We are coming closer to a time of God finishing the great work that He began in mankind since the beginning.
In order to finish the work, God has to get the right one to be seated in His temple.
“Then what is the problem?” We may think so and is quite natural.
But the problem is clear .It is the Evil one that is really doing the job in the temple of the Lord and he is the one who exalts himself in that temple as God. He is the one who is showing himself to be God in the temple of the Lord. The Bible is clear about where the temple of the Lord is.
The Evil one that operates in that temple is the one that causes the temple to be desolate or defiled. Bible says that the day of Christ will not come until the Evil one that is operating in the temple is changed and reinstated with Christ. This shows that the real problem is never external. It is always internal.
We think that our problems are external. We look outside, at things that are going on. We blame for what is external .It is this Evil one in us that has to be revealed and dealt with in order to solve the problem.
If you are going to solve a problem, you have to discover what the problem really is. Many people think something else is the problem. As long as your eye is on something other than what the problem is, you will never be able to solve the problem. . The only one who can do something about this Evil one in the temple, is the one who has the temple in his hand.
Bible clearly says , "Do you not Know that you are God’s temple , and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple ." 1 Cor 3:16-17. Anybody in that temple who is exalting himself as God is defiling it. Remember!!
Bible says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food: but God will destroy both one and the other . The body is meant not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." 1 Cor 6:12-13
Again Bible says "Do you know that your bodies are members of Christ?. Should I there fore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Do you know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said “ The two shall be one flesh”. 1 Cor. 6: 15-16,
Here the Bible is talking about the members of the mystical body of Christ (Church) And the harlot that you join with the body of Christ is your flesh. When the flesh determines what the body is doing, where it is going to go, what it is going to eat, and what it is going to wear, then the Evil in you is taking the governance of the temple. Thus we take the body of Christ and join it to a harlot, our flesh. Then we use our body for our own self-serving purposes rather than the original purpose for which it was made.
The body was made for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. If the Lord is going to use the body, it must be a holy body for His abode cannot be in unholy..
God cannot inhabit temples made with men’s hands. Therefore, He has prepared a temple, which is the work of His own hand. Our body is the expression of His own handiwork. We call it our body. That is why the Bible says, ‘Do you Know that your body is not really your body, it belongs to the Lord.’ It goes on to say in verse 17, "But any one united to the Lord becomes one spirit." It is a matter of which way we use the body. We can use it to join it to the flesh so that the flesh is leading the body. When we do that, it is being used by the man of sin to satisfy his lust, appetites, and desires. He is going after those meats which satisfy the hunger of his belly. We know that God is going to destroy both the meat and the belly. This body is not the permanent one; it is just a temporal one. God has put it like that to test our stewardship. He makes it very clear that if you join it to the harlot, then you are going to be one flesh, but if it is joined unto the Lord, it is one spirit.
If we are yielding to the Holy Spirit and are joined to the Lord, then our body is being used as a holy temple for God. He can have it as a holy temple in which His life can be made manifest right here in our mortal flesh. If we do not use it for the right purpose and we use it instead to satisfy our own appetites, hungers, and desires, then we are walking as enemies of the cross.
We hope that God will bring every one of us into subjection to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, in a holy state. We know that we have no ability to make it holy, but God surely does through His grace.
We are going to go one of two ways with the body: the way of life and the way of death: we are either going to join it to the harlot, and it is going to become one flesh with her, or we are going the join it to the Lord, and we are going to be one spirit with Him. Being one Spirit with Him is what we want to do.
To suffer in the flesh, rather than fulfilling the lust of it, is the toughest thing that we have to do. You have to be tough on the flesh, not one another. Our Church now really needs tough people who know how to deny themselves when it comes to denying the flesh like Parumala Thirumeni. It is a worldly man who cannot have a rule over his own spirit.
The Bible says, "Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self control “
(Pro. 25:28) and can be taken captive at the devil’s will. It is a Godly man that has rule over his own spirit and in the hour of temptation can endure the temptation.
"Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12)
I believe, God is going to have a strong people in this time. You might as well get ready for it. If you really plan on being a part of it, you might as well start arming yourself with this mind: he suffered in the flesh and we are going to do the same. He did it in the days of His passion to show the people in His day that it can be done. Keeping this in His mind Jesus reminded us “BUT THIS KIND DOES NOT COME OUT EXCEPT BY PRAYER AND FASTING”. Mathew 17:21 Apart from God it could not be done, so it is going to be a testimony that God is alive and that He is alive in you and that you are alive in Him through prayer and fasting on this great lent season.
Sin will rob your life. The wages of sin is death. You cannot serve sin and serve Him. This is why the Holy Orthodox Church tries to orient her faithful with this doctrine. The Church wants to orient you to a walk in the Spirit. After all, even if you believed everything that the Church taught, it would not do you any good unless you walk in the Spirit
