Hello everyone. It is another new week and it’s going to provide us more opportunities to enjoy the grace of God as we yield ourselves to the control of His Spirit.
In my post today we will focus on verse 17 of Galatians 5:
“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 King James Version
Last week, I made the point that we experience practical victory in our lives not by mere human philosophy, resolutions, force of education or legislation. We experience victory over the flesh as we depend on the power of the Spirit in our lives. Our verse in focus this week tells us about the constant opposition between the flesh and the Spirit which impresses upon us the need to walk in the Spirit so we can experience victory through God’s gracious provision.
The term “flesh” in Scripture denotes humanity in its fallen state-hostile to God in every imaginable way. It is also used extensively to describe the present evil age in its depravity and total departure from God’s way and will, desire and affections. The flesh perceives things from a different point of view where value and significance lie in earthly power, earthly influence, wealth and human wisdom.
As believers in Christ, we no longer live in the flesh but we live in a world very much controlled by the flesh. That is where the conflict arises. In heaven there is no such conflict because everything that exists there is obedient to God. In hell too there is no such conflict because evil exists there alone unrestricted. However here on earth right now, there are two ways of life, two races of people, two sets of characteristics totally opposed to each other and both existing in an unrelieved opposition. The flesh against the Spirit.
Look all around you. Can’t you see the conflict? At work, at home, in the communities we live in, the news you hear or read and even in our individual lives. True, there can never be a compromise. The Spirit is always in opposition to the flesh. Our Lord Jesus experienced the same sort of conflict at His temptation recorded in Matthew 4. Every point the devil suggested to Him demonstrated that conflict-self-satisfaction, selfish display of power, influence and wealth are all characteristics of the “flesh” but our Lord was victorious.
Many Christians however, have developed a “defeatist” mind-set in this struggle against the flesh. Quite a number of believers in Christ Jesus wrongly justify and accept willful sins as inevitable and for many, it is like a slow leaking puncture deflating their lives and soon they are almost held captive, seemingly in the helpless clutches of sin again.
This week I would like you to know and always remember that we no longer live in the “flesh” (see Romans 7:4-6, Rom. 8:5-9, Gal. 5:24). In particular Galatians 5:24 says those that belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The grace of God has freely provided a means of victory for us; we are born of God’s Spirit, we are in the Spirit and it is in the Spirit that we experience God’s victory over the flesh not in our own efforts to help ourselves. In the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, see yourself as the victor and not the vanquished.
This week, the song I have picked is “My Story” by Big Daddy Weave. My story is a story of God's amazing grace transforming a man and I hope this is your story too.
Have a beautiful day folks and a great week too. We will continue exploring the wonders of God’s grace next week.
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