The Daily Struggle (cont')

Galatians 5:16 - "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

In my last post I talked about my experiences with the daily struggle and how the flesh and the Spirit contend with each another because they are contrary to one another... Well, I was just reading a few passages that crossed my mind today and I happened to read the above verse. That verse really helped me to remember something very important: We don't have to struggle against our fleshly lusts, and when we do it is because we are not allowing Him to lead us in the paths of righteousness and restore our souls (Psalm 23:3).

God says in Galatians 5:16 "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." If we are walking in the Spirit, constantly communing with Christ through the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13), and continuously relying upon God's Word as a grafted branch abiding in the Vine (John 15:4) we will not allow ourselves to fulfil the lusts that the flesh desires to fulfil. What I believe our problem is (what my problem is too) is that we don't remember this truth all the time, when we ought to. Our enemy and our flesh is very good at getting us to feel "trapped" in our sinful nature, that is, when we give place to the Devil and to sin (Ephesians 4:27). He is a deceitfully wicked, sly, roaring lion that roams around (1Peter 5:8), seeking for the most opportune time to take hold of the places we have allowed him to access and then gruesomely attacks our most vulnerable areas. We must remember, I must remember, that through faith in Christ (1Peter 5:9) sin has no power over the redeemed (Romans 6:7), and that nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39)."

Press toward the mark... (Philippians 3:14)

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The Daily Struggle

I'll tell ya, sometimes the daily battle can really get to me. Paul wasn't kidding when he said in Galatians 5:17, "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 ye would." This world and Laodicean age in which we live is not pulling out any stops when it comes to ridding the world of biblical anything. We are bombarded each and every day with so much information and entertainment from the internet, TV, radio, and other various multimedia sources that it gives us the potential to learn more about anything and everything than any other human in history. We have the ability to be incredibly overwhelmed with so my different options between food, recreation, hobbies, clothes, friends, the way we spend our time, what classes we will take in high school, what college we will go to, what degree to pursue while going through college, what career to have once out of college, who we date, who we marry, where we will live, where we might go on vacation, what plans we might do over the weekend... and the list can go on and on and on.

These potential options that we have in front of us each day can make us start to pursue the things that we selfishly desire. Once the world is able to make us think more about ourselves and the options we want, we will naturally end up being distracted from everything that God desire for our lives. God desires that we we walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the selfish flesh (Galatians 5:16), mortify, suppress, and totally rid ourselves the deeds of the selfish flesh (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5), and follow after the things that conform themselves to holiness (Hebrews 12:14, 1Peter 1:15-16). If we truly are believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ we will have the Holy Spirit permanently inside of us (Ephesians 1:13), and while our flesh will keep lusting after the things of the world and our sinful desires the Spirit will be convicting us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). These conflicting desires are at war with one another and cause us to be, in some weird way, schizophrenic. This is exactly why Paul states in Romans 7:14-25:

"14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

It is God, through the Spirit, that delivers us from our schizophrenic problem as a believers in Christ... I always need to remember that... each week... each day...

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