“May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], – (Ephesians 3:16 Amp)

A common illustration, that I like to use when teaching, is one in which a man goes around fighting his two dogs, and how he always seems to pick the dog who wins.
As the illustration goes, when he’s questioned about how he knows which dog will win, his response is “the dog I feed the most.”

This morning, while reading Psalms 51, that very illustration came to mind.

In Psalms 51:5 David wrote, “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
In other words, in writing this, he was acknowledging that he was born with a sin nature, and a depravity, that every human born into the world possesses.

It is this sin nature that influences us to sin and is the source of lust, evil and wicked thoughts, and the inability to perceive and understand spiritual things (1st Cor. 2:14).

Although it (the old man) was judged when Christ died (Rom.6:6,7), we will have to grapple with this sin nature until Christ returns, or until we die, because it will continue to operate within us.

We can’t eradicate it, do away with it, ignore it, or pretend that it doesn’t exist.

But, what we CAN do is allow the Holy Spirit to govern and control our lives to the degree that we don’t succumb to the dictates and desires of the sinful nature (old man).

Paul prayed it best when he prayed that God would strengthen and spiritually energize the believers with power (and might) by His Spirit in their innermost being.

If our inner man Is Strengthened by God, with God’s power, which Dog do you suppose will win when it comes down to it?

Today, and everyday, may Paul’s prayer be ‘our’ prayer.

Lord, today we pray that you, indeed, will strengthen us with might by your Spirit in our innermost being, and help us to seek you in formulating the habits in our lives that will be conducive to us being recipients of your strength.

In The Love of God,

Pastor Lowe