The Triumphant Churchappetites, and cravings of your own flesh and put them
away from you. God is not going to do that for you.
God will strengthen and encourage you, of course,
but He won't do it for you. It won't be pleasant, but this
is one way you become Spirit-ruled and Spirit-led
instead of body-ruled, body-conscious, body-led and
open prey to the devil. Actually, this is one way you
submit to God and resist the devil (James 4:7).
'God, Take the Snuff!'
There was a woman down in Texas who came to one
of my meetings. After everyone else left, this woman
prayed at the altar, just bawling and squalling. Every
now and then, she'd yell, "Take it away from me, Lord!
You know I don't want it!" And then she'd get to
screaming like a freight train going through a tunnel.
I finally said to her, "Sister! What is it you don't
want?"
She said, "Why, that old snuff."
I said, "God isn't going to take snuff away from you.
What would He do with it if He had it? He doesn't dip
snuff. You're going to have to do something about it
yourself. You're going to have to crucify your own flesh."
She said, "Oh, but I couldn't give up good ole snuff!"
Remember, Jesus said if your hand offends you—
you cut it off. He didn't mean to get an axe and cut your
hand off. But when you put away the lusts and the
cravings of your own flesh, it's going to "crucify," "kill,"
and "put to death" your flesh. Most folks today would
have wanted to cast a "snuff" devil out of that woman!
That's what she wanted too—the easy way out.
You will have to crucify your own flesh and bring