Presenting
the Body
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.
—Romans 12:1
It is the inward man—not the outward man—that becomes a new
creature in Christ. We still have the same body we had before we became a new
creature. What we must learn to do is to let that new man on the inside of us
dominate. With that new man, we control the flesh and do something with our
bodies.
Let's look again at Second Corinthians 5:17 which says,
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new." One translation reads,
"If any man be in Christ, there is a new self...."
Sometimes in churches we hear people talk about "dying
out to self." There is no such statement in the Bible. We don't need to
die out to self if we have become a new self. What we need to do is crucify the
flesh. The Bible does talk about that.
Crucifying the flesh is not something God does for you. It is
something you do for yourself. "I beseech you therefore, brethren,"
Paul wrote to the Church, "by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies ..." (Rom. 12:1).
Who presents your body?
You do.
Who is you?
That's the man on the inside who is born again, and has
become a new creature.
You do something with your body. If you do not do something
with it, nothing will ever be done with it.
1 CORINTHIANS 9:27
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway [disapproved].
Here Paul is talking about the fact that he does something
with his body. "I keep under my body. I bring it into subjection."
Who is I?
That's the real man—the real Paul—the man on the inside who
has become a new creature in Christ Jesus and is filled with the Holy Spirit.
"I do something with my body. I keep it under. I bring it into
subjection."
What did Paul bring his body into subjection to?
To the inward man. Instead of letting the body dominate the
inward man, Paul saw to it that the inward man dominated the outward man.
Now notice this. Here is this great apostle, this holy man of
God, this man who wrote half the New Testament, a man who is a spiritual
giant—yet evidently his body wanted to do things that were wrong. If it hadn't,
he would not have had to keep it under. He would not have had to bring it into
subjection.
Just because your body wants to do wrong, doesn't mean you
are not saved, or that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. (If that were
the case, Paul was not saved.) You will have to contend with the body, the
flesh, as long as you are in this world.
"Brother Hagin, I want you to pray for me," one man
26 How You Can Be Led By The Spirit Of God
said. "What for?" I asked. I like to know what I am
praying for.
A look of seriousness, even tears, came to his eyes, "I
want you to pray that I will never have any more trouble with the devil."
I said, "Do you want me to pray you will die?"
"No, no, I don't want to die."
I said, "The only way you won't have any more trouble
with the devil is to get out of here and go on to Heaven."
You will have problems with the devil as long as you are in
this life. You will have problems with the flesh as long as you are in the
flesh. But, blessed be God, the means, the ability, and the authority have been
given to you through the Word of God to deal with the devil and to deal with
the flesh.
Paul did not let his body dominate him. The man on the inside
that was born again and filled with the Holy Spirit—must dominate the outward
man.
You can do it. What I want you to see is this—you are the one
who must do it. Paul did not say God would do it for you. He did not say the
Holy Spirit would do it for you. He said, "You present your bodies."
He said, "You be not conformed to this world." He said, "You be
transformed by the renewing of your mind." You present your body. You do
it. You get your mind renewed with the Word of God. You do it.
The life and nature of God is inside your spirit. Let that
man on the inside be the dominant one. Listen to him. It is the spirit of man
that is the candle of the Lord. It is through your spirit that God will guide
you.
Source: How-to-be
led-by-the-holy-spirit by Kenneth E. Hagin
