Flesh Wounds

In medicine, a flesh wound is considered an injury that only damages the skin or underlying tissue and isn’t deep enough to harm internal organs.

But when it comes to our spiritual walk with God, the things of the flesh can do more damage to the soul than we realize.

1 Peter 2:11 (KJV)

I beseech you … abstain from fleshly (carnal) lusts, which war against the soul.

A while back, Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn told us that our souls can be wounded and need to be healed. We know that it’s not the things of the spirit or heavenly things that harm us—so those wounds must be coming from fleshly and earthly things, just as Peter describes.

It’s easy for us, who profess to be saved and believe we have the power to abstain from such things as alcohol, crime or fornication, to think we are not driven by fleshly lusts. But it's about more than what we put into or do with our bodies.

Lust is anything that draws us away from God and, as a result, produces sin. For example, Chief Apostle Gunn has taught us that prayerlessness often stems from the things we allow to take our focus and attention off God. Anything that captures more of our attention than God is something we are lusting after. In fact, he said recently on a FORREAL broadcast that whatever keeps God from being No. 1 in our lives is an idol.

James 1:14–15 (KJV)

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 (separation from God).

The other week, Chief Apostle Gunn asked something so powerful—I hope it’s a question neither of us forgets. If we keep asking it, it will keep us sober.

In a nutshell, he asked: Our flesh goes back into the ground—it came from dirt—so why do we let it govern us and decide our eternity?

During service last Sunday, he gave a perfect example of how we can be drawn away from God by lust. We can become so focused on performance, climbing the ladder of success, or pleasing our boss that we give all our energy and virtue to our jobs. He said, "You can’t give everything to your job and give God crumbs." Caring more about the time we put into our careers than we give to God is living after the flesh.

Oftentimes, in trying to meet goals, make extra money, or leave a good impression, we overwork ourselves to the point of burnout—going beyond our duty without making the effort to stay in fellowship with God.

As I write this, I’m reflecting on how many times I could have taken a moment to talk or listen to God, despite of a “busy day” or where I failed to invite him into my day because of being “busy.” After spending the day doing everything the world asks of us, God often gets the tired, distracted version of us—when we give all our alert, focused energy to work, school, family, circumstances and even entertainment.

We can use what Chief Apostle Gunn said as a fill-in-the-blank statement to help us clean up the mess of our flesh:

"I am giving everything to ________ but giving God crumbs."

When we desire everything but God, we are creating flesh wounds. The decisions we make when we follow the flesh instead of following God not only damage our souls—they damage our families, homes, communities, the church, and the people we are assigned to witness to and draw to Christ: present and future.

When we are driven by fleshly lusts, we are no longer under the influence of God. And we know that when we live under the wrong influence, we can’t keep our commitments. Think of a drug addict, gaming addict or gambling addict. How reliable, consistent, or faithful are they?

Chief Apostle Gunn, this past week, said that we need to return to God regarding the commitments we’ve made to Him but have not kept. The Lord told him to tell us to come to Him and pray:

Lord, help my yes [to you].

The message ties to the song “Yes” by Shekinah Glory. If you go over the lyrics, you’ll notice that the singer never says her flesh says yes to God. That’s because the flesh—our fallen nature—will never say yes to God. Just as the song declares, our yes can only come from a willing and made-up soul, heart, and mind.

Samson, gave up his YES to God to Delilah. Despite God warning Samson through his parents about giving his affections and attention to ungodly women, he gave it all away, including his spiritual gifts, to Delilah. She literally plotted against him with his enemies and stole his strength. Her name even means “to languish or to weaken.”

Not only did he abandon his calling and assignments from God for this woman, which represents desires and distractions, he lost his physical and spiritual sight and his spiritual and physical stamina because of it. But Chief Apostle Gunn told me one day that because Samson cried out to God and prayed sincerely he was able to regather himself.

Delilah represents the flesh wounds we allow to take place in our lives , but we can decide today not to give away our yes or our strength anymore and we can surrender in prayer with sincerity to regain our YES.

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