Suffering in the flesh?

When we understand what it is that suffering in the “flesh” means… how it all began, we are then able to understand much more fully the “lesson/message” of the bible.

When we look to the opening pages of the bible, we see that the “suffering in the flesh” was a direct result of having hearkened to the voice of another who was NOT GOD and when against what it was that Adam knew he was not to do.

The “suffering in the flesh” of Adam began within Adam.  His eyes were opened and he seen HIMSELF differently… he seen he was naked and for the first time was ashamed.  His “suffering in the flesh” was within him and as a result of what he was suffering within himself, he began doing things as a result of that “suffering in the flesh” for himself, his wife, and hid himself (or tried to) from God.

We can see that Jesus “way” … was to keep the commandments that God gave him… to do and say whatever it was that God gave him to do and say… without being influenced to turn away from doing so no matter what man said to him, did to him, or what other temptation that came upon him to try to convince him to do otherwise.

So when we look to what it is that the “suffering in the flesh” was.. we see that it was the direct result of hearing from God and knowing what it is that we’re to do from within ourselves and allowing someone, something, no matter what it is to influence us, tempt us, beguile us, manipulate us to TURN AWAY and HEARKEN TO THE VOICE OF ANOTHER.

When a person drawn of God to Christ, begins to put Christ’s teachings foremost in his own like, disciplining his daily living according to them, it is when we begin to see the level of “flesh” (another voice in our garden) that we’ve been “:hearkening” to one’s entire life.. and the influences of that “flesh” upon us and our actions and way of living… and turn from it and have it all “crucified”.

Each time that Christ, knowing what it was that the Father gave him to do and to say encountered other voices in the garden, the time of temptation, the Pharisees, people in the cities, even His own disciples, there was opportunity to “hearken to another” and as a result “suffer in the flesh” … or in other words suffer within himself as a result of having hearkened to the voice of another who was not GOD and based on something that was outside himself, rather than from within!

Try reading the commandments of Jesus Christ and keeping them today and you’ll find more and more “Christians” trying to convince you that they are not to be followed… that we don’t have to keep them today… and trying all they can to get people to turn from them and hearken to the voice of another…. so that is what the “flesh” is… that is where the “sin” originated… meaning it is the hearkening to the voice of another who is not GOD and doing what they say is to be done…. that we turn from what it is that God says is to be done or not done…

So yes, one has to put Christ and HIS teachings/commandments ahead of all the ‘flesh desires”… the desire of others in this garden with us….trying to tell us what it is that we are to do or not do to be like God, what it is that God knows or doesn’t know..that try to get us to question within ourselves what it is that we KNOW from the mouth of God and to go against that to do what they say… or serve “flesh” rather than God.

That is what Christ endured that wound up getting him nailed to the cross. He was not willing to hearken to the voice of any other… not willing to live by the “flesh” the words of any other …. and refusing to do so is how the “flesh” was crucified…. which happened with Jesus Christ long before the cross. For in the time of his temptation… before being sent out into the world….the “flesh” was crucified… for he refused to allow anyone or anything, no matter what promise or threat made .. nor how much he suffered as a result… to turn him from what it was that He knew God said to Him!!!

Peter was the same… he understood that when one is no longer willing to hearken to the voice of any other.. that one is hearing from God for himself, being taught of God and having God himself reveal to them what they are to do and not to do… and they are doing so… then they too have ceased from sin!!!

For as we’ve all heard and been taught from the beginning….. the “sin” that was done in heaven and on earth was to hear from the mouth of God what was to be done or not done.. and hearken instead to the voice of another and go against what it is that one knows for himself/herself from the mouth of God!!!

So if we are to end the “suffering in the flesh” that so many of us are experiencing today… if we are going to bring an end to the struggles that are happening within so many of us, and the people in our world, we’re going to have to understand the wonderful lesson from the pages of our own bibles of how that all began… what started it all… and not repeat it again and again.  We are going to have to trust what is within us… hearken not to the voice of any other in this wonderful garden here with us…. and understand that each and every time that we find ourselves “hearkening to the voice of another” who is not God, about matters pertaining to God, our relationship with God, what it is that God would have us to do, or what God knows, then as a result of doing so we will “suffer in the flesh”… we will “take on flesh” or “put on a covering that is not a covering” and be following the “way” of Adam… rather than the “way” of Christ!!