SOS! Help My Flesh Needs Discipline

The Anointing of Discipline

by

Dr. Creflo A. Dollar Jr.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the

King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible,

New Testament Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963,

1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NA9B are taken from The New American

Standard Bible Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963,

1968, 197. 1, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

SOS! Help My Flesh Needs Discipline

The Anointing of Discipline

ISBN 1-885072-16-3

Copyright © 1998 by Creflo A. Dollar Jr.

Creflo Dollar Ministries

P. O. Box 490124

College Park, GA 30349

Editorial Services provided by David Holland

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved under International Copyright Law

Contents and / or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any

form without express written consent of the Publisher

Table of Contents

Introduction. ............................................................5

Chapter 1

Your Expected End. .................................................7

Chapter 2

Discipline and the Anointing. .................................17

Chapter 3

Discipleship: A Life of Discipline. ...........................27

Chapter 4

The Making of a Disciple. .......................................33

Chapter 5

From Slothfulness to Diligence. .............................43

Chapter 6

The Role of the Will. ...............................................57

Chapter 7

A Disciplined Mind. ...............................................63

Chapter 8

Lasciviousness. ......................................................71

Chapter 9

Pulling Down Strongholds. .....................................77

Chapter 10

Sources of Strongholds. .........................................87

Chapter 11

Becoming a Person of Discipline. ...........................99

About the Author. ................................................103

The Sinner’s Prayer. .............................................109

Introduction

Lack of restraint, lasciviousness and the inability

to control one’s life and behavior, is a tool used by

the devil to distract believers and take their focus off

the Word of God.

When you sow to the flesh, you put yourself in

the position of having to face consequences for your

behavior. When you crown your flesh as king, and

govern your behavior based on the desires of your

flesh, the Bible warns that you will reap the results

of this decision. (Galatians 6:8)

You are a spirit, housed in a body and equipped

with a soul. As such, God never designed your

physical man to be in control. Rather, He intended

for you to develop your spirit in line with His Word,

in order to live a godly life rich in blessings.

There’s an anointing of discipline for your life

that will counteract the solicitation from the world to

engage in activities and practices that transgress the

Word of God.

If you’ve allowed your life to get out of control,

this book will give you insight and revelation as to

why it is necessary for you to modify your behavior.

My prayer is that the information contained in these

pages will renew your mind to the way God wants

you to live your life. It will take change to prepare

yourself for the abundance of His blessings.

The Bible says, “Let all things be done decently

and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:40) Child of God,

living a life of decency and order requires you to

operate in the anointing of discipline!

5

Chapter 1

Y

our Expected End

1

How are things going to end up for you? Have

you ever wondered about that? The vast majority of

the world's population doesn't have any idea how

things are going to turn out in their lives. They hope

good things will happen to them. They wish to live

prosperous, healthy lives filled with harmonious

relationships. But when it comes right down to it,

they don't know what to expect.

That should not, however, be the case for a

believer. According to scripture, as a child of God,

you can have "an expected end." God said so

through the prophet Jeremiah:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,

saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to

give you an expected end. (Jeremiah 29:11)

What does the Word of God mean by "expected

end?" Two things basically. First, it describes the

spiritual principle that you tend to get what you

expect. The end result you expect to get is the one

you're most likely to receive. That's why the way you

think, talk and act has such a powerful influence on

your quality of life. Faith and expectation are closely

linked.

Second, your expected end is the outcome God

wants you to have. The Word clearly states that

God's will is for you to be healed. His desire is for

you to walk in abundance and freedom from

bondage of any kind.

The good news is, in these last days more

believers than ever before are beginning to employ

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the biblical principles of faith that make that kind of

life possible. Teaching about the Anointed One

(Jesus) and His anointing has been proclaimed to

the Body of Christ. More of us than ever before are

beginning to experience the benefits of the burden-

removing, yoke-destroying power of the anointing.

The bad news is, the enemy, Satan, will surely

make a desperate attempt to keep as many of us as

possible from moving fully into these new realms of

power and freedom. The devil knows his time is

short. These are the last days. You can be sure he's

planning some type of deception designed to keep

believers from seeing their expected end.

Recently, in a time of intercession, the Spirit of

God gave me what I believe is a glimpse of that

planned deception. I'm convinced that Satan is

trying to use the weapon of slothfulness to short-

circuit the power of God in your life.

Webster defines slothfulness as "an aversion to

work or exertion; laziness; or sluggishness."

Of course, we don't hear the word slothfulness

used much any more. Now, the old King James

English word has been replaced by more modern

words. But the deeper reason is that we're living in a

culture in which slothfulness has become so

common that most people think it's normal.

If you, as a believer, are going to experience the

wonderful fullness of God's expected end for you,

you're going to have to go against the tide of this

present age and deal with slothfulness. If you're bold

enough to do so, you'll experience more blessing and

more accomplishment than you ever dreamed

possible.

Crowning the Flesh King

As I began to consider what the Lord had

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revealed to me concerning the enemy's weapon of

slothfulness in these last days, a picture began to

come into my mind. A picture of the contrast

between, a new believer and one who has slowly,

gradually slipped into the grip of slothfulness.

If you are like most Christians, immediately after

being born again, you found that you had an

amazing amount of zeal for God. You were in church

every time the doors were open. If someone was

holding a Bible study, you were there. Once you

heard the truth from the Word concerning tithing,

that was all you needed. God got His ten percent

right off the top, come hell or high water.

A regular quiet time? You better believe it! When

that alarm went off an hour earlier than usual, you

jumped out of bed and met God for a personal

power-encounter.

Sensitive to the voice of the Spirit? Yes sir! You'd

be in the grocery store when suddenly you'd sense a

prompting from the Holy Ghost to go and minister to

that person down the aisle... and you'd obey—

unquestioningly and unhesitatingly.

You’d saturate yourself with the Word of God—

listening to teaching tapes as you got ready in the

morning, and in your car on the way to and from

work.

The fact is, when you are operating at this level of

zeal, you involve God in every aspect of your life. You

stay connected with God throughout your day. You

even pray and use your faith for the smallest and

most mundane of life's tasks, such as finding a good

parking spot at the mall.

Do you remember such a time in your life? If

you're like most Christians, you do. And if you're like

many believers, that flame probably isn't burning

nearly as bright or hot as it did back then.

Instead of being in church at every opportunity,

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you find it easy to miss services, telling yourself

you'll get the tape instead (but never do). Without

realizing it, you can go weeks at a stretch without

ever sitting under the anointing of the ministry of

the Spirit.

You also find less and less time for the Word,

telling yourself that you're a mature Christian now

and therefore don't need as much Word as you did in

the beginning. And besides, you already know a lot

of the Bible.

Somewhere along the line, tithing falls by the

wayside.

When you get your year-end giving report from

the church you discover, to your shock and

embarrassment, that your giving fell far short of the

ten percent the Word of God sets as the minimum

standard for qualifying for the blessings of God.

That morning quiet time that used to be so rich

and rewarding? Well, at some point the snooze

button became your closest friend and, though you

keep meaning to get that quiet time going again, you

never seem to manage to do so.

That tenderhearted sensitivity to the Spirit that

once made you ready, willing and able to obey the

smallest instruction has been replaced by hardness

of hearing and hardness of heart. As a result, that

person in the grocery aisle the Spirit of God wants to

touch, simply becomes someone in your way.

What happened to the fire? What happened to

the zeal? Where did the commitment go?

The hard, cold truth is, for most believers, they've

become victims of idleness, laziness and

slothfulness. In other words, they have crowned

their flesh king of their lives.

How does such a thing happen? Well, it doesn't

happen overnight. It's gradual and it's primarily the

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result of a lack of discipline.

Now, I know for a lot of supposedly spiritual

folks, discipline is a dirty word. In a time of trial or

trouble, they are quick to say, "Oh yes, God will

deliver me. He will do it. Yes, amen!" But the

unpleasant reality is, the answer will never come

because they lack the personal discipline necessary

to operate in God's system. And to see the fullness of

God's promises, you must operate in His system. A

slothful man simply won't do that. Now, don't get

offended. Stay with me and allow me to show you

the progression of how a promise of God comes into

manifestation in your life, and how slothfulness can

short-circuit that progression.

Getting to "Delight"

Have you ever come across a promise in God's

Word and gotten excited about it? That surge of

excitement is what I call "desire." You are delighted

by the thought of realizing that promise. But the

true delight comes in seeing that promise become a

reality in your life.

Lots of believers get to the desire stage. They see

a promise of healing or abundance in the Word and

they want it. But sadly, that's where most people

stop. They never move past desire.

Why is that? Because the next stage calls for

discipline. And as I stated previously, the attribute of

discipline is very rare among Christians today.

You see, it takes discipline to exercise the kind of

faith required to bring God's promises into

manifestation. But if you have discipline, you'll

ultimately see that promise become a reality. That's

when you move into the stage called delight.

Desire. Discipline. Delight. That's the sequence

you must follow if you want to experience God's

highest and best for your life. And what is

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discipline's worst enemy? Slothfulness.

What does it mean to be disciplined? One

dictionary defines it as "a state of order based upon

submission to rules and authority."

I like that definition. We have a spiritual

authority—God and His Word. And God has put

certain rules or spiritual principles in place in the

universe. To be spiritually disciplined is to put your

life in submission to those spiritual principles of

faith.

Another definition of discipline is "to train or drill

by instruction." This also sheds some light on the

subject. In the military, to drill means to repeatedly

work on something until it becomes second nature.

Does that sound like hard work? It is. But it's

absolutely necessary if you want to get to delight.

The basic things of God such as prayer, Bible study,

sharing your faith, thinking right and talking right

must become second nature to you if you want to

experience the delight of seeing God's wonderful

promises bloom in your life. And something becomes

second nature only with consistent, methodical

repetition.

Discipline is vital to getting to delight. And that's

exactly why so few believers are living delightful

lives.

Of course, discipline is rarely fun—at least in the

beginning. If you've ever resolved to start getting up

an hour early to spend time with God you know

what I'm talking about.

If you did manage to drag yourself out of bed the

first day, it probably took a lot of work and effort.

The same was probably true for the second day and

the third day. As a matter of fact, I once read a study

that said it takes six weeks of consistent behavior to

create a firm habit.

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Most people quit long before they reach that

point. In other words, slothfulness comes in and

moves discipline out of the way.

If you've ever decided to embark on a campaign of

serious exercise after a long period of idleness, you

can also relate to what I'm saying.

You see a picture of a firm, fit, slim and trim

individual in a magazine and say, "Hey, that could

be me!" At that point you have desire, but next

comes the discipline part. You go to the gym and hit

the machines with great zeal. But the next day

you're sore from head to toe. Even your hair hurts.

Muscles you didn't even know you had are sore.

At that point, slothfulness is going to do its best

to keep you from getting disciplined about your

workouts. Either you're going to keep working out

each day until it becomes as regular a part of your

daily routine as brushing your teeth, or you're going

to quit because it's hard.

That is the point that determines whether you

experience delight or defeat. And the same is true in

spiritual things. Jesus said, “... If ye continue in my

word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall

know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

(John 8:31, 32)

According to Jesus, it is only as we continue in

His Word that we come to know truth and freedom.

He's talking about discipline, and the sworn enemy

of discipline is slothfulness.

We've gone around casually quoting John 8:32

for years. "The truth will make you free," brother. But

we've taken Jesus' words out of context. He said, "If

you continue in my Word...." then are we truly His

disciples, or His disciplined ones. Then and only

then will we know the truth and be free.

I know many drug addicts who know the truth,

but they're not free. Why not? Because they've never

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continued in the Word. I'm acquainted with people

who know the Word better than I do, yet don't do

any of it. They experience no delight... no freedom,

because they don't continue in that Word.

If, on the other hand, a person pushes through

the soreness of the first few days of a new workout

program and keeps on hitting the gym with

consistency—ultimately what began as an

unpleasant chore will become an anticipated delight.

Instead of dreading the workouts, he begins to look

forward to them. He misses it if he has to skip one.

Before long, results will begin to show themselves

in the form of better health, greater energy and

increased strength. Through discipline, desire

becomes delight.

God never designed your flesh to be in control.

He designed a system in which your born-again

spirit is in the driver’s seat.

And that born-again spirit—that part of you made

alive by the life of God Himself—is supposed to

determine the direction of your life.

Still, most believers let their flesh call the shots.

The flesh says, “Sleep a little longer. You don’t need

to get up and spend time with God. You need your

rest.” And so you close your eyes and roll over. "King

Flesh" has spoken.

Yes, your flesh will talk to you, won’t it? It will

talk to you when it’s raining on Sunday morning and

it’s time to get ready for church. It will talk to you

when the offering plate passes by. It will talk to you

when someone offends you. It will talk to you when

sexual temptation presents itself.

Believers who, through neglect or slothfulness

crown their flesh king, never see their visions or

God-given dreams come to life. The marvelous

promises of God never manifest because they lack

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the vital quality of discipline.

To discover how to cultivate that quality, read on.

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Chapter 2

Dis

cipline and the Anointing

2

What does the anointing—the burden-removing,

yoke-destroying power of God—have to do with the

subject of discipline? Plenty.

When you fail to discipline yourself in the

natural, that failure ultimately translates into failure

in the spirit.

You can’t hear from God if you lack the discipline

to sit still in a church service and listen to the Word.

How are you going to go places in God if you can’t

even make yourself go to church?

You can’t experience the riches of God’s

abundance without the discipline to give God His

tenth in the form of the tithe.

