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unproductive, whereas the others’ god-playing is “working.”
Walking After the Flesh
    Now, let’s have them each accept Jesus Christ as Savior. After salvation, they will each begin to demonstrate different versions of the same problem—walking after the flesh. I’ll explain briefly now how this works and discuss it more at length in later chapters.
    Charlie hears all about how much God loves him, but he can’t seem to “feel” the way he “feels” other Christians “feel.” It would appear on the surface that Joe and Sam are relatively free from this problem, but not so. They feel good. They feel loved, and since the techniques they’ve used all their lives to generate acceptance from others as well as self are still productive, they continue to employ them. Only this time they apply them to the church environment. They simply tack a few appropriate Scriptures onto their existing good feelings about themselves and “feel” they’re now walking in the Spirit.
    “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” the Lord told the apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV ). I love Ken Taylor’s paraphrase in the Living Bible: “My power shows up best in weak people.” Since Charlie is weak and knows without a doubt that he’s weak, he’s a super candidate for God’s strength to “show up best in.” But how about Joe and Sam? They thank God daily that they’re strong! They mean well, but they’re flying on flesh power and heading for a flameout.
    Here’s the point to remember: Now that these three men are saved, the Evil One will try to control each of them by working through their old patterning. He’ll try to use Charlie’s flesh to block him from appropriating love and self-esteem through Christ’s finished work for him. This was happening to the young woman who wrote the suicide note that began this chapter. The Evil One was seeking to destroy her through her Yukky Flesh. On the other hand, he’ll try to deceive both the Plain Vanilla Flesh person and Mr. Wonderful into settling for a cheap imitation of the valid article, trusting in the same old fleshly techniques they have always used to generate acceptance from others and from self. They seek to satisfy their God-given need for love with the conditional (merited) love of people instead of the unconditional love of their Creator. In addition, they have built their own self-esteem on this same foundation. Now reread this paragraph, please. It’s that important.
Conclusion
    Perhaps you have been able to identify with one of these types of flesh. If yours is the rejection pattern, you must see that by striving to adjust to the world’s demands so you can gain others’ acceptance and accept yourself, you are still caught in the flesh trap. If, on the other hand, you identify more with the people who managed to “make it” through techniques found in the “self-help” section of your local library, you are no different from the man who identifies with Charlie. You just feel better. Your flesh is paying off with the world’s (and, alas, the church’s) acceptance, where his is not. Both positions are sin positions, failing to trust God to supply all your needs in Christ Jesus.
    There is no such thing as Spirit-filled flesh, although you see a lot of teachers who are trying to market and package this product. How are you attempting to get your love needs met? How does your method for getting acceptance differ from that of the lost man or woman? You programmed these patterns into yourself during your childhood as you sought to get all your needs supplied, primarily your need for love. This constitutes your unique version of the flesh. Do you still depend on it? The precious Holy Spirit wants to reveal to you what Christ has made available to you to liberate you from “walking after the flesh” to get your acceptance needs met in Him. Ask the Lord to reveal this truth to you from His Word as you study this book. We are totally accepted in Christ!