The Amazing Undercurrents That Control Your Life |FLOW Sunday |Dag Heward-Mills

Devotional

Day 1: Persistent Exertion: Body and Mind in Faith

Spiritual growth demands more than passive belief—it requires gritty, embodied effort. The call to "apply diligence" means engaging both physical stamina and mental focus, like an athlete training for a championship. Laziness withers faith, but persistent exertion—fasting, prayer, resisting temptation—fuels it. This isn’t mystical escapism; it’s the sweat of obedience. True faith thrives when muscles and mind strain toward holiness. [01:33:27]

"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity."
(2 Peter 1:5-7, KJV)

Reflection: What specific habit requires your bodily exertion this week? How might resisting one physical craving strengthen your spiritual resolve?

Day 2: Age and the Erosion of Spiritual Diligence

Solomon built temples in his youth but shrines in old age. Time often dulls urgency, replacing holy fire with complacency. The older we grow, the harder it becomes to sustain the mind-body discipline that guards against corruption. Retirement from zeal is not a biblical concept. Diligence—not mere experience—keeps faith alive. [01:47:39]

"For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father."
(1 Kings 11:4, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you made peace with spiritual lethargy because of your age or season? What one discipline could reverse that erosion today?

Day 3: Fasting as Bodily Exertion Against Lust

Fasting isn’t spiritualized dieting—it’s warfare. Headaches, hunger pangs, and trembling hands are not side effects but the main event. Denying the stomach trains the soul to say "no" to darker appetites. Every skipped meal weakens lust’s grip. Pornography flees where fasting prevails. [01:41:28]

"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret."
(Matthew 6:16-18, ESV)

Reflection: What craving have you avoided confronting? How might a 12-hour fast expose your dependence on comfort rather than Christ?

Day 4: Weakness Made Strong Through Faith’s Fire

Hormones, trauma, and genetic wiring are not final verdicts. Faith redirects raw desire—the "violence of fire"—into holy passion. What once destroyed now propels devotion. Hebrews’ heroes didn’t transcend weakness; they transfigured it. Your greatest flaw may become your fiercest weapon. [01:57:05]

"Who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness."
(Hebrews 11:33-34, ESV)

Reflection: What weakness have you resigned to? How might faith repurpose it as fuel for righteousness this month?

Day 5: Faith: The Undercurrent That Quenches Life’s Fires

Beneath surface struggles—lust, greed, despair—flows faith’s subterranean river. It doesn’t eliminate desire but sanctifies it. Young love becomes covenant. Ambition serves mission. Even rage against injustice finds holy expression. Faith reroutes primal fires into divine energy. [01:59:14]

"quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became valiant in battle, put foreign armies to flight."
(Hebrews 11:34, NKJV)

Reflection: What “fire” in you feels uncontrollable? How could daily scripture listening redirect that energy toward purity?

Sermon Summary

Undercurrents are the hidden forces that move life. Reason is not always the reason for things. The world can have so much money, but the money can go into fighting, killing, destroying, and making weapons. So the real reason for many things is not what is obvious on top, but what is moving underneath.

First Corinthians 13 names the great undercurrents as faith, hope, and love, and love is the greatest. Second Peter then brings faith into focus and shows that spiritual things do not just fall on a person without effort. The passage says that God has given exceeding great promises so that His people may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The divine nature is not a demonic nature, not a devilish nature, but the nature God gives through His promises.

Second Peter says to give all diligence. Diligence means constant and earnest effort, persistent exertion of body and mind. That is a strong word. Spiritual qualities like faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love all need diligence. The lazy person cannot do well spiritually, because laziness fights the very exertion that spiritual growth requires.

Diligence is also needed to make calling and election sure. As people get older, age can begin to affect their mind and body, and the words “I’m tired” and “we used to” can become signs that diligence is going down. Uselessness and unproductiveness increase when diligence decreases. Solomon built the temple when he was young, but in old age he built shrines to idols, because he became tired of resisting pressure.

Faith is one of the great forces that changes life. Hebrews 11 says that through faith people subdued kingdoms, obtained promises, stopped lions, quenched fire, escaped the sword, and out of weakness were made strong. Faith turns weakness into strength, but faith also needs constant effort. Faith comes by hearing, so a person who does not learn how to listen to preaching cannot become strong in faith.

Faith also quenches the violence of fire. Strong desires are normal, especially in young people, but the destructive burning must be controlled through faith. Fasting, obedience, and listening to the word train the body and mind to resist lust, pornography, and other undercurrents. God strengthens a person with faith so that weakness becomes strength and fires are quenched.

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Key Takeaways

1. Hidden currents move visible lives. Undercurrents are the real forces beneath many visible decisions. Logic may sit on top, but desire, fear, lust, faith, hope, and love can be what actually moves a person. Spiritual wisdom therefore looks below the surface and asks what force is really controlling the life. [87:24]
2. Diligence belongs to spiritual things. Second Peter joins spiritual growth to bodily and mental exertion. Faith, virtue, knowledge, self control, godliness, and love are not treated as things for lazy people. Grace gives promises, but diligence lays hold of them with constant effort. [94:10]
3. Laziness makes Christians unproductive. Uselessness does not always arrive suddenly. It can grow quietly when diligence goes down and when a person begins to live by “I’m tired” and “we used to.” Spiritual fruitfulness requires fresh exertion, not only old memories of past usefulness. [106:46]
4. Faith turns weakness into strength. Hebrews 11 does not deny weakness, but it refuses to let weakness have the final word. Through faith, weakness becomes the place where strength appears. Faith is not a personality type, but a force that must be fed and exercised. [117:26]
5. Hearing feeds conquering faith. Faith comes by hearing, so neglecting the word weakens the very power needed to overcome fire. Social media can train appetite, but preaching trains faith. A life that keeps hearing the word gradually becomes a life with strength to resist other undercurrents.

