Works of the Flesh

Today I read through the next chapter in the book I'm studying with my friends.  It is titled Be Anxious for Nothing and is authored by Joyce Meyer.  Joyce is one of those teachers that is able to convict me with everything she says.  Her book Battlefield of the Mind was life-changing for me.  I highly recommend it along with many of her books.  You can also catch her on TBN.  I set my DVR to record her show.  It comes on while I'm at the gym in the morning.  My usual blog entries are based on the other book I'm studying, but I had some random thoughts as I read my Joyce Meyer book today.

I have heard the phrase "works of the flesh" tossed around a lot at church.  I think it is one of those "church-y" phrases.  The chapter I am on is titled "Cast Your Care, Not Your Burden."  Everything she says or writes is for me.  When I watch her on T.V. it feels like she's staring right at me while she talks!  The section of the chapter I will focus on today is about how only frustration comes out of working in the flesh.  At first I did not think much about the phrase mentioned earlier because I have heard it so much.  Works of flesh are useless to God I have been taught.  I began to think, maybe I don't know what it really means. 

Joyce says there is a difference between work and works.  I have never thought about the difference.  Here is her definition of each.  Work is doing by the grace of God what He has called us to do.  Works is doing by our own strength and ability what we want done.  I use my energy  to try and make happen what only God can do.  God is the only one who can make anything happen so participating in works is self-defeating from the get-go.

Here is another point that hit home for me.  I will explain a little why.  I have mentioned this before on this blog, but I have had serious hormonal issues for many years.  No doctor could tell me what was going on or why.  They did not  know why I could not have a child than after going through I.V.F. they could not tell me why I still felt awful.  It is scary to have something wrong with you and no one can tell you why.  After being put on hormones like I was a 50+ year old woman I was hopeful to feel better.  Wrong.  I became obsessed with trying to figure it all out myself.  No one could help me or tell me anything.  My doses were changed many times without any relief.  I started this journey almost three years ago with close to zero estrogen and progesterone and then toss in a thyroid condition and you have a real party!  It was discovered I literally had toxic levels of progesterone in me (due to being overdosed), but my treatment was not changed.  I didn't know enough to question much of anything.  It was not until over a year later and a move to Georgia when a new pharmacist discovered my dosing was VERY wrong.  It was also discovered that my estrogen went from 8 to over 100 with 10 being the cut off in four months.  It was also recently discovered another hormone in my thyroid was not properly working.  So as you can see the swings have been drastic and wild.  I am not sure which is worse...no hormones or toxic levels of them.  Let's just put it this way...I literally feel like I've been pregnant for three years and that does not count the time before being diagnosed with this mysterious hormone condition.  Dave and I joke that I could give birth to a three year old!  I do not tell you this to complain and there are incredible things I have learned along the way...most spiritual, but not all. 

My point is I have desperately wanted to understand it all.  I have read at length about hormone conditions, hormone replacement therapy, natural cures, etc.  I have totally and completely overwhelmed myself wanting to know why and how I can get better and when and when will this 12 pounds of hormone-weight come off and when will this or that symptom go away and when will I feel like Anna again and what if I am always so tired my eyes pulsate and how it will all happen and who is the best doctor to help and what did I do to cause it all and how can I be sure to not have that happen again and when will my hair stop falling out and why did my old compounding pharmacist not see that a progesterone level of 11,391 was NOT healthy (I started at 15 for reference), etc.  If your head spun reading this my head spun typing it!  I typed it that way so you could understand the idea of works of the flesh.  I have been working in my brain which means I have worried, reasoned, and tried to figured out how to make things happen according to what I want and when I want it.  We can literally get ourselves in a tizzy reasoning.  So works of the flesh are not necessarily doing something physical.  For me, works of the flesh happens in my mind, my thoughts. 

Satan wants us in a tizzy.  He does not want us to live in joy and peace in the MIDST of trials. The Apostle Paul shares his heart in the verses below.  On a side note, I am sure that Paul was one of the first people my mom wanted to meet in heaven!

 Philippians 4:11-13)  "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

These are fighting words to Satan.  Satan feeds us lies.  He says when you FEEL great you will have joy, when your favorite jeans fit again you will be happy, when you have that promotion at work you will be content, when your driving that new SUV you will have joy, etc.  The list goes on.  We spend a majority of our time trying to figure out how we can get all the above.  In my own life the devil has used works of the flesh to steal my joy.  A reasoning mind is not a peaceful and restful mind.  He loves when I'm all stirred up and worried that I will feel this way forever.  Paul says we can be content in anything and we can have peace though it all.  We can even find rest when life is not restful.  How?  ONLY by the grace of God.  My whole situation has confused not only me, but very capable professionals.  Satan loves confusion.

There have been times when frustration has owned me.  I have screamed, cried...ask Dave and some close friends.  Frustration rears its ugly head when I am acting in the works of the flesh.  Only by God's strength can I wait for Him to move in His own way and in His own timing.  In closing I will share a Bible verse for encouragement to anyone reading and to myself.

Psalm 46:10)  That's enough!  Now know that I am God!  I am exalted among the nations;  I am exalted throughout the world!"

Here is another translation.

Psalm 46:10)  He says, "Be still, and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

I must decide to drop my hands, let the burdens fall, quiet my soul, relax, breath deeply and say, "You are God and I am not.  Your ways are not my ways.  I do not understand what you are doing, but I will NOT act or think in the ways of my flesh."