It’s clear, failure to discipline yourself in one

simple, natural area can mean failure in another,

more important spiritual area.

I had to face that reality personally. I had to face

the fact that if I let my body go, ate whatever I felt

like eating, and basically exercised no control over

my physical condition, it would ultimately impact me

spiritually.

How could I pastor a church with spiritual

strength if my flesh was calling the shots in other

areas of my life? I couldn’t. If my spirit-man wasn’t

in control over natural things like my appetite, it

wouldn’t be in control in spiritual matters either.

Discipline. It’s a hard word but it’s a word very

much tied to the anointing.

This is a truth that is stated very plainly in the

sixth chapter of Galatians.

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Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for

whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh

reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall

of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7, 8)

The first thing I want you to notice here is that

God said, “Be not deceived...” That means this is an

area in which it is easy to get into deception.

The next thing that it’s important to note is that,

“God is not mocked.” Do you know what that word

“mock” really means?

It means “to make a fool of.” Child of God, you

can’t fool God and you certainly can’t make a fool of

Him.

Then the scripture gets down to the heart of the

matter. It says, “... for whatsoever a man soweth, that

shall he also reap.”

This is a familiar phrase to most of us. We’ve

heard it hundreds of times. But very few of us have

thought much about the implications of the very

next sentence. What kind of sowing and reaping is

the Word talking about here?

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh

reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall

of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

What does it mean to sow to your flesh? It means

to keep pleasing your flesh. You let your flesh tell

you to stay in bed a little longer. Sowing to the Spirit

would involve hauling yourself out of bed to spend

time with God.

You sow to your flesh when you give your eyes

and ears to unclean things on television and in

magazines. You sow to the Spirit when you give your

eyes and ears to the teaching of the Word.

What does this passage of scripture say we can

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expect if we sow to our flesh? A harvest of corruption

—in other words—death.

A lot of Christians are blaming the devil for the

corruption, death and decay they are experiencing in

their lives, when the reality is—they are simply

reaping a harvest of corruption because they’ve

consistently sown to their flesh instead of sowing to

the Spirit.

If you let the cravings of your flesh determine

what you’re going to eat, resulting in a steady diet of

grease, sugar, additives and chemicals—then over

the course of your lifetime you shouldn’t be shocked

to hear your doctor give you a bad report.

If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption.

It’s not just true where food is concerned. It’s true of

every appetite your flesh can create. The sexual

appetite, the appetite for leisure and rest, the

appetite for comfort, or the appetite for the praises of

men.

Let one or more of those appetites rule you and

you can be assured, you will reap a harvest and you

won’t like it. Don’t be deceived. God can’t be made a

fool of, and King Flesh is a cruel tyrant.

Listen to Your Flesh (And Do the

Opposite)

It’s a tragic fact that on countless occasions, a

believer who has been praying, pleading and

believing for an answer from God has missed that

answer because it was preached on a night their

flesh told them to stay home from church.

When you feel your flesh resist the idea of getting

dressed and going to church, that’s when you ought

to jerk the slack out of yourself and get there at all

cost.

God probably has something special for you there

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and even if He doesn’t, it’s vital that you continually

let the flesh know your spirit is in control, by sowing

to the Spirit rather than the flesh.

Be Not Weary

When your flesh starts trying to give the orders,

do the opposite. Keep it under. That’s exactly what

Paul said he did:

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.

(I Corinthians 9:27)

Paul knew what too few Christians know today.

Failure to keep your flesh on a tight leash will

ultimately lead to spiritual disaster. Even Paul

himself would become a spiritual castaway if he

didn’t keep his body under subjection.

One reason this is so important is that God

cannot direct a man through his flesh. God is a

spirit and can only direct you through your spirit.

Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the candle

of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the

belly.”

As with a candle, your way through life is lit as

your born-again spirit communes with, and receives

direction from the Spirit of God.

When you give your flesh too much authority,

you are cut off from the life-giving, life-saving

direction of God.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone

say something like, “Sometimes I just don’t feel like

praising the Lord when we’re singing.”

What that person is saying is that King Flesh

doesn’t want to praise God, and at that moment the

flesh is the dominant part of them. At that moment,

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that person has a choice to make. They can sow to

their flesh and stand there like a mannequin, or they

can sow to the Spirit and praise God whether the

flesh feels like it or not!

“But isn’t that being phony or hypocritical?” you

may ask. No, it’s called sowing to the Spirit. The

born-again spirit inside you wants to praise God,

wants to commune with Him, and wants to please

Him. It’s just that your flesh is so highly developed

and is shouting so loudly, you can’t hear or sense

the desire of your spirit.

Look at what Galatians, chapter five has to say

on the subject:

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall

not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth

against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:

and these are contrary the one to the other: so that

ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians

5:16, 17)

Did you catch that? The Word of God is saying

that the desires of your spirit and the desires of your

flesh are pulling in opposite directions! Look at that

same passage of scripture in a different translation:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not

carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets

its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against

the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another,

so that you may not do the things that you please.

(Galatians 5:16, 17 NASB)

The first part of this passage contains a

wonderful promise. “Walk by the Spirit, and you will

not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

That’s just another way of saying what we read in

Galatians 6:7, “Sow to the Spirit and you will reap a

harvest of zoe life!”

You are sowing to the Spirit when you do those

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things your born-again spirit desires, which are the

same things the Spirit of God desires. And what does

God’s Spirit desire? The things that are in the Word,

because the Spirit and the Word are in agreement!

We now know that, according to Galatians 6:7, 8,

that if we sow to our flesh, we’re going to reap death

and if we sow to the Spirit we’re going to reap zoe life

—the God-kind of life.

Now let’s look at the very next verse in that

passage. It gives us an important key to walking in

the anointing of discipline:

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due

season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

Here, the Word of God gives us the condition of

reaping that harvest of life. We must “faint not.”

What does the word “faint” mean? It means to

give up, cave in or quit.

All too often, quitting is the story with many

believers. I’ve seen the most committed, involved

church members quit when weariness sets in. Of

course, they never saw their due season of harvest

because they fainted.

Their package of blessing ultimately arrives,

delivered by God’s angelic UPS, (delayed only

momentarily by demonic resistance in the spiritual

realm) but there is no one there to sign for it.

Their blessing is undeliverable because the

recipient fainted before their due season arrived.

No believer can receive God’s best in life through

giving up, caving in and quitting. And when you

start quitting in natural things, you’ll eventually

start quitting in spiritual things as well.

If you’ll quit on your marriage relationship, you’ll

quit on your God relationship. If you’ll be unfaithful

to your spouse you’ll be unfaithful to Jesus.

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I’ve had people tell me, “Pastor, if I become a

millionaire I’ll give the church everything it needs.” I

know they’re lying because if they won’t tithe on

their minimum wage income they won’t tithe on a

million dollars.

Those unfaithful in the little things will never be

faithful in the big ones.

Why do believers quit? According to the scripture

we just read, it’s because they grow weary. What

makes you weary? According to Hebrews, chapter

12, it is weight.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about

with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside

every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset

us, and let us run with patience the race that is set

before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

In the race of God’s high calling, many Christians

grow weary and quit simply because they’re trying to

carry too much weight.

Let me ask you a question. What is the weight

that is keeping you back? What is it that keeps you

in bed when you ought to be praying? What is it that

keeps you at home when you ought to be sitting

under the teaching of the Word? What keeps you

from tithing and giving?

It is sin, slothfulness and idleness. In other

words a lack of discipline.

According to Hebrews 12:1 we are to lay those

things aside if we are to successfully run the race

that is set before us. And we’re not to run the race

just any old way we please. We’re told to run it with

patience.

Now the word patience in this context does not

mean “to put up with,” in the way we normally use

it. When we say “Be patient,” we mean sit there and

tolerate whatever it is you don’t like.

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The Bible-kind of patience refers to continuance.

I’ve heard it defined as “consistent constancy.”

That means consistently feeding on the Word.

Consistently confessing the Word and meditating on

the Word. It means not being tossed to and fro by

emotion or circumstances. Patience is just being

constantly, consistently the same, no matter what

the circumstances say or do.

We’re told in the first chapter of James that a

“double-minded” man, one that is tossed to and fro,

should not expect to receive anything from God. Why

is that? Because that kind of person won’t run the

race with patience. They don’t have constant

consistency.

There is another key to running the race to

victory in that passage from Hebrews 12. We find it

in the very next verse:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of

our faith; who for the joy that was set before him

endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set

down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(Hebrews 12:2)

If you’re going to experience the kind of victory

that brings you the fullness of God’s promises,

you’re going to do it by looking unto Jesus.

Why do men faint? Perhaps it’s because they are

looking at the wrong thing. Some have their eyes on

other people. Some have their eyes on the blessings.

But the disciplined ones, the ones who make it to

their due season, are the ones who are looking unto

Jesus.

Why is that so powerful? Because He is the

author and finisher of our faith!

If you’ll keep your eyes on Jesus, the blessings

will come. But if you get too focused on the blessing,

you’ll grow weary and faint before you ever cross the

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D i s c i p l i n e a n d t h e A n o i n t i n g

finish line.

That’s why, in Luke 18:1 we read:

And he [Jesus] spake a parable unto them to this

end, that men ought always to pray, and not to

faint;

In other words, we need to pray instead of giving

up, caving in and quitting. It always comes down to

a question of discipline!

In the coming chapters we’ll explore the

relationship between discipline and the anointing,

and how you can cultivate both in order to reap an

overflowing harvest of the zoe life of God.

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Chapter 3

Dis

cipleship: A Life of Discipline

3

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, most

Christians don't want to hear anything about

discipline or getting their flesh under control.

We get all excited to hear teaching about

prosperity (and thank God for the truth about His

will for us to prosper). We love to hear that it's God’s

will to heal and deliver us (and praise God it is).

We'll stand in line to hear the latest teaching about

Bible prophecy and the Lord's return (and yes, I'm so

glad He's coming soon).

But when you announce you're going to teach

about self-discipline, people don't exactly trample

over each other to get a seat.

I realize this teaching involves a little pain and

discomfort, but let me remind you what prompted

this book. The Spirit of God made it clear to us in

prayer that slothfulness was the deadly weapon of a

desperate enemy who wants to keep you from

experiencing the fullness of God's burden-removing,

yoke-destroying power!

We've also seen that when your flesh is strongest,

your spirit is at its weakest. And, conversely, your

spirit is strongest when your flesh is fully

subordinated to it and under its control.

Did Jesus think discipline was important? You'd

better believe it. He used the root of the word

discipline to identify those who follow Him and His

example. He called them His disciples.

A disciple is literally "a disciplined one." Listen to

what Jesus said about following Him:

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S O S ! H e l p M y F l e s h N e e d s D i s c i p l i n e

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man

will come after me, let him deny himself, and take

up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save

his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life

for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited,

if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own

soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his

soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

Jesus gave us another indicator of discipleship in

the 15th chapter of John. There Jesus tells us that

true disciples of His bear fruit:

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much

fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John 15:8)

Why did Jesus say that the bearing of spiritual

fruit was the test of true discipleship? Because, as

we learn throughout the rest of the New Testament,

it takes spiritual discipline to bear fruit. When the

Lord began to deal with me on this subject, I had to

ask myself some tough questions. Questions such

as, "Am I a disciplined person?" In what areas am I

disciplined? In what areas do I lack discipline? Why

am I undisciplined in those areas? "

Then I turned to the Word of God for answers.

Get Understanding

One of the first things I noticed was that the word

disciple not only means disciplined one, it also

means "a learner," or "one who receives instruction."

That's a very important point. Discipline involves

learning what to embrace and what to avoid. It

involves getting understanding about God's

standards and keys to successful living.

It requires being open to instruction from the

Word of God. Are you open to receiving instruction

from the Word on getting your flesh under the

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D i s c i p l e s h i p : A L i f e o f D i s c i p l i n e

control of your spirit? If so, let's begin with an

understanding of the source and nature of this

battle.

There is nothing more disheartening and

defeating than to feel like a prisoner of your flesh.

The apostle Paul gave us a picture of this battle

between flesh and spirit in the seventh chapter of

Romans. Here's just a part of that passage:

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would,

that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do

that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it

is good. (Romans 7:15, 16)

Does that sound familiar? Can you relate to this

scenario?

In modern language Paul is saying, "I don't

understand myself. I fail to do the things I want to

do, and the things I don't want to do, I end up

doing!"

Who among us hasn't felt like that at one time or

another. "I want to start eating healthy and

exercising," I've heard many times, "but I just seem

to keep falling into the same old patterns."

As Jesus told his disciples when they couldn't

"tarry one hour" with him in prayer but rather kept

falling asleep: "The spirit is willing but the flesh is

weak."

Let me give you a prime example of this battle to

which you can probably relate.

Let's say you start watching one of those

infomercials for exercise equipment that you see all

over the airwaves these days. You look at the trim,

toned, muscular model and say to yourself, "That

could be me. I can do that!"

So, with your motivation high, and your resolve

strong, you decide to get a membership to your

neighborhood health club. Of course, you have to

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S O S ! H e l p M y F l e s h N e e d s D i s c i p l i n e

look cool, so you go buy a bunch of new workout

clothes and a $100 pair of Air-something-or-others

so you'll look the part.

You arrive for your first workout, looking good,

feeling motivated and ready to sweat. In other words,

you have a willing spirit.

You choose a piece of high-tech, state-of-the-art

exercise equipment and vow to stay on it until you've

burned 400 calories or spent an hour, whichever

comes first. You begin.

After what seems like a painful eternity, you look

at the clock and only three minutes have gone by.

