“In the name of the Almighty God, I command you that ye touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God, even unto the consuming of my flesh; and whoso shall lay his hands upon me shall wither even as a dried reed; and he shall be as naught before the power of God, for God shall smite him.” (1 Nephi 17:48). If it is true that no unclean thing can exist in the presence of God, then the more of God's light and love and power into our lives, the fewer unclean things there will be. When Nephi was filled with the power of God, it began to consume his flesh, or, in other words, it began to burn away his natural inclinations to rebel against God. Light chases away darkness, perfect love casts out fear, goodness overcomes evil. When the Savior commented that the Spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak, He was not saying, essentially, I know you want to do the right thing but you're not strong enough to pull it off. When He tells us that the flesh is weak, this should be encouraging to us! He did not say that we are weak, but that the flesh is weak. Against the blazing glory of God's power, the flesh doesn't stand a chance. If we will allow ourselves to be filled up with God's power, that divine power will consume our flesh. It will devour our disposition to do evil so that all we are left with is our willing spirit with the disposition to do good continually. Christ is standing at the door and knocking. If we will just let Him in, He will fill us with His grace until every last ounce of our flesh, every last rebellious thought and bad habit and crippling addiction and bitter grudge will be completely burned away.
