Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
We cannot seek vengeance of other people around us for ourselves, but there is something we need to avenge ourselves for. God avenges for us.
2 Corinthians 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
However, there is something we’re supposed to seek vengeance for – which is our flesh. If there’s an enemy that we hate more than Satan, it’s the flesh. We fail our Christian walk because we lack vengeance on our flesh.
Operating for vengeance
We need to keep vengeance operating so that we can get the victory. Let’s take a look at Jesus and what made him angry. He found something that was a problem, that became a burden for him. We do not seek vengeance against our flesh because we’re too busy feeling angry instead of finding something in our flesh that makes us angry. If there’s something that’s making us depressed/angry/slow down in our prayer/bible reading, find it in our flesh. Stop living in the “feeling”.
John 2: 14-17 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Let’s take a look at the people of Jabeshgilead who were poor and threatened by the enemy that their eyes were going to be plucked out. But no one was standing on behalf of the person. Saul got angry and stood against the wickedness of the enemy.
1 Samuel 11:2,6 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.
Likewise, can you not picture that the devil and the flesh are laughing and the holy spirit is grieving whenever your flesh wins? Enough is enough, stand up and defeat your flesh!
Jeremiah 51: 34-36 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
It is natural to be angry at someone/something that is hurting the spiritual nature inside you. The reason why you don’t care about the flesh is that you don’t love the spiritual nature inside you.
Before you sin, try imagining the Lord Jesus Christ bleeding at the cross.
Obstacles for vengeance
Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
Are you merciful, gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy towards the flesh? What is your fleshly desire that instead of being angry, you’re showing so much grace to it? God shows us grace but the flesh does not need our grace. We are too slow to anger against our flesh. The flesh deserves to be kicked, burdened, feel miserable, be sacrificed. It doesn’t deserve an extra hour of sleep. The problem is that we show too much mercy. No mercy to the flesh!
1 Samuel 17: 23-24,26 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
These Jews were scared of Goliath. Instead, they were supposed to be angry at the Philistines for blaspheming the name of God. If we hear anyone blaspheming the name of God, we should all get angry. Emotions get into our way.
We Christians are ashamed about hellfire, preaching, the way the gospel is preached, which doesn’t make sense. When the flesh is shamed, we should be angry at the flesh.
Discouragement is another reason that prevents people from taking vengeance on the flesh.
The worst emotion towards the flesh is love. When you love this flesh so much, anger goes away.
The flesh doesn’t care about you. You’re not the flesh. One of the keys to victorious Christian life is to nurture the real you which is the Holy spirit inside of you, not the flesh. This is twisted love – how can you love something that is trying to destroy your life?
Proverbs 22:8 He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
The verse above says that those who sin will fail to be angry.
Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
If you have vengeance, there is deep-seated jealousy. God’s name is jealous (Exodus 34:14). Jealousy can be a powerful thing. You need to be jealous against your wicked flesh. You should be jealous that the flesh robbed you of your bible reading and prayer. The flesh says things like “we’re too tired to be with the brethren, serve God etc”. Aren’t you jealous? You’re too busy gathering the rewards that your flesh wants (love life, catching up on Netflix, career, money, etc) instead of heavenly things.
Ezekiel 5: 13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
Doesn’t it feel good when you conquered your flesh? If you’re so upset against this flesh, see how wicked it is and pay it back by reading the bible, praying, serving God. “You better watch out, flesh.” Attack that flesh and pay it tenfold by bearing the fruit of the spirit.