Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24.

Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:

If you want the good life of freedom and joy that I planned and prepared for you from eternity, then it is time for you to draw the line and put an end to putting up with the deeds of flesh. It is time for your born again spirit to take authority, it is time to let My Spirit that I give to you take the lead and pull the helm with you.

It is time to step up to be who I made you to be and reign in life through Christ Jesus your Lord. It is time to walk in the Spirit and put an end to the flesh running your life and tormenting your mind and body. How long are you going to put up with and coddle your flesh? It is time to crucify it with Christ and lay it to rest. It is time to enter My rest and stop being run around by your flesh.

The Israelites missed the good life I prepared for them in advance with beautiful cities, houses filled with good and valuable things, lush vineyards and fruit trees, and flowing wells that they did not build, fill, plant or dig all theirs for just going in. Why? They gave in to their flesh and feared, whined, cried, and foretold disaster because they did not see it as theirs but as unattainable in the strength of their flesh. Their flesh was not comfortable without first seeing it handed to them physically to even step in to take possession of property guaranteed to them since the time of their father Abraham. They saw that as beyond their reach, stating that they saw themselves as grasshoppers compared to the stature of the inhabitants of the promised land.

But they should have seen by the wonders I performed to redeem them from slavery in Egypt and to feed, protect, and guide them to the promised land, which were impossible in the flesh realm, that there was more going on than met the eye. There was power beyond all the power in the flesh realm at work in the spirit realm and My power was favorable to them as My own Covenant people. They had even witnessed My glory filling the tabernacle and leading them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.

But they were defeated by their flesh, which resulted in doubt and unbelief. Their flesh caused them a faith failure that deprived them of connecting with My promises.

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.  But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:12-19.

Walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh is the same as when I tell you to walk in faith and not by sight.

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. Hebrews 4:1-2.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word but if your flesh rejects My Word, which is Spirit and life, the connection is missing and the power and the blessing I long to give to you cannot pass through to you. And not believing My Word and rejecting it is disobedience, which is sin. That is exactly what Adam did that took him out of the blessing of My rest on the seventh day to a life of corruption and toil with an angry and unforgiving earth for the curse he had allowed to enter all.

So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:9-11.

You block and shut out of your life the blessings I long to give you when you reject My Word in doubt and unbelief, which is of the flesh and leads to fear. Many say I do not heal or bless them with good things, but this is not true, I have already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Heaven, for all good things given and perfect gifts originate in Me and come down to you by grace which can only be received by faith. All blessing originates in Spirit, for I am Spirit, and is received by your spirit and then manifests in the flesh. The same with all creation, it originated in My Spirit and then was spoken into the earth and manifested into the physical through My Spirit releasing it. Walking in the Spirit is all intertwined with faith for without faith you cannot receive anything. The righteous must live by faith, for you even receive the gift of righteousness by faith in the finished work of Jesus which is only understood in the Spirit.

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:35-39.

If you shrink back and limit Me from blessing you by doubt and unbelief, this does not please Me. Why? Because it is the number one blessing blocker and I have blessed you since the day I created you. It is the first words I spoke to Adam and Eve. The very first words they ever heard were words of blessing—the empowerment I spoke into them to prosper, be fruitful, increase, take dominion, and rule and reign with Me over all I had made for them to enjoy. I made everything for you to richly enjoy, not to torment you, evade you, and burden you. Life was not meant to be toil. My blessing makes rich and adds no sorrowful toil with it. My plan from the start was that there would be no one poor, feeble, sick, or tormented among you.

However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. Deuteronomy 15:4-5.

And when I redeemed them from slavery in Egypt by My outstretched arm, as I do now for you in Christ, I proved this.

Then He brought them out with silver and gold, and among His tribes there was not one who was feeble or stumbled. Psalm 105:37.

And I kept them well and strong and led them out to lead them into My promised land, and this gave Me joy.

He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to illumine by night. They asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; it ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word with Abraham His servant; and He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout and singing. He gave them also the lands of the nations, that they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor, so that they might keep His statutes and observe His laws. Praise the LORD! Psalm 105:39-45.

