“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17)
It’s important to know exactly what we are talking about. The flesh is the human nature in each one of us, its weaknesses and defects physically and morally, and its passions. When we were without Christ, we followed our passions. The flesh wanted comfort, we gave it comfort without a thought that more noteworthy things should be taken care of. The flesh seeks instant gratification. It’s the world’s mantra; “I” am number one.
When our spiritual eyes and ears were opened, we believed on the Lord Jesus, and we surrendered ourselves to Him and made Him the Lord of our lives. We surrendered all our desires and dreams, wants and comforts. We made Jesus king and set Him on the throne of our lives. There is a spiritual rebirth that happened. God’s kingdom in the spiritual was manifested immediately here on earth, in our life because instantly, our sins were taken away. They had been taken to the cross with Jesus. He paid the penalty price and death of our sins on His body so that we could live holy lives. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:24)
We are a three-part being. We are spirits who live in a human body and have a soul which is our mind, will and emotions. When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our spirit man was reborn of God by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit came to indwell in us. “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2Corinthians 1:21-22) We didn’t know all the theology of what had happened, but we did know that God had done a marvelous thing. That’s because after we are saved, we knew by the Spirit or as the world describes it, intuitively, that things were different. But it’s not our intuition. It’s the Holy Spirit, God’s love and God’s peace that we felt. It is nothing that the world can reproduce. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
Our spirits have been reborn of God. We are different. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17) But there is a struggle within us. Our flesh was not saved. Our souls were not saved. Only our spirit man has been reborn of God. The flesh is very much alive. Our minds still think fleshly and worldly thoughts affecting our emotions and influencing our will. We don’t want to sin, but we do. We can try in our own strength to change, but it’s not sustainable because the change that needs to happen is a work of God. It’s about more and more surrender as we discover the flesh rising to exert itself. It’s about a change in our thinking which can only happen through knowing what God says. And we can only know what God has said by reading the Bible, God’s Word. Paul wrote: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)
The Word of God is alive and has the power to do what it says. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The word quick means alive. Reading the Bible changes our mindset. And the Holy Spirit works in us to change us more and more like Christ. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2Corinthians 3:18)
There’s a real struggle within us. That’s what our Scripture of today is saying in Galatians 5:17. The flesh is completely contrary to the Spirit. Which will the mind listen to? It depends on whether we have been feeding our minds with the Word of God or with things of the world. The world is influenced by the devil and fueled by flesh so the world will reflect the desires of the flesh. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1John 2:16)
We will never reach perfection in our lives because we live in this body and live here in this world. We can’t escape it. But each time the flesh rears up and we surrender to the Holy Spirit instead of to the flesh, the Lord will do the work in us. And we will have victory over it. We are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. We will begin to display the fruit of the Spirit which is impossible to do in our own strength. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” (Galatians 5:22-24) And the love of Christ will be manifested in us. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. (1Corinthians 13:4-8) In this translation (KJV) the word “love” was translated charity. God is love. (1John 4:8) God is eternal. Love is eternal. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is the measuring standard of our growth in the Lord.
So how do we handle this struggle? Again, it’s about surrendering each time to the Spirit. When sin arises, we must recognize it for what it is. It’s sin, a transgression against God. Confess it and repent of it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9) In our earthly journey, we will find that indeed, the Holy Spirit has done a work in us. And He will continue His work until we are face to face with our Lord.
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