Jesus lived the perfect life while here on earth. He provided, through repeated action, the key to understanding how one is to succeed in the battle between flesh and spirit that has raged since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Jesus continually lived with this attitude toward the Father: ‘thy will be done’ as demonstrated by His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-44).
Another implied these same words in the first garden, the Garden of Eden, when he informed mankind that ‘they could be as God’, which brought about the very battle discussed here: Who is the object of the statement, “thy will be done?” The flesh, now energized by the lie that man can be as God, wants man to say to himself, thy will be done. The spirit, made new by faith in Christ, wants man to say to God, thy will be done. Therefore, the epicenter of right and wrong stems from the ‘focal point’ of the statement, “thy will be done.”
On that fateful night, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three times to the Father that the cup He would soon partake of would pass Him by, and three times He ended the prayer with the words, “thy will be done.” These four words hold the key to eternity. Yes, Jesus is the gate through which man must travel to the Father, but He will only be found if one realizes that God is God and He desires that man sees Him as God. Therefore, belief in God is the key that opens the gate which leads to eternal life with God.
Remember, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom 10:17).” [1] Perhaps, this is why God would take walks in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. He simply wanted to commune with those He had created. These conversations obviously generated faith in Adam and Eve, else they would not have hidden themselves from God after they had fallen. After all, they remained spiritually alive as long as they focused on God as God the creator. Once they fell for the message of the deceiver and rebelled against God’s Word, they died spiritually, and from that point on, they only existed in the flesh.
Living only by way of the flesh is a condition that is hard for a born-again Christian to comprehend. After all, a Christian is spiritually alive and has the Spirit of the Living God dwelling inside. However, the flesh nature is not alien to the Christian since it was passed down to all who would come after Adam. Indeed, a daily battle is ever-present in which the believer must mortify the flesh and walk in the spirit. Paul described how one overcomes in this battle in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 8:13 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
With this in mind, the believer must daily decide to mortify the deeds of the body. One would be hard-pressed to find a better way to achieve this than to decide that God will be the focal point of the proclamation, “thy will be done.” Perhaps this is why the Psalmist wrote, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psa 118:24).
The raging battle over flesh and spirit is also on clear display in the last days’ church. Two primary groups are coalescing, and they are ironically energized by the same epicenter being discussed. One group is operating in the strength of the flesh, and they are reading into Scripture what they want it to say as they pursue world domination through movements designed to see the church as the preeminent force on earth. Sadly, many have fallen for their false doctrines, which are easily discerned because the focal point of their ‘thy will be done’ statement is directed toward man and not toward God.
The other group, led by the Spirit, sees the truth of the things transpiring on the earth for what they are: they are the very signs Jesus foretold of the last days.
Interestingly, Jesus did not say to build His kingdom when these things begin to happen. Instead, He said, “look up, for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28). Therefore, at the very end of the church age, which has clearly arrived based on the prophetic landscape on display, the Spirit-led church will have one central desire. In fact, the heart’s cry of the authentic ‘bride of Christ’ is “thy will be done,” which means these will be doing their very best to understand what God has said about these last days and reacting to what He has said. Presently, the Lord would have the bride looking up. Unfortunately, many are falling away from sound doctrine in favor of activities that are animated by the flesh.
Ironically, the 1st church of the flesh would be the first to proclaim that the church which is walking in the Spirit is too preoccupied with heavenly things to be any earthly good. Sadly, those operating from the flesh are expending great resources and energy toward activities that may actually only benefit the counterfeit church of the Tribulation period. This is why it is extremely important to know if something is energized by the flesh or Spirit. Determining if an activity is one directed by the Lord is actually very simple. All one has to do is examine the focal point of the ‘thy will be done’ statement of the activity. If the focus is on man, no matter how good the cause, it is of the flesh.
This may sound extremely harsh; however, God is not impressed by how much works someone does. Instead, He is concerned with how well someone follows His will. Another article, While We Wait, [2] deals with how the believer is to behave while waiting for the rapture. And the simple answer is, those who believe in God are to do all things as unto Him (Col 3:23). All is a very simple word that means exactly what it says, and in this instance, the apostle Paul is encouraging the body of Christ to do each and every thing as though it is for and to the Lord. This is the real dilemma of the fleshly motivated church; they are doing the exact opposite; they are actually doing everything they do for a particular cause or desired outcome.