You've burned a total of about 11 calories.

After another three or four minutes of pain, you

stop. Your willing spirit has been washed away in a

rising tide of weak, screaming flesh.

In that same chapter of Romans, Paul goes into

greater detail in describing this struggle between the

part of us that desires to please God and the part

that wants nothing but to please self:

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that

dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my

flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present

with me; but how to perform that which is good I

find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the

evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I

would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that

dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would

do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the

law of God after the inward man: But I see another

law in my members, warring against the law of my

mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin

which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!

who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

(Romans 7:17-25)

Paul is describing a war between the flesh—

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D i s c i p l e s h i p : A L i f e o f D i s c i p l i n e

which he says contains no good thing, and the part

of him he calls the inward man—his spirit, which he

says delights in the law of God.

Paul was describing himself at a time when the

desires of his flesh were consistently dominating the

desires of his born-again spirit. Living like that left

him thinking, "O wretched man that I am! who shall

deliver me...!"

But Paul didn't stop there, and praise God he

didn't! He didn't leave us and himself in that

wretched situation.

In the very next verse he says:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them

which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the

flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of

life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law

of sin and death. (Romans 8:1, 2)

Paul tells us that all we have to do to break this

cycle of defeat and condemnation is to walk after the

Spirit instead of walking after the flesh.

That’s just another way of saying, “Sow to the

Spirit instead of sowing to the flesh.”

When you walk after the Spirit, you feed your

spirit-man until it dominates your flesh. A man or

woman who does so won’t be wretched and defeated

for very long.

All of this goes right back to the heart of what

we’re talking about—being disciplined and therefore

being disciples.

What does it take to be a true disciple? There are

five things God is looking for in a disciple. In the

following pages you’ll discover what they are.

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Chapter 4

T

he Making of a Disciple

4

God is not looking for mere church attendees.

He’s not looking for people who put on a good show.

His eyes aren’t roaming to and fro throughout the

earth in search of those who talk a good talk.

No, He’s looking for disciples—disciplined ones

who will walk after the Spirit rather than after the

flesh. Being a disciple isn’t easy (if it were, every

believer would be one). But the rewards are great.

As I look through the Word of God, I see five

basic requirements for being a disciple of Jesus.

Throughout scripture, true discipled ones exhibit

these five traits or characteristics. Cultivate these

characteristics and you’ll be reaping the rewards of

discipleship.

#1. Bearing the Cross

Are you a follower of Jesus? Before you answer

“yes” to that question too quickly, consider the

words of Jesus in the 16th chapter of Matthew:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man

will come after me, let him deny himself, and take

up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

Many people have professed a desire to “come

after” Jesus. They say they intend to follow Him, but,

as Jesus Himself points out, the price of walking in

those footsteps is a high one. Basically, it will cost

you everything you have and are.

Look at that verse in the Amplified version:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone

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desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself

[disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his

own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me

[cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My

example in living and, if need be, in dying also].

(Matthew 16:24 AMP)

What the Word is describing here is hard on the

flesh! When you start describing discipleship in

those terms, you begin losing folks in a hurry. A lot

of people will say to themselves, “Hey, that’s not

what I signed up for! I like that prosperity business,

but nobody said anything about denying yourself

and taking up a cross!”

The fact remains, child of God, that in order for

you to be disciplined and therefore reap God’s

greater blessings, you’re going to have to let go of

your own interests.

If you want to get everything the Bible says you

can have, you’re going to have to die to self. That’s

the essence of the term “take up your cross.”

You take up your cross when you take up the

cause of Jesus. As we saw in the Amplified, it means

to cleave steadfastly to Jesus and conform wholly to

His example in living. It also means being prepared

to die for Him if necessary, just as Jesus laid down

His life for us.

The Word is clear, the first requirement for

discipleship IS self-denial and cross-bearing.

#2. Renouncing the Enemies of

Discipline

We find the second requirement of discipleship in

a verse that is frequently misunderstood or

confusing to many people. The verse is Luke 14:26:

If any man come to me, and hate not his father,

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T h e M a k i n g o f a D i s c i p l e

and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren,

and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be

my disciple.

A lot of people see the word “hate” in that verse

and stumble over it. It’s hard to imagine Jesus

telling anyone they have to hate their mother, father,

children and other relatives in order to be His

disciple.

To properly understand this verse you must

realize that Jesus was using a figure of speech to

make a point. Once again, an examination of that

verse in the Amplified Version will shed some light

on the meaning of the passage:

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his

[own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference

to or relative disregard for them in comparison with

his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and

children and brothers and sisters— [yes] and even

his own life also—he cannot be My disciple. (Luke

14:26 AMP)

What Jesus is saying here is that, in order to be a

true disciple, your love for God and the things of God

must be so strong as to make your love for your

family look like hate in comparison.

I call this the principle of renunciation. The

second requirement of discipleship is that you

renounce anything that cools your primary affection

and devotion to Jesus.

In other words, to be a disciplined one, you must

renounce anything that is an enemy to your

discipline.

I frequently hear family responsibilities being

used as an excuse for avoiding the things of God.

“Oh, I’d like to pray but, you know, I have

children...” I’ve heard people say.

The hard truth is, if your love for the things of

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S O S ! H e l p M y F l e s h N e e d s D i s c i p l i n e

God is in its proper place, you’ll get up before your

children do in order to spend time with the Lord.

You’ll do whatever is necessary to maintain your

spiritual discipline.

It really bothers me when I hear people say

things such as, “Well, I really wanted to come to the

meeting Pastor, but, you know, my relatives don’t

believe like we do and I don’t want to cause any

trouble.”

Far too many Christians put the acceptance of

their relatives above their devotion to the cause of

Jesus. To be a disciplined one, you must renounce

the enemies of your discipline. Compared to your

love for God, your love for other people and things

should look like hate.

#3. Leaving All

As I told you at the beginning of this chapter,

being a disciple isn’t easy. It isn’t for cowards,

sluggards or the faint of heart. The third

requirement of being a disciple brings that truth

home.

In the 14th chapter of Luke, Jesus tells us that

there is a certain kind of person who cannot be His

disciple.

What kind of person is that? One who cannot or

will not “forsake all.”

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that

forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my

disciple. (Luke 14:33)

The primary thing Jesus is referring to here is

your “stuff.” An excessive attachment to material

possessions is one of the most frequent barriers to

believers becoming true disciples of Jesus.

That’s why it’s so important that people who have

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T h e M a k i n g o f a D i s c i p l e

begun to prosper in God never forget that it really all

belongs to God. The Lord gave the children of Israel

some similar advice when they were on the eve of

possessing the promised land:

And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply,

and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that

thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up,

and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought

thee forth out of the land of Egypt... And thou say in

thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand

hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember

the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power

to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant

which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

(Deuteronomy 8:13-18)

You have to make sure that when God blesses

you with stuff, you remember how you got it, and

Who gave it to you. If you maintain that perspective,

you won’t have any trouble when the Lord speaks to

you to give some of it away. As far as you’re

concerned it was never yours to begin with.

The good news is, a person who is prepared to

forsake all to follow Jesus won’t experience decrease.

That person will experience increase.

One day the disciples were sitting around talking

about all they had given up to follow Jesus. What

was Jesus’ response to them? We find it in the tenth

chapter of Mark.

And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto

you, There is no man that hath left house, or

brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or

children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,

But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this

time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and

mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions;

and in the world to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29,

30)

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When God asks you to give something away, you

can have increase on your mind because that is how

he operates.

But if, on the other hand, you’re so attached to

your stuff that you’re not prepared to forsake all,

you’ll never experience that kind of increase. Even

worse, Jesus said you can’t be His disciple.

#4. Continuing Steadfastly

We find the fourth requirement of discipleship in

John 8:31. As Jesus points out in this verse, if you

want proof of whether or not you’re a disciple, check

your level of something called steadfastness.

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,

“... If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples

indeed...”

(John 8:31)

According to Strong’s

Concordance, the Greek word translated “continue”

in that verse means, “to stay (in a given place, state,

relation or expectancy): to abide, continue, dwell,

endure, be present, remain, or stand.”

In other words, if you remain steadfast in the

Word, then you are indeed a disciple (disciplined

one). What is the result of being a steadfast disciple?

Jesus tells us in the very next verse:

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall

make you free. (John 8:32)

Do you need to be made free in a certain area of

your life? Continuing steadfastly is the key to your

breakthrough. You have to be prepared to continue

doing the Word.

I’ve had people come in for counseling for one

problem or another. When I point them to a principle

in God’s Word they’ll say something like, “Oh, I tried

that.”

Child of God, doing something one or two times

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never put anyone over. Just half-heartedly trying out

God’s principles of faith won’t do you any good. It

takes constancy, consistency and continuance to

know the truth that makes you free. In other words,

it takes steadfastness.

That’s what Galatians 6:9 is talking about when it

says,

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due

season we shall reap, if we faint not.

It’s talking about hard-nosed, hard-headed,

bulldog-tenacious, steadfastness. That’s what brings

your due season into manifestation.

#5. Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

So far we’ve seen four clear statements from the

lips of Jesus Himself about what it takes to be His

disciple. There is one more.

In John 15:8 Jesus says:

By this is My Father glorified, that you bear

much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (NASB)

The ultimate test of discipleship is fruit bearing.

What kind of fruit? Well, we know from reading the

following verses that Jesus is talking about the fruit

of the Spirit, the first and foremost of which is love.

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved

you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my

commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I

have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in

his love. (John 15:9, 10)

Jesus is saying that when you bear love and the

other fruits of the Spirit such as joy, peace, patience,

kindness, etc., you are proving that you are a

disciple of Jesus.

Let me tell you something, if a Christian isn’t

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S O S ! H e l p M y F l e s h N e e d s D i s c i p l i n e

walking in love, he can forget about the blessings

that come with being a disciple.

You’re probably very familiar with what the

apostle Paul said about those who failed to bear the

fruit of love:

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or

a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of

prophecy, and know all mysteries and all

knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove

mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And

if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I

deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love,

it profits me nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)

All the religious words and actions in the world

are a waste of time unless you’re walking in the fruit

of the Spirit.

Taking Inventory

Take the time right now to examine your life for

these five evidences of being a disciple. Make sure

each one of them is in evidence or in development in

your life.

Once again they are:

• Cross Bearing (Self denial.)

• Renunciation (Disowning all things that hinder

you.)

• Leaving All (Willingness to give anything,

anytime.)

• Steadfastness (Consistency and perseverance.)

• Fruitfulness (Walking in the fruit of the Spirit.)

These are the things Jesus said would

characterize those who are His disciplined ones. If

you want to overcome slothfulness and reach your

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T h e M a k i n g o f a D i s c i p l e

“expected end,” make sure each is in evidence in

your life.

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Chapter 5

F

rom Slothfulness to Diligence

5

Reading this chapter may be hard on your flesh.

In fact, you may get a little bit offended and be

tempted to toss this book aside without finishing it.

Let me encourage you not to do that. I’m

confident that if you will hear what the Spirit of God

is trying to communicate to you, it will not only be a

blessing to you, it will absolutely change your life for

the better.

God has some answers for you here. Answers to

questions you’ve had for years. Don’t allow your

flesh to cause you to stumble and miss what God

has for you.

Thus far in our study we’ve seen that

slothfulness is something Satan is going to try to use

to keep you from experiencing God’s highest and

best in these last days.

We’ve also seen that God’s antidote for

slothfulness is discipline.

A good question is, “How can you know if you’re

being slothful in any area of your life?” Do you have

to be a full-blown, do-nothing “couch potato” to be

slothful in the eyes of God? Of course not.

It’s possible to be active and diligent in one area

of your life and slothful in another. For example,

some people are quite disciplined where their eating

is concerned and yet have no discipline at all when it

comes to spending time with God and in His Word.

That’s why it’s important that we shine the light

of God’s Word into every corner of our lives in order

to zero in on pockets of slothfulness that can keep

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us from seeing God’s greater blessing or fulfilling our

destinies in Him.

The Way Out of Slothfulness

Once you’ve identified the presence of

slothfulness in some area of your life, the next step

is to root it out. The good news is, God has provided

a way for us to do that. It’s called diligence.

Diligence is the way out of slothfulness. I think

it’s important that you see that truth in the Word for

yourself. To do that we need to fully explore what the

Bible has to say about slothfulness and then do the

same thing regarding diligence. It shouldn’t surprise

us to discover that the book of Proverbs, being a

book of wisdom, has a lot so say about slothfulness.

One word that Proverbs frequently uses to describe a

slothful person is the word “sluggard”.

Look at Proverbs chapter six for example:

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways,

and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or

ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and

gathereth her food in the harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8)

The Hebrew word translated “sluggard” in the

book of Proverbs is the word atsel. According to the

Strong’s Dictionary, atsel literally means “slothful.”

We could, therefore, accurately translate the

above as, “Go to the ant, you slothful one...”.

Why does the Word of God tell us to observe the

ant? Because ants possess a certain attribute that a

slothful person needs to recognize and imitate.

According to the verse we just read, considering the

ways of the ant can impart wisdom.

Now, of all the times I’ve ever noticed ants

around my house, one thing has always been true of

their activity—they are always in motion. I don’t

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believe I’ve ever seen a bunch of ants being still.

They never stop moving. That’s consistency. In

fact, they are the epitome of being “constantly

consistently the same” which is, as we saw back in

chapter two, the true definition of patience. They go

consistently and methodically at an objective until

it’s achieved.