## [124:05]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[86:10] - The Amazing Undercurrent
[87:24] - Hidden Reasons Beneath Human Actions
[87:41] - Faith, Hope, And Love
[88:22] - Partakers Of The Divine Nature
[90:11] - Applying Diligence To Faith
[95:15] - Laziness And Spiritual Fruitfulness
[100:32] - Fasting Requires Bodily Exertion
[108:37] - Making Calling And Election Sure
[115:29] - Faith Makes Weakness Strong
[118:54] - Faith Quenches Burning Fires
[123:43] - Faith Comes By Hearing
[128:09] - Prayer For Faith
[128:58] - Salvation Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

2 Peter 1:4-10
“by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” [01:28:22]

Hebrews 11:33-34
“who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” [01:55:29]

1 Corinthians 13:13
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” [01:27:41]

Romans 10:17
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” [02:03:43]

Observation questions

In 2 Peter 1:4-10, what qualities are added to faith, and what does the passage say these qualities keep a believer from becoming? [01:34:10]
In Hebrews 11:33-34, what are some of the specific things people did through faith, and what happened to their weakness? [01:57:26]
What three great abiding forces are named in 1 Corinthians 13:13, and which one is called the greatest? [01:27:41]
What kinds of hidden forces can move a person beneath the surface, even when the outward reason looks different? [01:27:24]

Interpretation questions

2 Peter says believers become partakers of the divine nature through God’s promises and then must make every effort. How do God’s gift and human diligence work together in this passage? [01:30:11]
If faith can make people strong out of weakness, what does that suggest about how weakness should be viewed in the Christian life? [01:57:26]
2 Peter connects lack of diligence with being ineffective and unfruitful. What kinds of spiritual decline can quietly grow when a person begins to live without earnest effort? [01:46:46]
Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing. Why might regular listening to the word be one of the main ways God strengthens a person against sinful desires and inner fires? [02:04:05]

Application questions

Hidden undercurrents often drive visible choices. What undercurrent has been strongest lately in this season of life—faith, hope, love, fear, weariness, lust, resentment, or something else? How has that been showing up in daily decisions? [01:27:24]
“Make every effort” is strong language. Where is diligence most needed right now: in prayer, hearing the word, self-control, patience, brotherly kindness, or love? What would earnest effort look like this week in that one area? [01:34:10]
Spiritual unfruitfulness usually does not happen all at once. Have “I’m tired” or “we used to” started to shape the way life with God is approached? Where has spiritual energy dropped, and what might help renew it? [01:46:46]
Faith comes by hearing. What is actually feeding faith right now, and what is feeding other appetites more than the word of Christ? Is there a clear change that needs to be made in what is being listened to each day? [02:03:43]
Faith quenches the power of fire. Where are strong desires feeling hardest to govern right now? What practices—such as fasting, obedience, honesty, or more steady hearing of the word—might help bring those fires under control? [01:58:54]
God can make a person strong out of weakness. What weakness has felt especially heavy lately, and what would it look like to bring that weakness before God in faith instead of only managing it by willpower? [01:55:29]
Love is the greatest of the abiding forces. If growth in faith is real, where should love become more visible right now—in the home, in the church, or toward one difficult person in particular? [01:27:41]

Sermon Clips

77s

“``Keep listening to messages because faith comes by hearing. Whatever weakness you have or family weakness you have. You see, faith comes by hearing. And he says, through faith, by faith or through faith, their weaknesses were made strong. says out of weakness were made strong. Out of weakness were made strong. So it means that the weakness that you have Yes. You become strong through faith. Like, I don't know how, but faith. You have to believe, and you have to have constant effort to believe. Don't think that, oh, I'm not the type that believes. No. No. No. It's you have stopped making effort to believe. That is it. You have stopped exerting your body and your mind to believe. You need to do it constantly.”

66s

“You can never be strong in faith. And it is faith which quenches the violence of fires. You'll be complaining about, oh, I don't know how to stop this. I don't know how to stop that. And gradually, you deteriorate, and those other forces take over your life. And you see before you realize, you're a wretched person because other undercurrent has possessed you. Ask your neighbor, which undercurrent is controlling you at all? What undercurrent is leading you and controlling your life? God is helping you to have faith and to be a man of faith. Today's service has been all about the undercurrents. The undercurrents of faith, hope, and love, but not knowing that they are very powerful undercurrents. may God strengthen you with faith. Amen. Faith comes by hearing. Keep listening to the same thing.”

61s

“But amazingly, that same constant effort is needed in every spiritual endeavor to be anointed, whether it is to be godly, whether it to have brotherly kindness, whether it is to overcome problems, spiritual, need a constant effort apply on it. The Bible says give diligence to acquire faith. Knowledge. that is how come the lazy, phlegmatic type. Then you also have the older type who are affected by their age a lot. They are the ones whom you see the spirituality goes down, and then they gradually become unproductive in the house.”

73s

“Somebody said, I went to my father's room, and I saw his videotapes, his pornographic videotapes, and I watched all of them. That's how come I learned all those things. Somebody said, I took my father's drinks, and I drank all of them and added water to it, and and and that is how come I learned how to drink. No. You need diligence to overcome that problem Until you stop ex when you stop exerting bodily and mind effort persistently, every spiritual problem will become huge, and it will just not go. And you'll always be complaining about it that why is it this thing is not going? Why do I have a problem with this that never goes? Pornography cannot be overcome by just saying, I just watch once or whatever. But until you apply a certain strength, it will not go. It will never go, and it can never be normal, and it is not normal.”

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The Amazing Undercurrents That Control Your Life |FLOW Sunday |Dag Heward-Mills | Sun 28th June 2026