But the Israelites did not praise Me in the wilderness, they complained about My gracious care and gifts. Nothing was good enough to please them. The Israelites limited Me and even their children never received all the goodness I had prepared for them. And it all had to do with giving in to the flesh. I even explained that to My prophet Habakkuk when he questioned Me about their wanderings, oppression and suffering, like sheep without a shepherd. And yet I am the shepherd of Israel, and in My Son, I am the shepherd of the church, which is open to all who believe in the good news of the forgiveness of their sins and the restoration of the blessing in Christ Jesus for all who will receive that with faith.

Then the LORD answered me and said, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by faith.” Habakkuk 2:2-4.

You have to decide whether  you are going to live by the spirit or by the flesh, but you cannot mix them. A double minded man cannot expect to receive anything.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8.

I want you to have and enjoy life to the fullest and you can only live free if you make a decision to deal with the flesh. If you are not determined in this, the flesh will continue to dominate you for that is your default mode that you inherited from the futile life of your ancestors in the flesh. And to keep the flesh under your spirit takes vigilance. It is like being a law enforcement officer over yourself. It is like a parent taking authority over a child to raise him in the way he should go so he may have a successful life.

And that is what denying yourself and taking up your cross is all about. That is what the narrow gate and the way to life is all about. It is about crucifying your flesh with its fits, tantrums, passions and desires and instead bearing the fruit of the Spirit, which will give you a life of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is about being freed of the slavery to sin and death and released to the abundant life I have promised you.

How long before you rise up out of the dust, shake off the chains, and live in the light of My glory that I am shining on you? I have rescued you out of the realm of darkness and transferred you to the Kingdom of My beloved Son. I have been please to give it to you.

It is time for you to grow up and put your childish ways aside.

In Jesus I condemned sin in the flesh, it is nailed to the cross and you are free. Do not let it rise again in your flesh, put it down under your feet where I have put it when I seated you above with Christ at My right hand when your spirit was reborn to resurrection power.

BUT HOW DO YOU CRUCIFY YOUR FLESH? NOT by fasting, not by beating it, not by abusing it, this will not crucify your flesh, it will only end up in rebellion but it will not change your mind because you are trying to overcome the flesh by the flesh. You can only do this in the Spirit. And I have told you in MANY places in My Word from the beginning to now. And it is simple sounding but it is not a onetime deal and your done. It has to become a lifestyle. And the answer is just five words, the number of grace, TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TONGUE.

For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says (in his words), he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body (flesh) as well. James 3:2.

You must speak faith and not doubt. You must speak the pure and not the foul. You must call those good and perfect things I promise that have not yet manifested in the physical realm as though they be and they will become, for what has been bound in Heaven you can bind on earth and what has been loosed in Heaven, you can loose on earth, for they are already spiritual realities you only need to call them out to release them by faith filled words into the earth.

And faith not only speaks but faith acts upon what is spoken with confidence.

The flesh wants to say and do things that hinder faith, it is time you stopped that nonsense and used your words with skill.

Do not let the fire of hell burn in your heart and kindle your tongue in venting your anger, fears, and frustrations, instead let the fire of My Spirit burn in your heart and kindle your tongue with the fire with which My Son came to release into the earth.

And how do you get the fire of My Spirit to light your inner lamp and burn in your heart? The same way Jesus did for the two depressed and fearful disciples headed out of Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day I raised Him from the dead. By hearing My Word explaining Jesus in the Scriptures from the Torah to the prophets to all the Scriptures, and, in My Word, seeing all I have done for you in Him, who you are in Christ, made their cold hearts melt and burn, fanned into flame by My Spirit in the revelation of My Words and they could not hold it in. Those two disciples were so energized they ran all the way back to the upper room in Jerusalem to tell the good news in a fraction of the time it took them to walk out there.

Just ask My prophet Jeremiah about the fire: “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts . . .  but if I say, “I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,” then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.” Jeremiah 15:16; Jeremiah 20:19.

Take My Word as the food for your soul and grow thereby until it so fills your heart that your mouth follows. The mouth speaks (leaks) what fills your heart.

I love you. It is time you took control of your tongue and your life will become what I planned for you from the start, a place of shalom peace.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8-9.