visit his Uncle Laban, Jacob had a dramatic dream and experienced the reality of God for the first time.
           How do you respond when you experience God's majesty and grace for the first time? Sometimes slowly. Jacob showed signs of slow change. He set up a pillar marking a place of worship and named the place Bethel. This was an awesome place to mark! But then he tried to strike a "deal" with God.
         Jacob said: "Dear God if you will bless me and watch over me, I will pay you off! I will cut you in for a tenth of all I gain. And I will even let you be my God."  One cannot help but smile.
           Of course, this prayer was not exactly a shining example of stewardship or faith, but it was a start. The truth is that our old ways often die hard. The "trickster" flesh was still active in Jacob even though God was at work in his life. God still had a great deal of refining to do.
         This is not to make excuses for clinging to the ways of the flesh, but we can certainly understand that growing to become who God wants us to be will take time. Thank God that He is patient.  
         As time went on, the people of God would clearly understand that it honors God to bring Him the firstfruits of harvest and blessing and not the last. They would learn that we don't make deals with God. We don't pay God for protection. And we don't bargain for Him to be our God.  
         The people of God would learn that we honor God with a tenth because it reminds us that everything belongs to God. We honor God with a tenth because it shows our faith that God will provide plenty through the other nine-tenths. But, for Jacob, it would take a while to get there. He still had some lessons to learn and some wrestling to do.
        Are you still operating in your old flesh (sin nature)? You don't have to. Change may come slowly as it did with Jacob, but we cannot simply excuse ourselves by saying, "This is just the way I am."  We need to recognize the old self and see the sinful nature coming out.  
        As we grow in Christ, we need to recognize the sinful nature when it rears its head. The acts of the sinful nature-- impurity, immorality, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissensions, and factions to name only a few (Gal. 5:18-19)-- must be put to death even if it is a slow death that takes some time.
           As the Apostle Paul put it, "we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it... but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Romans 8:12).  

            Dear Lord, I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Amen.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at http://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/cgi-bin/devotions/displayMonths.cgi
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -      
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.