There’s another truth in the passage of scripture

we just read. Verses seven and eight said, “Which

having no guide, overseer, or ruler provideth her meat

in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”

The ant does what it needs to do to bear fruit and

bring in a harvest without having to be told, begged,

supervised, threatened, overseen or prodded in any

way.

If only believers were like that. What could the

church accomplish if Christians had the diligence

and drive to spend time with God, feed on God’s

Word, and stand in faith and patience without

having to be constantly reminded and cajoled?

I’ll tell you. With that kind of diligence the

Church would be walking in victory, freedom and

prosperity. Furthermore, we’d have the gospel

preached to the whole world, Jesus would have

returned for us, and we’d be enjoying the blessings

of Heaven!

Ants are consistently in motion and they don’t

need someone looking over their shoulders to make

them do the things necessary to bring in a harvest.

Do you want more insight on overcoming

slothfulness? Look at the very next verses in

Proverbs, chapter six:

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt

thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little

slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So

shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and

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thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs 6:9-11)

Now, I want you to notice how poverty comes. It

comes as the slothful person makes a choice to be

idle and lazy rather than diligent and disciplined.

The devil didn’t make him do it. Circumstances

didn’t force themselves upon him. He chose, as an

act of his will, to rest instead of move.

Every born-again believer must face a hard

reality every morning of his or her life. Most of what

you experience on any given day is a direct product

of your choices—past and present.

If you’re living in poverty, don’t blame the devil,

the system, another group of people or your own

“lousy luck.” The Word of God is very clear on this

matter. Poverty is the result of slothful decisions,

end of story.

We find more light on the difference between

slothfulness and diligence in Proverbs 13:4:

The soul of the sluggard [slothful person]

desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the

diligent shall be made fat.

The idle man is always craving and desiring

things but never has anything. “Oh, I wish I had a

better car,” the sluggard says, but refuses to do the

things necessary to prosper in God.

I’ve heard others say, “If only I had a better job...”

knowing full well that they’re not giving their

employer an honest day’s work in the job they have.

“If only” becomes the constant excuse and

complaint of the slothful person. People such as this

never do anything but dream and wish. They never

get the opportunity to live out those dreams because

they’re not willing to do what it takes to cause those

things to come to pass.

Not only are the days of the slothful person

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unproductive, they’re also just plain hard. Proverbs

15:9 says so:

The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns,

But the path of the upright is a highway. (NASB)

Have you ever tried to make your way through a

field of thick, waist-high briars and thorns? It’s hard,

slow, painful going. That is precisely what life is like

for the slothful man. Making any progress at all is a

struggle. Like a man trying to climb through twisted

barbed-wire, the sluggard goes from one bad

situation to the next.

With the diligent (or “upright” as the previous

verse called them) things are different. Life’s path is

like a highway. It’s easier to make progress.

Accomplish things. Move forward.

Proverbs has a lot more to say about the hard life

and times of the sluggard. For example, we’re told

that slothful people are easily discouraged by

discomfort or adversity. That’s the message behind

Proverbs 20:4:

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold;

therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

“I’m not going out there to plow!” says the

slothful one. “It’s too cold!” So, he receives no

harvest and goes hungry.

Diligence means being willing to have your flesh

endure a little discomfort for a season. It requires a

willingness to stand in the face of adversity without

becoming discouraged and quitting.

Along with discomfort and discouragement, there

is another tool the enemy can use against a sluggard

with great effect. That tool is fear.

The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the

way; a lion is in the streets. (Proverbs 26:13)

In other words, this person is saying, “I can’t go

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out and work today, I heard there was lion on the

loose. I’m just going to stay in bed!”

Do you see it? When a person has slothful

tendencies, fear can be used to keep them from

doing those things that will bring them increase and

blessing. I see it all the time.

I see people allowing fear of rejection, fear of

failure, fear of sickness, fear of harm and a host of

other fears to keep them from doing the things that

position them for promotion and harvest. As a result

they either literally or figuratively “stay in bed.”

That’s exactly what the very next verse in

Proverbs talks about:

As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the

slothful upon his bed. (Proverbs 26:14)

The next time the alarm goes off and you’re

tempted to blow off your quiet time and just roll over

for a little more sleep, bring this image to your

remembrance. That door, swinging back and forth on

its hinges and you rolling over in your bed.

In a very real sense, that swinging door is an

open door to the devil. As we’ve seen in all these

verses, slothfulness opens you to attack and

destruction from the enemy.

Worst of all, once you’re highly developed in

slothfulness, you won’t take correction. No one can

tell you anything. The biggest know-it-alls in the

world are people who won’t do anything. That’s what

Proverbs 26:16 says:

The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than

seven men who can give a discreet answer. (NASB)

Your “House” and Your “Field”

In numerous places throughout scripture, our

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physical bodies are referred to as tents, temples or

houses. (e. g., I Cor. 3:16; I Cor. 6:19; II Cor. 6:16; II

Cor. 5:1-4; I Peter 2:5)

I want you to notice what the Word of God says

about how slothful living affects your “house.”

By much slothfulness the building decayeth;

and through idleness of the hands the house

droppeth through. (Ecclesiastes 10:18)

Listen to that verse in the New American Standard

Bible:

Through indolence [loafing, laziness,

sluggishness] the rafters sag, and through

slackness the house leaks.

I know far too many Christians whose bodies are

broken down, leaky and malfunctioning because

they let slothfulness take root in their lives. Decay is

the inevitable result of being a sluggish believer.

When you start being lazy about praying, reading

the Word and sitting under anointed teaching,

consistent decay will result. It grieves me to see

believers physically destroyed because of the weapon

of slothfulness.

Just as the Bible uses the metaphor of a house to

symbolize your body, it also uses the symbol of a

field to describe your life:

For we are God's fellow workers; you are

God's field, God's building. (I Corinthians 3:9)

When you are born-again, God plants some

things in your life. Like a farmer, He begins working

with you to produce some things. That’s why there

are so many scriptures that talk about bearing fruit.

It’s also why Jesus compared human hearts to

various kinds of soil (Matthew 13)—some which

accept and nourish the seed of the Word well and

others not so well. What kind of soil you are is up to

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you.

What does that have to do with slothfulness? We

find out in Proverbs 24:30-32:

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the

vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo,

it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had

covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof

was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it

well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.

When you’re slothful, the field of your life is a

mess. It becomes “grown over with thorns”—and as

we discover in Jesus’ parable of the soils in Matthew,

chapter 13, thorns represent the cares of this world

which choke out the Word in your life.

What else does this proverb tell us about the field

of the slothful man? It tells us the stone wall thereof

is broken down.

When you allow slothfulness to take root, the

ultimate result is that the protecting wall of God’s

hedge is removed from your life. When that happens,

you’re fair and open game for the devil.

I’ve seen it happen over and over. Slowly but

surely, a believer gets slothful in the things of God.

His regular quiet time falls by the wayside. He finds

more and more reasons to miss church. The

fundamental principles of faith such as confession of

the Word, guarding the words of his mouth, tithing

and giving, and maintaining a positive expectation,

all slip into neglect.

Soon such a person has moved outside the

sheltering hedge of God’s protection. Trouble moves

in because the walls are down and that results in

increased care, worry and anxiety. As the thorns of

care choke out more of the Word, the walls break

down even further.

What I’m describing is basically a self-reinforcing

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cycle of defeat. A downward spiral that ultimately

leaves a Christian devastated and ineffective—all as

a direct outgrowth of slothfulness.

Now isn’t that exactly what the Lord warned us

about at the beginning of this book? Didn’t the Spirit

of God tell us in a time of prayer that the enemy

would attempt to use the weapon of slothfulness to

keep God’s people from enjoying the blessings and

authority that are theirs in the Anointed One and

His anointing?

When you start being lazy about the things of

God, a decaying process begins. How do you reverse

that process or keep it from ever starting? With the

weapon of diligence. Let’s turn to the Word to find

out what it is and how to use it.

The Solution for Slothfulness

We’ve seen very clearly and dramatically how the

Bible describes slothfulness as a deadly enemy of

the believer. But did you know that the Bible never

presents a problem without also offering a solution?

It’s time to turn our attention to that solution for

slothfulness—diligence.

First, let’s get a New Testament confirmation that

diligence is the opposite of slothfulness. We find

such a confirmation in Hebrews chapter six:

And we desire that every one of you do show the

same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the

end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them

who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

(Hebrews 6:11, 12)

In verse 11 the writer of Hebrews expresses his

desire that we all “show the same diligence...” Then

in the next verse he explains by saying, “That ye be

not slothful....”

Here, just as in the Old Testament verses we’ve

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already examined, diligence is presented as the

opposite of and answer to slothfulness.

And did you notice that overcoming slothfulness

through diligence is tied directly to attaining the full

assurance of hope and to being able to inherit the

promises? Once again, God is trying to tell us that

slothfulness is the enemy of your ability to

experience God’s highest and best.

Now we must ask ourselves, what is diligence?

What does it mean to operate in diligence? Why is

diligence your assurance that you’re going to inherit

the promises?

According to one dictionary I read, diligence is

defined as “a steady application of effort in any

activity.” I like that definition. Diligence describes a

constant, consistent, steady effort to accomplish a

certain thing.

To inherit the promises of God, we’re going to

have to apply steady effort to study of, and

meditation on, the Word of God. We’re going to have

to apply steady effort to rooting sin out of our lives.

We’re going to have to apply steady effort to times of

fellowship and communion with God.

Diligence in these areas is absolutely essential if

you’re going to see your expected end manifested.

Why? Because as we’re about to see, diligence is

directly tied to your level of faith. Look at Hebrews

11:6:

But without faith it is impossible to please him:

for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,

and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently

seek him.

Does this verse say that God is a rewarder of

those who seek Him any old way they please? No.

Does it say He rewards those who occasionally seek

Him? Of course not.

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We’re clearly told that God rewards those who

diligently seek Him.

“Oh, Pastor Dollar, I come to church every

chance I get and I’ll read my Bible occasionally.

Won't God reward me for trying?” Not if you believe

the Word of God. Don’t expect to be rewarded with

the blessings of God if there is no diligence

associated with your seeking.

In my years in ministry, I’ve discovered that, for

most people, the reason they fail to receive is not

that they don’t do the right things. They simply don’t

do the right things consistently or persistently.

There’s no steady application of effort. In other

words, they lack diligence.

Child of God, diligence will always produce

rewards.

For example, take two similar individuals and

give them identical exercise and nutrition plans. At

the end of one year will both have experienced the

same results? Probably not. Why not? Because more

than likely, one will have applied those plans with

greater diligence than the other.

Who gets the best results? The one with the most

diligence.

The same is true where spiritual things are

concerned. I’ve seen people that, when they get

around to praying, can pray heaven and earth

together. Their only problem is that they never pray

with any consistency. Their results suffer because of

their lack of diligence.

It is diligence that brings the reward. Not

cleverness. Not talent. Not good connections.

Nothing but the willingness and discipline to apply

steady, consistent effort will bring you to your

expected end.

Former President Galvin Coolidge once said it

this way:

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Nothing can take the place of perseverance.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than

unsuccessful men with talent. Education will not;

the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence

and determination are omnipotent. The slogan

'press on' will always solve the problems of the

human race.

I know believers who have wonderful ideas. Some

have brilliant plans. But those ideas and plans will

never become a reality because they simply lack the

diligence necessary to bring them to pass. That’s a

tragedy. It’s the difference between the mediocre and

the millionaire.

Can diligence really make you rich? Read

Proverbs 10:4 and decide for yourself:

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack

hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

I want you to notice something about the above

verse. The man who became poor wasn’t totally

inactive. It’s not that he was doing nothing. It’s that

what he did, he did with a slack hand. In other

words, his activity was sluggish, inconsistent and

undisciplined.

Have you ever known anyone like that?

Everything they do, is done at half-speed. They never

throw themselves wholly into anything.

Such a person is an employer’s nightmare. They

never put in a solid day’s work, but on Friday you

can be sure they expect a full week’s pay. This kind

of person can never prosper in the long run. Poverty

and lack will always, ultimately come to characterize

his or her life. The diligent person, on the other

hand, can’t help but experience increase. The Word

of God promises it.

Another proverb that speaks of diligence as a

path to prosperity is Proverbs 13:4:

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The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath

nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made

fat.

Notice that didn’t say the body of the diligent

shall be made fat—it said “the soul.” That’s referring

to prosperity and increase. Fatness is a symbol of

plenty and abundance.

The diligent person is going to prosper in every

aspect of existence. Diligence will bring physical,

soulish and spiritual increase.

When you are disciplined to exert consistent,

excellent effort, you’re going to prosper in your mind.

You’re going to prosper in your emotions. You’re

going to prosper in your relationships.

In fact, diligence can get you promoted to the

highest levels of enterprise. We see this truth stated

in the 22nd chapter of Proverbs:

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He

shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before

mean [obscure] men. (Proverbs 22:29)

Not only will the diligent person rub shoulders

with rulers, he or she will be promoted to rulership

as well! Take a look:

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the

slothful shall be under tribute. (Proverbs 12:24)

God is looking for diligent men and women He

can trust with responsibility, influence and rule. I

can assure you, He’s not going to put slothful,

undisciplined people over resources and wealth.

All throughout the wisdom books of the Bible we

see it over and over. Diligence is a major key to

seeing the manifestation of all the good things God

wants for His children. But it’s not in those books

only, you’ll find it throughout the New Testament as

well.

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For example, look at II Peter 3:14:

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such

things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in

peace, without spot, and blameless.

