Flesh And Spirit - Will The War Never End?

By: David Hopkins

Tue, May 13, 2008

Flesh And Spirit

There's a war going on inside you between flesh and spirit. Flesh and spirit are like two small neighboring countries fighting against each other in your mind; which is the world. Your thoughts are the world's most powerful country, they must decide who to side with and how to destroy the enemy before they get too powerful and take over the world, I mean your mind.

The Works Of The Flesh

Romans 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace".

The word carnal has the meaning of or about the body or flesh. For someone to live in the flesh they must have a carnal mind with all the thoughts of the flesh. This involves carnal appetites or cravings of the flesh. It also involves self-ishness or motivation based on personal needs and wants of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Have you ever felt like you could never be good enough to please God, or that you're too weak to give up any of the sins above even though you know they're against God's law? If so, then you may have experienced the following.

You may have thought to fulfill God's moral standards you had to obey the law through your own human ability. However, instead of receiving the joy of a clean conscience, you felt enslaved to legalism and guilt.

The Purpose Of Jesus

The law shows us that we are under the control of sin and points us to Christ, the only one who can save us.

Romans 8:3-4 "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit".

The Fruits Of The Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Fact is, your faith in God through Jesus Christ will dictate whether you will crucify the flesh and walk in the spirit or not.

Galatians 5:24 "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts".

If you keep trying to overcome sin and addiction based on your own human abilities then you'll probably stumble. This is because of your lack of dependence in God through our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

But if you depend on God through faith in Jesus He can and will make you whole. Jesus even said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak". (Matthew 26:41).

And He also said, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you. (John 16:23).

See what I mean? All God wants is for you to depend on Him by faith through Jesus Christ.

Therefore walking in the spirit is about improving your faith in God through Jesus Christ. You can do this by believing what He's already done for you when He died on the cross for your sins and raised Himself from the dead after three days.

Don't believe it because I said so, but because Jesus Himself said, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you". (John 15:7).

In closing, if you're not spending time with God and improving your faith in Jesus Christ by listening to and learning His Word, then you're not walking in the Spirit. So stay in His word and let the Holy spirit guide your life in the way God wants you to live.