1Cor 9:27
But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
What does it mean to Subdue?
To Subdue means to put under control. Looking at our text for Today, Apostle Paul puts his body under subjection meaning that he recognised the works of Flesh and choose to subdue it.
We are called to walk in the Spirit for the bible says we are Spirit. However since the Spirit has a home in this tent, the flesh, we have a tendency of ending up walking in the flesh. So, in order for us to subdue this flesh and bring under the subjection of the Spirit, certain things have to happen and a lot of shifts of a divine nature have to occur. By subduing the flesh means it will be under the control of the Spirit not the flesh Reigning.
Jesus in Mark 14: 38 said that “the spirit indeed is ready, but the flesh is weak”.
The principle here is that the spirit is the driving force behind anything we do.
However, the weak flesh can impede the desires of the spirit man and that is why we must bring the flesh under subjection. When you get to a stage of purification (there are glory to glories of purification), your fellowship with God and His heavenly sons will intensify. This is when we begin to see what eye hath not seen and hear what ear hath not heard.
While we are sons of God, we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity according to Ps 51: 5. The imagery is that of a mold (for example jello). If you put the liquid in the mold, the solid product takes on the exact shape of the mold that it was placed in. In other words, we were born in a mold of sin and took on the shape of sin. We acquired this mold because Adam abandoned the mold God had created for him.
Galatians 5:17
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.