The Church That Cares For Your Soul

The Spirit Versus the Flesh

Galatians 5:16-18 – This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Galatians 5:24-26 – And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

The spirit versus the flesh is kind of like a football game.  Football is a very physically aggressive game.  The flesh and the spirit are in constant battle in the Christian.  This is where the Christian walk with God occurs.  When someone says they have a walk with God, what they are also saying is they don’t have a walk with the flesh.  That means they deny their flesh the sins of the flesh mentioned in verses Gal. 5:19-21.  If you are going to be led of the Spirit, you cannot do the things your flesh tries to drive you to do.

Because a walk in the flesh and a walk in the spirit are contrary to one another, you can’t do one at the same time you are doing the other.  It also means you have to kill one of them to do the other.  You either crucify the flesh or, in a sense, you are crucifying the spirit.  It is also a daily choice.  The flesh has more than nine lives.  You have to kill it every day.  The flesh is not something you will get victory over once you think you have conquered it.  Instead it seems to get stronger the older you get.

We need to walk in God’s Spirit each and every day.  It is the only way to have victory over the flesh. The nine fruit of the spirit can overcome the eighteen works of the flesh.  You need fruit of the spirit to consciously use them to fight the works of the flesh.  If you don’t use the weapons God supplies, you are going to get hurt.  The weapons of the fruit of the spirit are your best defense.

Photo by mheisel

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