When you’re looking for something God has

promised, the key is to be diligent.

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Chapter 6

T

he Role of the Will

6

Several years ago my wife and I were acquainted

with a woman who had been a smoker for years. Her

husband and children were constantly pleading with

her to quit, but her reply was always the same, “I

just can’t. I’ve tried and I can’t.”

A few years later her husband went on to be with

the Lord. After a period of time she met and fell in

love with a wonderful, man. Before long, she found

herself hoping with all her heart that this gentlemen

would propose.

One day he mentioned the fact that he could not

marry a woman who smoked. Would you like to

guess how long it took that woman to quit smoking?

Not a month. Not a week. Not even a day.

She quit smoking in an instant. She made a

quality decision as an act of her will. Once she

exercised that God-given part of the soulish realm

called the will, she became an instantaneous non-

smoker.

The human will is a powerful thing. Even Jesus

had to deal with it. We see Him putting His will in

subjection to the will of the Father in the 22nd

chapter of Luke:

And he was withdrawn from them about a

stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup

from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be

done. And there appeared an angel unto him from

heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony

he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it

were great drops of blood falling down to the

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ground. (Luke 22:41-44)

It’s easy to forget that Jesus was God in human

flesh. His flesh was subject to the same temptations

as yours or mine.

There in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ flesh

took a look at what was ahead—rejection, mocking,

beating, spitting, a crown of thorns, the whip, the

nails, the weight of all the sin of the world—and

said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from

me.” But aren’t you glad He followed up by saying,

“nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done?” Jesus

exercised His will by choosing to go with the will of

the Father.

There was no devil in hell that could have taken

Jesus’ life against His will. He had to willingly lay it

down if He was to become the sacrificial payment for

our sins. That’s exactly what He said He was doing

in the tenth chapter of John:

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay

down my life, that I might take it again. No man

taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have

power to lay it down, and I have power to take it

again. This commandment have I received of my

Father. (John 10:17, 18)

At any time Jesus could have called legions of

angels to come to His aid. Because he was fully man,

Jesus had to exercise His will in order to carry out

God’s plan. The same is true for you and me.

We have to renew our minds to this reality. We

have to recondition our thinking away from the

mindset that says, “I’m a powerless victim of my

circumstances.”

You must eliminate the mindset that says things

such as:

“I can’t quit smoking. I’m addicted.”

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“I can’t eat right.”

“I can’t control my temper.”

“I can’t get up early and spend time with God.”

Real change begins with renewing your mind to

this biblical truth: You began these bad habits as an

exercise of your will, and you can stop them the

same way.

“But Pastor Dollar,” I can hear you saying, “I’ve

done that. I’ve used my will to try to change

something about my life, and it didn’t work!”

I do realize it is likely that at one point in your

life you made a decision with all your heart to

change, and fell flat on your face. We all have.

What you must realize is that when you make a

choice to do things God’s way, a war is initiated. The

devil is not going to move out of some area of your

life without putting up a fight.

The moment you’ve set your will to break an

addiction, you’ve started a war. The moment you

make a quality decision to bring discipline to some

area of your life, you’ve started a war.

“Well then, aren’t I better off not even trying?”

you may be thinking. Absolutely not. As we’ve seen,

as long as the devil has a stronghold of slothfulness

in any area of your life, it can keep you from

experiencing the blessing and increase of God. If you

want to see your expected end, you’re going to have

to become diligent.

And there’s no way to do that without picking a

fight with the devil.

You see, a lot of Christians just want to be able to

stand in a prayer line, have someone lay hands on

them, and “ZAP!” No more problem. Instant

discipline.

It rarely works that way, however. God will

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occasionally do a remarkable work of deliverance in

someone’s life, but that’s the rare exception, not the

rule.

The War Against Your Soul

Yes, if you’re going to move from slothfulness to

diligence, you’re going to have to fight a war. It’s not

optional.

The apostle Peter makes mention of this war in I

Peter 2:11:

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and

pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war

against the soul....

Now, when most people see the word “lust” they

immediately think in terms of sexual desire. That

certainly is one type of potential lust, but it’s far

from being the only one.

The word lust merely means “strong appetite.”

There are many different things that a person can

lust after. Some lust after money, power or

influence. Others lust for food, comfort or leisure.

An excessive appetite for anything can become

lust. And what did Peter say about these fleshly

lusts? They war against your soul.

Out-of-control appetites do more than just bring

war to your mind and will. They also try to draw you

away:

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am

tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil,

neither tempteth He any man: But every man is

tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust,

and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it

bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,

bringeth forth death. (James 1:13-15)

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Lust will draw you. It will draw you away from

the things of God and toward those things that

ultimately result in death.

As in any war, the price of losing this battle is

high. As James points out, it can cost you your life.

Winning the War

As we’ve seen, there is a direct conflict between

your will (once you’ve chosen to be diligent) and the

lusts and desires of your flesh.

What decides which side wins? What determines

whether you move into diligence or stay in

slothfulness? The answer is simple.

As in any war, the side that is strongest wins.

And which side is stronger—your fleshly desire or

your will—is determined by which one is the most

well nourished.

You see, each day of your life you do things that

either feed your flesh or feed your spirit. A desire for

something grows stronger only as you give attention

to it.

You don’t suddenly catch a strongly developed

sexual lust like you might catch the flu. It begins as

you give your attention to something like

pornography or even risque television shows.

The more you give attention to that kind of thing,

the stronger desire grows. The more you feed it, the

bigger, stronger and more deeply entrenched it gets.

This trap is even more deadly because, while

you’re feeding fleshly desire, you’re almost certainly

neglecting to feed your spirit. If you’re consuming

pornography, you’re not going to be spending time

with God or feeding on His Word.

It’s no wonder that, when you finally try to use

your will to change your behavior, you fail. You have

a strong, highly developed desire and a puny,

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undernourished spirit.

So how do you reverse that state of affairs? First,

you must cut off nourishment to the ungodly desire.

You must quit feeding it.

Then you must do the things that bring the

power of God onto the scene. That means using your

faith. In fact, anything we accomplish as believers

we must do by faith.

Believing God to break an addiction is no

different than believing God for a new bicycle. You

must find some Word to stand on. Meditate on that

Word. Speak that Word out and keep your mouth

from saying anything contrary to that Word. And

finally, you must put corresponding action to your

faith.

James 2:20 tells us that faith without

corresponding action is dead. That’s why it is so

important to begin this process by cutting off the

flow of nourishment to the desire you’re trying to

break.

If diligence is ever going to replace slothfulness in

your life, your spirit and its desires are going to have

to be stronger than the cravings of your flesh.

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Chapter 7

A

Disciplined Mind

7

Thus far in our study, we’ve been exploring the

need to get control of the flesh and what it takes to

do so. But the fact is, if you’re going to discipline

your flesh to pray, to eat right, or to abstain from

destructive and addictive things, you’re going to

have to address your thought life.

You see, thoughts are not harmless, innocent,

meaningless flashes in the circuitry of your brain.

According to the Word of God, thoughts have

consequences. Thoughts have power. Thoughts grow

into actions and actions into habits.

Before we get more deeply into understanding the

power of disciplining your thoughts, I want you to

take a look at an important passage of scripture:

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about

with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside

every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset

us, and let us run with patience the race that is set

before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and

finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set

before him endured the cross, despising the shame,

and is set down at the right hand of the throne of

God. For consider Him that endured such

contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be

wearied and faint in your minds. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

The first thing we learn from this passage is that,

if we’re going to make it all the way to the end of the

race, we’re going to have to lay some things aside.

What must you lay aside? According to the above

verse, weights and sin.

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You can’t successfully run the race of life while

carrying around heavy weights such as negative

habits, undisciplined flesh and outright sin. As I’ve

been saying all throughout this book, if you’re going

to experience all God has for you, you’re going to

have to become disciplined. And that means losing

the dead weight.

Now, notice that in verse three the writer of

Hebrews says, “consider Him [Jesus] that endured

such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye

be wearied and faint in your minds.”

God’s Word instructs us to do something here.

We’re told to consider Jesus. Where do you do your

considering? In your mind.

Now we’re not being told to consider Jesus simply

to give us something to do. The Word says do it

because there is a benefit in it. What is the benefit?

Not getting weary in your mind and fainting.

In the long history of the Olympic games, no one

ever won a race who fainted on the third lap. You

can’t win if you faint. And, according to this verse,

you’re in danger of fainting if you are mentally

weary.

As we’ve seen previously, the mind is part of the

soulish realm of a person’s existence. The mind, will

and emotions comprise the soul. Then there are the

other two realms—the spirit and the body.

You are a spirit. You have a soul. And, you live in

a body.

What this scripture is telling us is that if you

don’t consider the Word (Jesus is the Word made

flesh, according to John, chapter one), you’ll get

weary and faint in your mind.

It’s important to understand that the mind is the

arena of faith. It’s the battleground upon which

you’ll either win or lose the fight of faith. In fact, it’s

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difficult to overstate how important your thought life

is where the things of faith are concerned.

This is true for many reasons. One important one

is that your mind is where belief takes place.

Space does not permit it here, but I challenge you

to do a word study on the words “believe” and

“belief" sometime. It’s a real eye-opener. Here are

just a couple of examples:

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall

say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be

thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his

heart, but shall believe that those things which he

saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever

he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things

soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye

receive them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11:23,

24)

What you receive in life is directly tied to what

you believe. In fact, your very salvation is a product

of belief:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the

Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God

hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;

and with the mouth confession is made unto

salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever

believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans

10:9-11)

And just as a belief in the truth will bring you

salvation and blessing, belief in the lies of the enemy

and the lies of this world’s system will bring you

curses and death:

And for this reason God will send upon them a

deluding influence so that they might believe what is

false, in order that they all may be judged who did

not believe the truth, but took pleasure in

wickedness. (II Thessalonians 2:11, 12)

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Belief is a product of your thought life. Whether

you believe the truth or believe a lie is determined by

how successfully you fight in the battleground of

your mind.

The first step in winning this fight is

acknowledging it exists. You must face the fact that

Satan is after your mind. He wants to sit in the

cockpit of your mind and have you cooperate with

him in controlling your actions and behaviors.

The direction the pilot (your mind) sets, is the

direction the plane (your body and actions) is going

to go. And either the Spirit of Truth is in the cockpit

of your mind with you, or the enemy and his lies.

Look at what Jesus said about the role of the

Holy Spirit in this regard:

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will

guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on

His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will

speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

(John 16:13 NASB)

The course of your life and the nature of your

actions are going to be governed by your thoughts.

That’s why the enemy will work hard to gain access

to that area.

It’s vital that we learn how Satan operates

against us so we can defeat him. What is his primary

plan of attack? To deceive you. To get you into

deception. To get you to start thinking the way the

world thinks. That’s why Paul says:

See to it that no one takes you captive through

philosophy and empty deception, according to the

tradition of men, according to the elementary

principles of the world, rather than according to

Christ. (Colossians 2:8 NASB)

Deception is nothing more than wrong belief. It is

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a belief in something that is false. But what makes

deception so dangerous is that, at the heart of every

lie is a little kernel of truth.

Back in the Garden of Eden, the serpent told Eve

what God had said. Only, he left out a little and

added a little. There was a core of truth in what the

serpent said to Eve. It was just twisted a little.

Eve fell into that deception and sin entered the

world. Deception will keep you from fulfilling your

destiny.

Are you beginning to see how important it is to

discipline the mind? It’s actually the key to

disciplining your flesh, isn’t it? Romans 12:2 just

comes right out and says so!

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye

transformed by the renewing of your mind....

(Romans 12:2)

According to this verse, changing your patterns of

thinking to bring them into alignment with the truth

of God’s Word will actually transform you.

Once again we see why deception and wrong

thinking is so dangerous. It too can transform you...

negatively.

If you’re looking at yourself today and don’t like

what you see, you need to face the fact that who you

are is a direct product of how you’ve been thinking,

and what you’ve been believing. The Word of God

says so.

Satan’s Messengers

When it comes to waging war in the battleground

of the mind, it’s important to know who you’re

fighting. In actuality, you’re not just fighting your

own carnal nature. You also have to contend with

spirit-beings who try to operate in your soulish

realm—in particular the realm of your mind.

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These demonic forces don’t have much power or

authority. They rely upon you giving them access to

your thought life. It’s really all they have the ability

to do. That’s why their most frequently used weapon

is the weapon of suggestion.

Demonic spirits will try to suggest things to you

in order to introduce deception and false ways of

thinking into your thought life.

Don’t get the Hollywood idea that you need to

worry about demons creeping around in your attic. If

they’re around, they’re trying to creep into your

thought life.

One of the most familiar passages of scripture

that describes this battleground is II Corinthians,

chapter 10:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war

after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are

not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling

down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations,

and every high thing that exalteth itself against the

knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every

thought to the obedience of Christ.... (II Corinthians

10:3-5)

Here the Word clearly tells us that, although it

may seem like the battleground is your flesh, it’s

really in your mind. You only see the results in your

flesh.

How is this battle fought? By “casting down

imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself

against the knowledge of God, and bringing into

captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

Imaginations and thoughts that are contrary to

the Word and will of God are the seeds which, if left

to grow, will ultimately become strongholds of

behavior and action.

