AS THE BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF YOUR MIND RAGES ON, WHO IS WINNING?

SCRIPTURE:
Those who belong to Christ have nailed their natural evil desires 
to his cross and crucified them there. 
(Galatians 5:24)

MEDITATION:
We all have natural desires; the things we like and dislike.
Some of our wants are good for us, those around us, 
and our relationship with the Lord.
However, we also have some desires 
that are not good for anyone, or any relationships.
One of the issues we have is that we may not realize 
which ones are good and which ones are detrimental, 
until we yield our lives to the Lord and become His child.
 
If we sincerely submit our lives to the Lord, 
we enter into a type of parent/child relationship.
When we are parents, our children look to us for guidance 
and as Christians, we should look to the Lord for our guidance.
He blesses us with an internal alarm system that calls our attention 
to the things that damage our relationship with Him, and with others.

The Lord also alerts us whenever we start to yield to the evil desires 
within us, which lure us toward the things that will hurt us.
They might or might not cause us physical damage, but they can 
certainly hurt our self-esteem, attitude, and overall personality 
as a result of the gap they create in our fellowship with the Lord.

As a child of the King, we have desires to obey Him, but we find 
that the ‘old’ desires that lead to disobedience keep ‘hanging around’.
Paul had this same experience in his life.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right 
there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see 
another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and 
making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched 
man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 
(Romans 7:21-24).

So how are we supposed to handle this dilemma?
Paul found the solution: 
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, 
but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)
He realized he could only find peace and joy
when he made a conscious effort to allow his mind 
(under the control of the Lord) to rule over his natural evil desires.
This is what it means to “nail our natural evil desires to the cross”.

ACTION:
Are you in a constant battle between good and evil in your life?
Have you considered the path to victory in God’s Word?
It isn’t going to happen automatically, 
it requires a conscious effort on your part.
You have the responsibility of choosing to allow the Lord to rule your mind.
How do you do that?

For starters, whenever the Lord is guiding you to do something 
that you don’t want to do because it takes you out of your comfort zone, 
rather than trying to justify your refusals of His desires for you,
choose instead to ‘just do it’ and see what happens.
God is not going to encourage you to do something for Him 
without being blessed.

Many Christians never get to experience His blessings 
due to their selfishness.
Probably one of Satan’s favorite weapons against Christians 
is our comfort zone.
As long as he can create in us a strong desire to avoid being uncomfortable,
he succeeds in his efforts to prevent us from enjoying God’s blessings.

The Bible doesn’t teach that a desire to sin will be completely eradicated 
from the Christian in this life, but it does teach that 
sin can no longer reign over believers.
What sins are continuing to rule in your life? 

What do you do, that you would never do, 
if the Lord was in the room with you?
We could list many examples, but here is just one:
Some say there is nothing wrong with having an alcoholic drink, 
but would they offer a beer to Jesus if He came to their house?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, you know how often I am tempted in this life. My 
natural evil desires are greater than my ability to fight them, but 
Your power is greater than their control over me. I pray that You 
will show me how to replace these sinful desires with a greater desire 
to strengthen my relationship with You. Help me to have victory over 
Satan’s strategy to keep me in a comfort zone. I know that when You 
control my mind, I will stop justifying doing the things that displease 
You, and the door to Your blessings for me will be opened.”