I’m mid-way through “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray and loving it. He made a statement, which I would call “the cure for ridding flesh”, in a recent chapter that stood out to me:
The first lesson is this — You may be a very earnest, godly, devoted believer, in whom the power of the flesh is still very strong.
He’s gentle in his comments, and quick to point out that it is only the work of Jesus to make us aware of the power of our fleshly self.
He goes on to give the solution:
Are there not some saying: “Ah! that is the problem with me; it is always the self-life, self-comfort, self-consciousness, self-pleasing, and self-will. How am I to get rid of it?”
My answer is: It is Christ Jesus who can rid you of it. No one else but Christ Jesus can give deliverance from the power of self. And what does He ask you to do? He asks that you should humble yourself before Him.
It must be a theme to the melody of my life — or perhaps I’m quite dense and God knows I can’t handle anything new — but the pursuit of humility and surrender continually stand out to me and prove to be one of the most passionate topics I write about.
But I love that the cure for ridding flesh is humility before Jesus.
When we acknowledge His all-knowing divinity and our weakness in our own strength, we’re left without any choice but to surrender to his power. The Lord knows our needs and is generous to save us. If we humble ourselves to Him, He is faithful to begin the process of removing our dependency on ourselves. I love it! (And desperately need it!)