Because of the nature of this battleground, it is

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vital that you learn to do what the Bible calls

walking in the Spirit. This was Paul’s instruction to

the Galatians:

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall

not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

Notice the result of walking “in the Spirit.” You

won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. Here we have a key

to getting your flesh under control! As we saw in a

previous chapter, Paul went on to elaborate on the

battle between the desires of the born-again spirit

and the desires of your carnal flesh:

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the

Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the

one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that

ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not

under the law. (Galatians 5:17, 18)

To get your flesh under submission, you’re going

to have to learn to walk in the Spirit.

What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? It just

means walking according to the Word. Jesus said

“the words that I speak are spirit and they are life.”

(John 6:63)

When you walk in the Spirit, it means you’ve

been feeding and nourishing your spirit by

meditating on God’s Word and spending time

communing with Him. It means that you hear the

voice of the Spirit louder and more clearly than you

hear the voice of your flesh or the voices of demonic

suggestions.

It also means that when you hear that voice of

the Spirit, you act on it.

Now let me tell you what walking in the Spirit is

not. Walking in the Spirit is not walking in

presumption. It’s not walking in religious

foolishness. It’s not walking around like some deep,

mystical, Christian guru.

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I’ve met people who tend to over-spiritualize

everything and think they’re walking in the Spirit.

The true Spirit-walk is a practical walk. It’s a real

walk.

Of course, before you can let your Spirit-walk

keep you from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, it helps

to have a realistic assessment of what your flesh is

capable of. That’s what Paul gives us in the next few

verses of Galatians in the passage we have been

examining:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which

are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,

lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,

variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,

heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness,

revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you

before, as I have also told you in time past, that they

which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom

of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

I want you to notice something here. Verse 19 did

not call all these horrible things works of the devil.

No, Paul called them works of the flesh.

Isn’t that interesting? We shouldn’t blame the

devil for the wickedness in our lives. According to

the Word of God, it’s a product of our flesh when it’s

given it’s own way.

We must take responsibility for the darkness in

our lives.

The role the devil plays is getting us to think

wrong. Deception leaves your flesh free to produce

works like those listed above.

In the middle of that list is a word we don’t hear

very often these days. It’s a word few Christians

understand. In the next chapter we’re going to

examine the meaning of this important word.

That word is lasciviousness.

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La

sciviousness

8

The dictionary defines lasciviousness as “a

tendency to be unrestrained.”

It’s talking about a way of living in which there is

little or no control over the appetites of the flesh. If

you eat whatever you feel like eating and eat as

much of it as you want, you’re lascivious in that

area.

If you don’t climb out of bed until you’re good

and ready, you’re lascivious where sleep is

concerned.

If you gratify your sexual cravings any way you

please, that too is lasciviousness. In fact, it’s

possible to be lascivious in almost any area in which

your flesh has an appetite or a need.

Now, in the previous chapter we saw that

lasciviousness was listed among the works of the

flesh in Galatians chapter five, right along with

fornication, witchcraft and murder.

Make no mistake about it. Having unrestrained

flesh is serious business in the eyes of God. Why?

Because it will keep you from fulfilling His plan and

destiny for your life. The inability to control your

eating will derail your calling just as surely as

adultery will. Both are equally destructive to you

realizing your expected end.

If I seem to be talking a lot about food and eating

in this book, it’s for a good reason. I’m convinced

that lasciviousness regarding food is the cause of

more spiritual shipwreck and human failure than

almost any other appetite.

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It’s no accident that the serpent’s temptation of

Eve in the Garden centered on food. ( “Yea, hath God

said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” )

You’ll also remember that Satan’s first temptation

of Jesus in the wilderness was food-related. ( “If thou

be the Son of God, command that these stones be

made bread.” )

Obviously the enemy knows something here. If

food was the initial point of attack against the First

Adam and the Last Adam—Jesus, then perhaps we

ought to make sure we’re not being tripped up in

this area as well.

I’m also using the unrestrained desire for food as

a frequent illustration because it is something I’ve

had personal experience with.

There was a time in my ministry in which it

became apparent that, if I didn’t get control in this

area of my life, I would never accomplish all the Lord

had called me to do.

I’ve always enjoyed food. For example, I used to

become irritated with my wife. We’d buy a big bag of

oatmeal-raisin cookies. She’d reach in and pinch off

a little part of a cookie and put the rest away. Me?

I’d have the whole bag eaten in no time.

She was exercising restraint. I was demonstrating

lasciviousness.

The Lord spoke to me one day and said, “If the

devil can whip you over food he can whip you over

anything.” I knew that if I was ever going to see God

work in great power through me—if I was ever going

to see the dead raised in my ministry—I was going to

have to get control of my flesh where eating was

concerned.

That’s why the principles I’m outlining in this

book aren’t just abstract theories to me. I’ve lived

them. Yes, I know they work because they’re in the

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Word. But I’m also writing as a witness to you that

I’ve applied them and they worked for me.

This isn’t theology for me. It’s life.

Likewise, there are some things you are uniquely

called to do. Satan knows it and he’s going to do his

best to keep you from fulfilling that high calling. The

most effective way for him to do that is to get you

into lasciviousness in some area of your life.

The Mind and Lasciviousness

In the previous chapter we saw that the mind

was the battleground that determined what you did

in the flesh.

As you would expect, this is true where

lasciviousness is concerned as well. How does your

thought life result in lasciviousness? The Word

clearly shows us in the fourth chapter of Ephesians:

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that

ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the

vanity of their mind, Having the understanding

darkened, being alienated from the life of God

through the ignorance that is in them, because of the

blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling

have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to

work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have

not so learned Christ.... (Ephesians 4:17-20)

This passage of scripture shows us a progression.

It began with a vain mind and a darkened

understanding. It ended with them giving themselves

over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with

greediness.

I want you to pay close attention to the wording

of that last verse. Notice it said these people had

“given themselves over” to lasciviousness.

Lasciviousness doesn’t just jump on you and

take control of your body. It progressively and

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gradually becomes the norm in your life as you give

yourself over to it. In other words, it is a result of

your choices.

You don’t just wake up one morning, after years

of being disciplined, and suddenly abandon all

restraint in some area of your life.

Inch by inch, step by step, you remove restraint

until one day you find yourself in full-blown

lasciviousness with your flesh calling the shots.

It’s like the old story of the frog in the kettle.

It’s a scientific fact that, if you put a frog in a pan

of hot water, he’ll jump out because he’s

uncomfortable. But if you put that frog in a kettle of

cool water and then gradually turn up the heat

under it, the frog will eventually boil to death

without ever jumping out.

The frog gets accustomed to each rise in

temperature and doesn’t realize he’s in a deadly

situation until it’s too late.

The same is true for many believers where

restraints on their flesh is concerned. They gradually

cast off restraint a little at a time. They don’t realize

how dominant their flesh has become until the

deadly force of lasciviousness is threatening to

destroy them spiritually and physically.

It begins as a tiny seed but, unless uprooted, will

ultimately become a massive tree.

The seed of lasciviousness is a thought. It’s end

result is an unrestrained life headed for destruction.

There are basically three areas in which

lasciviousness can be present in your life. There is:

• Lasciviousness of the mind. (Thoughts)

• Lasciviousness of the mouth. (Words)

• Lasciviousness of the body. (Actions)

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These three realms also represent a progression

or sequence. Unrestrained thinking will ultimately

lead to unrestrained talking. Unrestrained talking

will always result in unrestrained behavior.

To get all the way with God, you’re going to have

to overcome lasciviousness. Are you ready to do

that? Before you continue this study, say this

confession aloud as a declaration of faith:

• I refuse to live a lascivious life.

• I will not allow my thought life to be

unrestrained.

• I take every thought captive to the obedience of

the Anointed One and His Anointing.

• I walk in the Spirit and therefore do not fulfill

the lusts of the flesh.

• I am spiritual, therefore I think the Word,

speak the Word and do the Word.

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P

ulling Down Strongholds

9

Have you ever had dandelion weeds in your yard?

If so, you know they’re not easy to get rid of. If you

simply cut one off at ground level, it will grow right

back bigger and stronger than before.

No, to get rid of a dandelion, you have to pull it

out by the roots.

The kinds of slothful and undisciplined behavior

we’ve been talking about are like those dandelion

weeds. Many people will try to get rid of them by

working above the surface.

They’ll buy self-help books from the secular

bookstore. They’ll get counseling and therapy and

psychological help. They’ll get prescriptions from

their doctor. They’ll make New Year’s resolutions and

turn over a thousand new leaves.

All of these efforts at change are like cutting that

dandelion off at ground level. They’re external. It

may seem to do some good for a time, but before

long the problem comes back worse than ever.

If you want to experience true change, you’re

going to have to go after the root of slothful and

lascivious patterns of action. The good news is,

God’s Word tells us how to do it.

Let’s start by revisiting II Corinthians, the 10th

chapter:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war

after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are

not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling

down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations,

and every high thing that exalteth itself against the

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knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every

thought to the obedience of Christ.... (II Corinthians

10:3-5)

The first thing I want you to observe about this

passage is the nature of and location of the battle.

We’re told that though we walk in a fleshly body, this

battle is not a flesh battle.

This is where most people make their first

mistake. They think that if their flesh is out of

control, the problem must be in their flesh. As a

result, they attack the problem with carnal or

natural weapons.

What kind of weapons should we use? Verse four

tells us:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

but mighty through God to the pulling down of

strong holds; (II Corinthians 10:4)

The weapons that will win your war against

addictions and negative behaviors are not carnal

(fleshly and natural) ones. They are mighty through

God.

Think about it. What type of spiritual weapon has

God placed in the hand of every believer? The sword

of the Spirit—the anointed Word of God. To win this

fight, you’re going to have to be heavily armed with

God’s Word. You’re going to have to know it,

meditate on it, speak it and do it.

What is this weapon good for, according to verse

four? The pulling down of strongholds.

A stronghold is nothing more than a demonically

inspired and instigated pattern of thinking. A

pattern that is deeply entrenched. In fact, it’s just

what it’s name suggests—a strong hold on your

thinking by demonic powers.

The battleground is your mind and the only

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effective weapon is the Word.

Not only does this passage of scripture give us

the weapon, it also gives us the strategy. Aren’t you

glad it does? In a war, it’s not enough to have the

most powerful weapon, you also have to have the

proper tactics and strategy if you want to completely

defeat your enemy.

We find the winning strategy in verse five:

Casting down imaginations, and every high

thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of

God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the

obedience of Christ.... (II Corinthians 10:5)

Here we have another confirmation that the

battleground is your mind. The key words in this

verse are imaginations, knowledge and thought. All

three of these things are in the realm of your mind,

aren’t they?

This verse also shows us why the Word of God is

such a powerful weapon against these strongholds.

You can’t know whether or not something is exalting

itself against the knowledge of God unless you have

knowledge of God from His Word.

You can’t bring thoughts into captivity to the

obedience of the Anointed One and His Anointing,

unless you know what to obey.

In this powerful passage we are given three

important keys. We are shown:

• The battleground. (The mind.)

• The weapon. (The Word.)

• The strategy. (Casting down imaginations and

taking thoughts captive.)

Now let’s take a closer look at the demonic

powers behind these strongholds.

Cleaning Your “House”

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In a previous chapter we saw that the house is

used in the Bible as a metaphor for the physical

human body. In the 12th chapter of Matthew, Jesus

used this symbol to teach us some things about how

demonic powers relate to human vessels:

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he

walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and

findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my

house from whence I came out; and when he is

come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other

spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in

and dwell there: and the last state of that man is

worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto

this wicked generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)

There are several insights into demonic activity

we can glean from this passage.

First, notice that Jesus said, “When the unclean

spirit is gone out of a man...” This tells us that some

spirits are unclean. There are spiritual beings, called

demons that are vile, filthy and perverse. It also tells

us that they can inhabit a human body, otherwise

they couldn’t go out of a man.

The second thing I want you to notice is that

these spirits seek a place to rest. They need a place

to dwell. When Jesus cast a legion of demons out of

the madman of Gadara, (Matthew 8:31) they begged

to be sent into a herd of pigs.

Demonic spirits seek a dwelling place to rest.

Now, before I go any further, I want to clarify

something. There is a lot of bad theology and strange

thinking in the church where demons are concerned.

People these days tend to be in one of two ditches.

Some people don’t believe demons are real. They

think the Bible only talks about them because

people back in those days didn’t have the medical

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knowledge we do today.

Other people see a demon under every rock and

behind every tree. They think every symptom, every

craving, every tendency and every twitch is a devil.

Some sincere Christians actually are terrified that

they’ll become demonically possessed.

The truth of the Bible actually lies between those

two extremes.

Demons are real. Jesus Himself says so on

several occasions in scripture. The Bible teaches

that they are fallen angels who joined Lucifer in his

rebellion against God and were cast out of Heaven.

A demon can possess an unbeliever, but a demon

cannot dwell in a genuinely born-again Christian

spirit. Let me repeat that for emphasis. A demon

cannot dwell in a Christian’s spirit.

How do I know that? Because the Bible teaches

that when you are born again, Jesus comes to live in

your spirit. Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the

hope of glory.”

If you’re saved, Jesus is on the inside of you and,

I can assure you, He’s not about to share a house

with the devil!

The final thing I want you to see from the parable

Jesus told about the house is that when the demons

were driven out, it was cleaned up but left empty:

Then [the demon] says, “I will return to my

house from which I came; and when it comes, it

finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.”

(Matthew 12:44 NASB)

A lot of unbelievers manage to clean up the

house of their lives for a time, but unless they fill it

with Jesus, their solution is only a temporary one.

Eventually they’ll be seven times worse off than

when they started.