Please hear this: if God has not built, whatever… it is built in vain (Psa 127:1). One particular movement is particularly alarming, so alarming that it merits further discussion.
Without naming names, it is important to deal with a mindset that has taken hold of many in the church today. In a nutshell, some have decided that it is the responsibility of the church to build the kingdom of God on earth so that Jesus can come to occupy said kingdom. This idea has one very large problem; it is not scriptural. Incredibly, many who propagate this madness do not even attempt to validate their plans and programs with Scripture. They simply, with a smooth tongue, project their ideas to the awaiting masses, and many have taken the bait. One has to wonder why it has been so easy for the leaders of these groups to be so effective. The answer to this question is two-fold.
First, the leaders are those who were projected to enter into the flock and, through deception, draw disciples away from sound doctrine and toward themselves. Paul, in fact, calls these leaders’ grievous wolves’ that will not spare the flock. Here is the passage:
Acts 20:28-31 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.”
Jesus also spoke of the false leaders as he encouraged the hearer to know the false by their fruits. Put another way, Jesus called the body to be fruit inspectors, for this is exactly how one will know the false. Here is the passage:
Matt 7:15-20 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
Second, the flock, because they have itching ears, which means they want to hear what they want to hear, will reject the advice of Jesus to inspect fruit; they readily accept the false leaders who present the opposite of sound doctrine as indicated by the warning from Paul to Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Notice both the leaders, in speaking perverse things, and followers, in their desire to hear the perverse leaders, have something in common; they each turn from the truth and toward a falsehood. These are acting just like the first couple in the Garden of Eden and listening to the other voice, Satan, who wants them to believe they can be the focus of the statement, “thy will be done.” Unfortunately, things will not work out well for either group. For the false teachers will meet swift destruction (2 Pet 2:1), and the followers risk pursuing the pernicious leaders onto the broad path that leads to destruction (Matt 7:13). It is no wonder that Jesus warned of deception more than any other end-times sign.
While it is true that the church is to be busy building the kingdom of God, the kingdom being built is a spiritual one. The physical kingdom from which Christ will reign in the millennium, He will build when He arrives. Therefore, the church is to be doing exactly what the church has done for nearly two thousand years, sharing the gospel of grace while looking up in an expectant manner, which only furthers the sincerity of the message being preached.
Think about this: if you walk up to a street corner and someone is looking up, you wonder what they are looking at. Indeed, you may be so curious as to ask what they are looking at. Of course, the Christian should have a ready answer to this question, which might sound like this: “I am looking for the Lord who has promised to rapture me.” The response will be varied; however, the idea that someone is actually looking up in anticipation of a rapture will have an impact, for sure.
Compare this to the projected message of those who are busy building the earthly kingdom for Christ. Undoubtedly, the observer would see people busy as bees trying to climb to the top of the world systems in an attempt to purify the world so Jesus will return. The observer would more than likely conclude that the latter group, because it is more focused on mission than Christ, is all about their organization. Therefore, the proper attitude can only come from having the right perspective, and that only comes from having the correct focal point for the statement, “thy will be done.”
At this point, you may be saying, “Boy, is he on a roll.” However, it is very important to remember that Jesus spoke of the future for both groups here defined. In one passage, He deals with the true and the false:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Notice that Jesus indicates that only those who do the will of the Father in heaven will enter into the kingdom. He also points out that simply doing things in His name such as prophesying, casting out devils, or even doing many wonderful works does not merit reward, in and of themselves. This is not to say these activities are bad. Instead, they only bring merit when pursued in direct obedience to the Lord’s will, which brings full circle the reason for this study in the first place. The very epicenter of right and wrong action is determined by the ‘focal point’ of the statement, “thy will be done.”
Conclusion
The battle between flesh and spirit rages, and the forces of good and evil vie for the attention of those who would hear. Sadly, many have and will continue to fall for the wiles of the devil, whose main weapon is deception. His ability to devour someone is only effective on those who fall for his most potent weapon of all, love of self. This is the root of a misdirected focal point. When one loves self more than God, the ‘thy will be done’ statement is pointed inward, toward self, instead of upward, toward God.
In these very last days before the rapture, it is vital to be about doing the Lord’s will at all times. Therefore, engage in the most fruitful endeavor possible: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness” (2 Tim 2:15-16).
Website: In His Commission
March 17th, 2022
[1] “Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the King James Version.”
[2] For better understanding, see the article, “While We Wait.“