The Triumphant ChurchIn Romans 12:1, Paul talks about the importance of
believers' presenting their bodies to God.
ROMANS 12:1
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that YE present your
BODIES a living SACRIFICE, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
It astounded me when I fully realized what these
verses were actually saying. Paul wasn't writing to
sinners. He was writing to saints—believers. He was
telling Christians that even though they are born again,
their bodies are not born again, and they will have to do
something with their own bodies.
If you don't present your body to God as a "living
sacrifice," your body is going to want to do everything it
did before you got saved when you were still under the
dominion of Satan, the god of this world (Eph. 2:2). In
other words, if your inward man, which is a new
creature in Christ, isn't in control of your body, you
leave the door open for evil spirits to have access,
because demons try to dominate man through the soul
and the body.
I saw this happen in a minister's life. He was a
wonderful Christian—a kind and good man who had
been a pioneer in Pentecost. He had enjoyed excellent
health for years, but in later years he began to have
trouble physically. He eventually had three strokes,
which affected his mind.
He was partially paralyzed, and at times he wasn't
himself. He would cuss at his wife and knock her
around. This woman and her daughter would pray and
pray about his condition. When he would pray in