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If you’re reading this and you’ve never made

Jesus Lord of your life, there will never be a better

time than right now to get that taken care of. You

can fill the house of your life with Jesus by inviting

Him into your heart and surrendering control of your

future to Him.

You don’t want to do a temporary clean up of

your house then leave your spirit empty. Peter had

this in mind when he wrote:

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of

the world through the knowledge of the Lord and

Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled

therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with

them than the beginning. For it had been better for

them not to have known the way of righteousness,

than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy

commandment delivered unto them. (II Peter 2:20,

21)

Binding the “Strong Man”

The parable of the cleaned-up house wasn’t the

only illustration Jesus used to explain how the

enemy sets up housekeeping in someone's life. We

find another instance in the 11th chapter of Luke.

The Pharisees had just accused Jesus of casting

out demons by the power of Beelzebub—the captain

of the demons. Jesus responded by saying:

... Every kingdom divided against itself is

brought to desolation; and a house divided against a

house falleth. If Satan also be divided against

himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye

say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I

by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons

cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no

doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. (Luke

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11:17-20)

Once Jesus had answered the Pharisees’

accusation, He went on to use the opportunity to do

some teaching about how Satan sets up

housekeeping in a person’s life, and how the power

of the Anointed One sets him free:

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace,

his goods are in peace: But when one stronger than

he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he

taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted,

and divideth his spoils. (Luke 11:21, 22)

Here is what I want you to see. When a

stronghold (the strong man) is deeply entrenched in

a person’s thinking, natural means are not going to

move him out of there.

But when someone stronger—Jesus, the

incarnate Word of God—shows up, that stronghold is

broken, overpowered and kicked out.

Here is how that works for us today. The armor

that protects a demonic stronghold is your ungodly

patterns of thinking and unholy attitudes. An

unbiblical thought life represents the walls of the

stronghold.

Now remember, Jesus and the Word are the

same. Jesus was the Word made flesh. So, when you

begin to replace unbiblical thoughts with thoughts

from the Word, you are bringing the one stronger

into your house to bind the strong man.

When you begin to take thoughts captive to the

obedience of the Anointed One and His Anointing,

it’s like bringing Jesus Himself into your mind to

overpower the enemy and plunder his goods.

The continued presence of a stronghold in your

life is dependent upon you continuing to have

thoughts, opinions and attitudes that are not in

alignment with God’s Word. As soon as you begin to

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bring them into alignment, that stronghold is under

heavy attack.

The more areas you bring into alignment with

God’s truth, the fewer strongholds you will have in

your thinking.

It would be nice if the moment we were born

again, all our thinking and attitudes automatically

switched over to truth. But it doesn’t work that way.

Yes, your spirit is instantly reborn, but your

mind must be renewed bit by bit. That’s why Paul

said:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye

transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye

may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and

perfect, will of God. (Romans 12. 2)

No, getting born again is not the conclusion of

the process. It is only the beginning. Once you’re

saved, you must go to work replacing all your old

ways of thinking with God’s ideas, attitudes and

viewpoints.

It is only then that strongholds will be pulled

down and you’ll see lasting changes in your outward

behavior.

Adults spend 30, 40, 50 years and longer having

their ideas shaped by the world. They let parents,

friends, TV, Hollywood and every tool of the devil tell

them how to think. Then they expect to change all of

that in one revival service.

It simply doesn’t work that way. That's why we

must go back to that characteristic we talked about

in a previous chapter called persistence. You must

be willing to stick with it until it’s done.

Will you encounter resistance as you begin this

process?

You’d better believe it. The devil will let you do

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anything before he’ll sit by and watch you get into

the Word and prayer.

Make a quality decision to start getting into the

Bible on a regular basis and get ready to have some

warfare in your mind and in your body. You’ll get

sleepy, hungry, distracted, tired and a dozen other

things right about the time you sit down with your

Bible.

Satan knows that if you get the Word firmly

planted in yourself, he’s a goner. He will no longer be

able to have his way in your life. That’s why

persistence and consistency are so important to this

process.

Common Strongholds

Thus far we’ve mainly spoken in generalities

where strongholds are concerned. Now let’s get

specific.

Rare is the Christian who doesn’t deal with at

least one of the following strongholds:

• Unbelief—This is a powerful and widespread

stronghold. Example:You don’t really believe in

your heart that tithing will work, that healing is

for you, or that prayer changes things.

• Cold Love—The inability to walk in love toward

others. Example: A selfish husband who is

insensitive toward his wife.

• Fear—Consistent and often irrational fear or

dread of certain things. Examples: Fear of

failure, fear of harm, fear of rejection.

• Unforgiveness—The inability to let go of hurts,

grudges or offenses. Example: An adult who

carries bitterness toward a mother or father for

offenses in childhood.

• Lust—appetites that are out of control or

consistent desires that are contrary to God’s

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Word. Examples: Food addictions, obsessive

sexual desires and coveting of other people’s

goods.

There are many other potential areas in which

strongholds can be constructed in your thought life

but those are a few of the most common ones.

Renewing your mind to the Word of God;

replacing worldly patterns of thinking with biblical

patterns; taking every thought captive to the

obedience of Christ. All of these activities are in the

realm of your mind, but they will ultimately have a

profound impact on your outward behavior.

In addition to all the scriptures we’ve seen that

support this principle, there is one more that brings

this truth home:

For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he:

(Proverbs 23:7)

A major key to moving from slothfulness to

diligence—from lasciviousness to discipline—is

rooting out strongholds in your thinking.

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Chapter 10

Sou

rces of Strongholds

10

I think it would be helpful at this point to stop

and review some things.

You obviously want more discipline in your life. If

that weren’t true you wouldn’t be reading this book.

And you certainly wouldn’t have stayed with me this

far if you weren’t hungry to change some things

about the way you’re living.

Thus far, we’ve seen that the outward behaviors

we exhibit are actually the direct result of how we

think. We’ve also seen that an ingrained pattern of

wrong or negative thinking is called a stronghold.

In the previous chapter we identified what

strongholds are, and discovered both the weapon

and strategy for eliminating them from our lives.

We saw that strongholds are basically

demonically induced patterns of thinking that are

contrary to the truth of God’s Word. The more deeply

entrenched the thinking pattern, the stronger the

stronghold.

We also saw that in order to remove a stronghold,

you had to go where they exist—the mind.

Now that you know how to get free, I want to

show you how to stay free. To do that, it’s important

that you understand where strongholds come from.

Since we know that a stronghold is constructed

of wrong thoughts, ideas and attitudes, it makes

sense to ask the question, “Where do these false

concepts come from?” If we can identify the source of

these things, we are way ahead in being able to keep

them from taking root in our thinking. There are

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basically three sources that the enemy can use to

produce strongholds in your life. In this chapter we’ll

explore them one at a time.

The World

When the New Testament talks about the world,

it’s usually not referring to the globe of planet earth.

It’s talking about the fallen world’s system.

Jesus made frequent reference to the world in

this sense when He taught His disciples:

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me

before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the

world would love his own: but because ye are not of

the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,

therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:18, 19)

The world is the satanically inspired system of

thinking and those who participate in it. As Jesus

said in the verses above, this system hates Jesus

and hates anyone connected to Him.

He said basically the same thing in the 17th

chapter of John as He was praying to the Father

about the Church:

I have given them thy word; and the world hath

hated them, because they are not of the world, even

as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)

Just as Jesus is the ruler of the Kingdom of

Heaven, this world’s system is a kingdom with a

ruler, as well. Jesus spoke of this ruler just before

He was betrayed:

Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the

prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

(John 14:30)

Jesus called Satan “the prince of this world.” In

saying that, He meant Satan is the ruler of the

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twisted, perverted part of creation that has not yet

experienced redemption.

Paul made a similar reference in one of his letters

to the Corinthians:

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the

minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the

glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,

should shine unto them. (II Corinthians 4:4)

Notice what Paul says Satan has done to those in

the world’s system. It said he has blinded their

minds.

Here we clearly see that the world has a problem

with its thinking. The people in the world have had

their minds blinded by the devil.

In many other places in scripture the Word of

God talks about the “wisdom of the world” or “man’s

wisdom.” For example, in the second chapter of First

Corinthians, Paul tells us that he is careful not to

utilize this type of fallen thinking in his presentation

of the gospel:

And my speech and my preaching was not with

enticing words of man's wisdom, but in

demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your

faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in

the power of God. (I Corinthians 2:4, 5)

Do you see it? The world has ways of thinking

but it is wrong thinking. It has a type of wisdom but

it is fallen, corrupted wisdom. Because the world is

satanically ruled and thoroughly corrupted, all

thoughts, ideas and attitudes that come out of it are

corrupt and false.

Do you see now how dangerous it is to adopt

attitudes and thoughts that come out of the world?

Do you understand how such corrupted thinking

can produce the seed of a stronghold?

Now you know why apostles like Paul, John,

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Peter and James were so forceful when talking about

this subject. Take this familiar passage for example:

Beware lest any man spoil you through

philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of

men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after

Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

James was even sterner in his warnings to

believers about getting too cozy with the world’s way

of thinking:

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not

that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?

Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is

the enemy of God. (James 4:4)

Now that’s laying it on the line isn’t it? You can’t

adopt the world’s viewpoint on matters and remain a

friend of God. Why? Because the world hates God.

Jesus said so.

Listen to what John had to say on the subject:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in

the world. If any man love the world, the love of the

Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the

lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the

pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:

but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (I

John 2:15-17)

In this powerful passage, John gives us a quick

breakdown of what you’re going to get when you let

thoughts and attitudes from the world infect your

thinking. You’re going to get:

1. The lust of the flesh.

2. The lust of the eyes.

3. The boastful pride of life.

Now doesn’t that pretty much cover the kinds of

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strongholds and behaviors we’re trying to learn how

to overcome?

Is food the problem? The lust of the flesh is the

source. Is inappropriate sexual desire the challenge?

The lust of the eyes is involved. Is a strong need for

status and power your stronghold? The boastful

pride of life is at the root.

Child of God, you can’t absorb the world’s

thinking without getting the world’s results—and

those results are bondage and death!

Yet I see believers doing it every day. They let

television, Hollywood, the newscasters, their friends

or a host of other sources communicate wrong ways

of thinking to them. Instead of comparing those

deceptive thoughts to the standard of God’s Word

and rejecting them if they fail to measure up, they

just accept them instead.

Let me give you an example. According to this

world’s system, there is absolutely nothing wrong

with a man and a woman being sexually involved

outside of marriage. Television, movies, books,

magazines and even the public education system all

portray sex outside of marriage as “normal.”

If you have any acquaintance with the Word of

God at all, you know what God’s standards on the

issue are. God says, “One man. One woman. For life.

Period.”

Why does God say that? Because he knows there

is death and destruction outside of His system. He’s

not trying to spoil people’s fun. He’s trying to save

their lives.

Yet I come across Christians all the time who are

letting the world’s thinking about sex pollute their

minds. They saturate their minds with messages

from the popular culture and then start wondering

to themselves, “Does God really expect me to abstain

until I’m married? He can’t really mean that”

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Do you see how it’s possible for a thought or

attitude from the world to become a stronghold of

deception. This kind of deception is particularly

deadly because it’s anti-anointing.

For many deceivers are entered into the world,

who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the

flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (II John

1:7)

Deception will rob you of the anointing. And

without the anointing, you can’t have your burdens

removed and your yokes destroyed.

When you allow yourself to be seduced by the

world’s way of thinking about things, you’re actually

deceiving yourself. In First Corinthians, chapter

three, Paul warns us about self-deception and

adopting the corrupted wisdom of the world:

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among

you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become

a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this

world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He

taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again,

The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they

are vain. (I Corinthians 3:18-20)

In a similar vein, James warns us about allowing

ourselves to buy into the world’s wisdom:

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is

earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and

strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But

the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then

peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of

mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and

without hypocrisy. (James 3:15-17)

Today, the satanic world’s system is sending you

a steady stream of thoughts, ideas and attitudes. If

you take every thought captive to the obedience of

Christ and cast down every lofty thing that exalts

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itself above the knowledge of God, you’re not going

to be infected by them.

If, on the other hand, you allow the world to color

your thinking, you’re susceptible to the construction

of a stronghold of some sort, and I can assure you,

you won’t like the end result.

Your Personal Experience and

Conclusions

The world’s system isn’t the only source of

potential strongholds in your thinking. There is

another avenue I see being used against believers all

the time. That avenue is within them.

You see, we all have a tendency to view the world

through the lens of our own experience. Our

perception of reality is greatly influenced by our past

experiences and the conclusions we draw from them.

There’s just one problem with that. Your

experience is not a valid standard of truth. Your

finite human mind doesn’t always draw valid

conclusions.

The only infallible, accurate standard for truth in

the earth is the Word of God. That’s why Paul wrote:

... Rather, let God be found true, though every

man be found a liar... (Romans 3:4 NASB)

In other words, if every man on earth is saying

left and the Word of God says right, go with the Word

of God.

You need to include yourself in that. If your

experience and logic tell you one thing but the Word

of God says something different—go with the Word.

You can’t trust your experience. You can’t trust your

fallen, human reason.

This is the very area in which so many Christians

have a hard time. Someone goes up in a healing line

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for prayer and, for whatever reason, they don’t see

the manifestation of their healing.

Based on their experience, they draw a

conclusion: “Healing isn’t for me. I know God heals

some people, but He must not heal everyone

because I didn’t get healed.” Now, on the face of it,

that sounds like a logical conclusion based on

experience. There’s just one problem with it. It’s

contrary to the Word of God.

