Scripture: Romans 8 v 6 - 11: "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."
Many people are not aware of their carnal mind as something that does not please God, because of "being in the flesh", which is another expression that people don't really understand.
Remember our Father is a Spirit, an almighty great Spirit, who has always existed. How do we comprehend that? We struggle because we don't need to understand everything about God to believe that He exists, and by His love and mercy we were created.
We are spirit beings and we are the Body of Christ, the Church. The Son of God was manifested on Earth as a baby in human flesh. He came that way to experience what we are going through in our fleshly bodies, and the emotions in our soul. He was tempted to sin in every way that we could ever be, yet He never once in His life yielded to sin.
If He had sinned His sacrifice on the Cross would have had no benefit for us. He had to be sinless to intercede for every sinner to be forgiven and cleansed by the Blood He shed. He gave us the ability to walk as He walked. A life without sin.
Our carnal mind is a bucket filled with temptations, evil thoughts, wrong desires, evil surmising, anger, hatred, revenge, corruption and destruction. It is activated by our flesh. Our fleshly eyes and ears observe pornography, our carnal mind responds to it, our flesh responds to the thoughts, memories, and especially unguarded passions, and sins of the flesh are the result. Remedy - destroy all pornographic material and empty the carnal bucket. Beat down every carnal memory that tries to take hold again.
Galatians 5 v 19 - 21: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
God expects us to be clean living, pure-hearted, sober, Christians. No idols, pop or actor/actress, sports person, or anything else must take the place reserved for our Father and Jesus. No emulation of idols is acceptable to Jesus. Copying their lifestyles, hairstyles, clothing and mannerisms is wrong in God's eyes. You shall have no other gods. First commandment.
No sexual sins of any kind. No cursing, swearing, rages or tantrums, no envy, murder, drunkenness or drug-fuelled parties. No witchcraft, magic or occult behaviour (which is rife in the church right now). No heresies......beliefs that contradict the Word of God, as all these or any one of them is a door to doom.
Lucifer was once a pure archangel who sinned through pride and exalting himself above the authority of God. He put a disastrous plan into action in Heaven which resulted in all of us becoming individual souls in need of salvation on a faraway planet called Earth. He became Satan and can never be forgiven.
We can only escape his traps by being born again and growing spiritually until our carnal mind is defeated and we are living a pure and clean life. There is no other way to be free. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit to accomplish what God finds acceptable.
The Holy Spirit will quicken our mortal bodies. The word quicken means to bring life to. We were dead in sin when we were born, we put sin to death when we are born again. It's a choice and decision every person must make for themselves. We have a free will to follow Jesus or remain a slave of Satan. Satan cannot override your free will unless you give him permission. Then he overwhelms you until you are chained and caged.
So recognise the trouble your carnal mind can achieve and choose to empty it and close it down. Replace it with:
Phillipians 4 v 8: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
Prayer: Heavenly Father You will never permit one shred of sin into Your Heavenly Home, and we should start cleansing our own homes and lives in preparation for our eternal lives. We are longing for the soon coming of Jesus which will shorten the time till we reach home again. Help us to stay pure. In Jesus' name. Amen.