I Peter 2:21 says:

[Jesus,] Who his own self bare our sins in his

own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,

should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye

were healed.

Matthew 12:15 tells us, “Jesus healed them all.”

On almost a daily basis you’re going to be faced

with this decision. Either you’re going to go with

what your experience and senses tell you, or with

what the Word says about the situation.

I don’t want any strongholds operating in my life

so I’m going with the Word.

Religion and False Doctrine

There is a third common source for wrong

thinking. Ironically, people often get infected with

this kind right inside the walls of their local church.

I’m talking about concepts and ideas that spring

from religious tradition and false teaching.

Much of what is communicated and emphasized

in religious circles today has absolutely nothing to

do with the truth of God’s Word. That shouldn’t

come as a big surprise though, because the same

was true in Jesus’ day.

Jesus was God incarnate. A living, breathing

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representation of God’s nature and will. Yet, He was

constantly in trouble with the religious leaders that

were supposedly dedicated to serving God.

How could that be? Jesus Himself exposed the

nature of the problem. Somewhere along the way

religious tradition had become more important than

the truth of God’s will and ways.

In one encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus laid it

on the line to them. He told them:

And thus you invalidated the word of God for

the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly

did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people

honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away

from me.' (Matthew 15:6, 7 NASB)

He delivered a similar message on another

occasion. He told a group of religious leaders that

they were...

Making the word of God of none effect through

your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many

such like things do ye. (Mark 7:13)

Did you catch that? Jesus told them they had

managed to make the mighty, powerful, creative

Word of God of none effect through their religious

traditions.

Strongholds of religious tradition and false

teaching will do the same thing in your life.

That’s why it’s so vital that you test everything

you hear against the standard of God’s Word

(including what you’re reading in this book right

now!)

Paul praised the Christians at Berea because

they were open to the things of God, but were careful

to check everything out against the standard of the

Word:

Now these were more noble-minded than those

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in Thessalonica, for they received the word with

great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to

see whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11

NASB)

Just because a man with degrees or a title says

something, it doesn’t make it so. God’s Word

encourages us to test everything carefully.

Look, for example at Paul’s advice to the

Colossians:

Beware lest any man spoil you through

philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of

men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after

Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

False teaching will spoil you. That’s means to

make rotten or corrupt. How does that happen?

False church doctrines and teaching can shape your

patterns of thinking in ways that make it difficult or

impossible for you to operate in the anointing.

There are entire denominations that experienced

the power and presence of God at one time in their

history. Now nothing remains but form and

tradition. Their traditions have made the Word of no

effect.

Other segments of Christianity will tell you that

God doesn’t heal anymore. Yet in the Bible God says,

“I am the God that healeth thee.” (Exodus 15:26)

Others will tell you that there are no longer any

apostles or prophets. “Those offices passed away in

the first century,” they tell you. Yet the fourth

chapter of Ephesians tells us that these offices will

remain until we all come together in the unity of the

faith and have attained the full stature of Jesus!

And he gave some, apostles; and some,

prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors

and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the

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work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of

Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and

of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect

man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness

of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11-13)

I could cite example after example but the point

is, if you let these unbiblical religious teachings sink

into your thinking, they will rob you of faith and

confidence where these matters are concerned.

You’ll miss out on the power and blessing God

has made available to you because you won’t have

any faith or expectation to receive them.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to discover that

Christians who have been taught (wrongly) that God

doesn’t want them to prosper, aren’t experiencing

very much prosperity.

Believers who have been taught that healing

passed away with the apostles don’t get healed very

often.

These are strongholds. Deeply entrenched

deceptions that spring from religious tradition and

false doctrine.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Now that

you know where the seeds of strongholds are likely

to come from, you can be on your guard and keep

them from ever getting planted.

Make sure you’re not absorbing unbiblical

thoughts and ideas from:

• The world.

• Your own experience and conclusions.

• Religious tradition.

If you’ll hold every thought and attitude up to the

standard of God’s Word, rightly divided, you’ll stay

free from strongholds and the destructive

consequences they bring.

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Chapter 11

Be

coming a Person of Discipline

11

Diligence.

Slothfulness.

Lasciviousness.

Strongholds.

We’ve examined a number of different Bible terms

in the preceding pages. Each term has shown us a

different aspect of what is involved in becoming a

person of discipline. A person who controls their

appetites rather than having their appetites control

them. A person who, as Paul said, knows how to

possess the vessel of their body:

... That each of you know how to possess his

own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful

passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; (I

Thessalonians 4:4, NASB)

This is the kind of person that gave Paul such

joy:

For even though I am absent in body,

nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see

your good discipline and the stability of your faith in

Christ. (Colossians 2:5 NASB)

Discipline and stability of faith go together. As

you become a more disciplined person, you’ll find

that your faith is becoming stronger and more

effective.

You’ll also find yourself becoming bolder, less

fearful and timid. That’s why Paul was able to tell

Timothy:

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but

of power and love and discipline. (II Timothy 1:7

NASB)

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That’s a verse you need to stand on. You need to

meditate on it. You need to lay hold of it in faith. You

don’t need discipline. You need to bring forth the

spirit of discipline God has already given you.

I hope you realize by now that discipline isn’t a

dirty word. It’s a Bible word. Being disciplined isn’t a

prison. It’s freedom.

Freedom from slavery to your appetites. Freedom

from bondage to sin. Freedom from guilt, shame and

self-hatred.

Disciplined Christians are the freest people in the

world.

There is an anointing of discipline. It’s the power

of God to remove the burdens of lasciviousness and

destroy the yokes of strongholds like addiction.

You’ll experience that anointing as you press into

the Anointed One Himself.

As I’ve said many times in many ways throughout

this book, when it comes down to basics, becoming a

person of discipline and diligence is all about filling

yourself with Jesus.

As you fill your mind, heart and mouth with His

Word... As you spend time fellowshipping with Him

in His presence... As you are transformed into His

likeness through the renewing of your mind to His

Word, you’ll find the old cravings, bondages and

habits simply falling away on their own. Jesus was a

person of extraordinary discipline. You’ll be

disciplined too, as you become more like Him.

Child of God, Jesus wants you to be free. And

true freedom can only come as you learn to

overcome the weaknesses of your flesh, and to resist

the attempts of the enemy to re-enslave you.

As I close, consider the words of Galatians 5:1:

It was for freedom that Christ set us free;

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therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject

again to a yoke of slavery. (NASB)

Keep standing firm. The Anointed One and His

Anointing has set you free!

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About the Author

Biography of Dr. Creflo A. Dollar Jr.

Dr. Creflo A. Dollar Jr. was born and raised in

College Park, Georgia. After graduating from

Lakeshore High School, he obtained a Bachelor of

Education degree with a concentration in History

from West Georgia College in Carrollton, Georgia. He

began his professional career as a high school

teacher in the Fulton County school system. From

there, he became an Educational Therapist for

Brawner Psychiatric Institute Of Atlanta.

In 1986, Dr. Creflo Dollar began to carry out the

call which God had placed on his life, by starting

World Changers Christian Center, a non-

denominational church in College Park. Pastor

Dollar began the ministry at a local elementary

school with only eight people. At that time, the

ministry was small and aimed at developing a solid

foundation for the fulfillment of a larger vision. He

now pastors a church of over 17,000 people, and is

an internationally known author, teacher and

conference speaker with a ministry that not only

reaches the local community, but also spans the

globe. He can be seen and heard throughout the

world on the “Changing Your World” broadcast, via

television and radio. Dr. Dollar also conducts

conventions across the U. S. and around the world.

Dr. Creflo A. Dollar Jr. and his wife, Taffi, live in

Atlanta, Georgia. They have five children—Gregory,

Jeremy, Jordan, Alexandria and Lauren Grace.

103

Become a Partner With World

Changers Ministries!

There is power, fellowship and commitment in partnership. We

invite you to become a partner with World Changers Ministries in

fulfilling the vision the Lord has given Dr. Creflo A. Dollar Jr. to teach

the Word of God with simplicity and understanding.

To become a partner, simply fill out the appropriate information on

the order form below, and mail your postage paid response today!

Our partners are valued friends and supporters of this ministry. We

don't take lightly our responsibility to you to pray, diligently seek the

Word of God, and minister to you monthly in a personal letter. As an

additional benefit of partnership, we will offer, from time to time,

discounted products to you for your spiritual edification and growth.

We look forward to entering into a covenant relationship with you,

and pray that the blessings of God will be manifested in your life.

REMEMBER, THERE IS POWER IN PARTNERSHIP!

105

Other Books and Tapes by

Creflo A. Dollar Jr.

BOOKS

Attitudes

Capturing the Reality of Heaven and Hell

The Color of Love

The Divine Order of Faith

The Divine Order of Biblical Prosperity:14 Practical

Steps to Prospering in God

Understanding God's Purpose For The Anointing

The Anointing to Live

TAPE SERIES

1997 Faith Convention: The Source of True Power

And Jesus Healed Them All

Christ In You: The Hope of Glory

Communication: The Master Key to An Anointed

Family

Destroying the Root of Debt

Developing a Hunger and Thirst for the Anointed

One and His Anointing

Due Season: When Will I Get From The Bottom to

The Top?

Evicting The Devil From Your Home

God's Healing Word

Going Through The Furnace

How To Trouble Your Trouble

Living A Life of Diligence

Obedience As A Life

Passing The Test With Joy, Peace and Praise

Seven Steps to Prayer That Bring Results

SOS! Help, My Flesh Needs Discipline

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S O S ! H e l p M y F l e s h N e e d s D i s c i p l i n e

The Burden-Removing, Yoke-Destroying Power of

God

The Divine Order of Biblical Prosperity: 14 Practical

Steps to Prospering in God

The Divine Order of Faith

The Importance of Seeking God

The Keys to Unlock The Anointing

The Power and Authority Over Demonic Forces

The Reality of Redemption

The Revelation of Christ, The Anointed One

What is the Kingdom of God?

108

The Sinner’s Prayer

Father, in the name of Jesus, I confess right now,

and realize that I am a sinner. I repent of all my sins. I

make an 180-degree turn away from all my sins. I

change my heart, I change my mind, I change my

direction, and I turn toward Jesus Christ. I confess

with my mouth that God raised Jesus from the dead,

and I believe in my heart that Jesus is alive and

operates in my life. I thank you Lord that I am saved.

Amen.

STEPS TO SALVATION

1. Admit, recognize that you are a sinner. Psalm

51:5

2. Repentance. 1 John 1:9

3. Confession. Romans 10:9-10

4. Baptisms—Water/Holy Spirit. Matthew 3:6

5. Obedience to the Word of God. 1 John 5:3

SEVEN STEPS TO RECEIVING THE BAPTISM OF

THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. Understand that the Holy Spirit was poured

out on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:38

2. The born-again experience is the only

qualification necessary for receiving the Holy-

Spirit baptism. Acts 2:38

3. The laying on of hands is scriptural. Acts 8:17

4. Know what to expect. Acts 19:6

5. Disregard all fears about receiving a

counterfeit for the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:11-13

6. Open your mouth as an act of faith to receive

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S O S ! H e l p M y F l e s h N e e d s D i s c i p l i n e

the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18-19

7. Let all things be done decently, and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:33

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Document Outline

- SOS! Help! My Flesh Needs Discipline

- Table of Contents

- Introduction

- 1 Your Expected End

- Crowning the Flesh King

- Getting to "Delight"

- 2 Discipline and the Anointing

- Listen to Your Flesh (And Do the Opposite)

- Be Not Weary

- 3 Discipleship: A Life of Discipline

- Get Understanding

- 4 The Making of a Disciple

- #1. Bearing the Cross

- #2. Renouncing the Enemies of Discipline

- #3. Leaving All

- #4. Continuing Steadfastly

- #5. Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

- Taking Inventory

- 5 From Slothfulness to Diligence

- The Way Out of Slothfulness

- Your “House” and Your “Field”

- The Solution for Slothfulness

- 6 The Role of the Will

- The War Against Your Soul

- Winning the War

- 7 A Disciplined Mind

- Satan’s Messengers

- 8 Lasciviousness

- The Mind and Lasciviousness

- 9 Pulling Down Strongholds

- Cleaning Your “House”

- Binding the “Strong Man”

- Common Strongholds

- 10 Sources of Strongholds

- The World

- Your Personal Experience and Conclusions

- Religion and False Doctrine

- 11 Becoming a Person of Discipline

- About the Author

- Biography of Dr. Creflo A. Dollar Jr.

- The Sinner’s Prayer

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Your Expected End.

Discipline and the Anointing.

Discipleship: A Life of Discipline.

The Making of a Disciple.

From Slothfulness to Diligence.

The Role of the Will.

A Disciplined Mind.

Lasciviousness.

Pulling Down Strongholds.

Sources of Strongholds.

Becoming a Person of Discipline.

About the Author.

The Sinner’s Prayer.

SOS! Help! My Flesh Needs Discipline

Table of Contents

Crowning the Flesh King

Getting to "Delight"

Listen to Your Flesh (And Do the Opposite)

Be Not Weary

Get Understanding

#2. Renouncing the Enemies of Discipline

#3. Leaving All

#4. Continuing Steadfastly

#5. Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

Taking Inventory

The Way Out of Slothfulness

Your “House” and Your “Field”

The Solution for Slothfulness

The War Against Your Soul

Winning the War

Satan’s Messengers

The Mind and Lasciviousness

Cleaning Your “House”

Binding the “Strong Man”

Common Strongholds

The World

Your Personal Experience and Conclusions

Religion and False Doctrine