WINNING THE BATTLE OVER THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH

BIBLE PASSAGE:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you
will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16)

MEDITATION:
Many believers have had the misconception that when we surrender
our lives to the Lord, we will have a life of serenity with no problems.
However, we find out that a new ferocious and intense battle begins
because Satan lost someone who belonged to him.

As long as we were under his control, there was no need for him to
engage in attacking us. But when we have become a member of God’s
family, Satan wants to punish us and subject us to many temptations
(all of which are in direct conflict with God’s principles).

As a result of his efforts, we can find ourselves in a constant battle
between wanting to live for the Lord and succumbing to the desires
of the flesh (created by Satan). At times we think we have overcome
them, but before we can be confident they are gone, they appear
again, and we are too often disappointed by how we ‘give in’ to them.

However, we are given straightforward instructions in God’s Word
for defeating the desires of the flesh, and embracing the Sprit of
God in our lives. It involves a major choice in our mind to reject
one and cling to the other.

In the previous passage, Paul spoke truth to the Christians in Galatia.
That truth applies to all Christians, including Christians today. His
plea was (and is) for believers not to waste their ‘freedom in Christ’ by
serving their own flesh, and being driven by their own selfish desires.
Instead, he has told those ‘free in Christ’ to serve each other in love.
He is describing a life of self-sacrifice lived in response to God’s love
for us.
    You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.
    But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh;
    rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the
    entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:
    “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and
    devour each other, watch out or you will be
    destroyed by each other. (Galatians 5:13–15)

Now Paul begins to describe how to live in this way. We know that
this kind of love does not come naturally. Not only do we resist
giving up our own desires, but we often simply do not know how to
love in this manner. Since we do not have a roadmap to guide our
decisions, how can we use our freedom in Christ to love each other?

Paul points to the only source of power and wisdom beyond ourselves,
which is the Holy Spirit of God. He revealed earlier in this letter that
the Spirit comes to live in the hearts of every one of God’s sons and
daughters.
    Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit
    of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls
    out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)

Now Paul tells us to use this freedom we have been given in Christ
to access the power of God’s Spirit in our hearts and in our everyday
lives. He tells us, literally, to walk, and keep on walking, by the Spirit’s
power and guidance. What he describes is an intentional, active faith.

Paul encourages us to quit trying to serve each other in love ‘on our
own’, but to access the Spirit of God to help and guide us in all that
we do.

This concept may be confusing and possibly seem like a mysterious
idea, but it’s saying that people who are ‘free in Christ’ can actually
avoid giving in to the desires of the flesh. It’s how we overcome our
strong appetites to do what ‘feels good’ when it is not within God’s
guidelines for living the Christian life. Only in the Spirit’s power
can we say no to ourselves and our desires of the flesh.

‘Walking by the Spirit’ means ‘living a life in the Spirit’. It is living
our life in the continual presence of the Spirit of God. Look at what
Jesus tells us in John 15.
    We need to abide in him (basically the same as living in the Spirit). If
    we abide in Jesus, the Spirit is working within us. So as we abide in
    Jesus Christ, as we abide in His vine (as a branch abides in the vine),
    the Holy Spirit is pulsating the sap into our body, and He is producing
    the fruit in our lives. But as Jesus said, “When we are separated from
    that vine, we will shrivel up and die.”
        If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch
        that is thrown away and withers; such branches
        are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
        (John 15:6)

So ‘walking in the Spirit’ is having a ‘God-consciousness’. It’s having
the influence of Christ in all we do. It’s pursuing God with all of our
heart (Note: We have been commanded to obey, love, and serve). It’s
having no other gods or idols before us, but serving God alone with
all of our heart.

We need to understand that when we talk about abiding in Jesus,
it means we practice what we call the ‘spiritual disciplines’. We can’t
abide in Jesus just by doing what we want to do. Abiding in Jesus
means He has given us what we need to bring His grace (which is
giving us what we don’t deserve) into our lives.

When that happens, we discover ways to abide in Jesus,
which include:
    Bible reading, scripture memorization, prayer, Bible
    passage meditation, fellowship, church attendance,
    evangelism, serving other people.
It translates into having a desire to give up our selfishness
in order to achieve a selflessness attitude.

Doing some of these things may seem ‘mechanical’ initially, but
the more we do them, the more we will ‘feel’ their importance in
our lives. Our desire to include them in our life will increase as we
enthusiastically look forward to the way they will have a positive
impact on our lives, and our spiritual connection with the Lord.

Some people may wonder, “Is there a specific explanation as to how
long I need to pray and how long I need to read the word?” That would
contradict everything Paul has already argued in Galatians, wouldn’t
it? Instead of being influenced by the Holy Spirit, we would be basing
our actions on legalism, and we can’t do that.

The amount of time we spend in prayer and Bible reading should be from
our heart as we follow the spiritual disciplines God has given us. As an
example, we may have a heavy burden about something or someone, and
that could be our focus in a brief prayer. On the other hand, we may have
a burning desire to thank God for all of His blessings, and it could result
in a very lengthy prayer as we recall His grace and mercy.

As we remain in God’s spiritual disciplines, we abide in Jesus,
and as we abide in Jesus, His Spirit is working in our lives,
(which means we are walking in the Spirit). It may ‘sound’
complicated, but it really isn’t. It is simply having a desire
to become more like Jesus, and less like the world.

ACTION:
It is a matter of either being ‘in the Spirit’ or being ‘in the flesh’.
As much as we would like to have both, we can’t. God hates sins
of the flesh so the two cannot coexist in our lives. We are led by
one or the other, but not both.

Think about this for a moment:
    We may say to ourselves that we are living 75% in the Spirit and
    only 25% in the flesh. If we are living 25% in the flesh, then we
    know that Satan has a foothold and it won’t be long before he has
    a stronghold (which means we will start living in the flesh much
    more than 25%).

    If we are living 50% in the Spirit and 50% in the flesh, then there
    is an intense conflict between them and we have to make a choice
    of which one will prevail. This battle for dominance will create a
    constant turmoil in our life, and this is why they cannot coexist in
    our life. We have to make a conscious choice to live 100% in the
    Spirit. Anything less means we are inviting Satan to make our
    lives miserable.

It is important for us to understand that a foothold by Satan is much
easier to break than a stronghold. Our goal as a Christian is to allow
God’s Spirit to have total control of our lives. When we have His Spirit
dwelling within us, we have the ability and power to overcome the flesh
and to continually live a life of ‘walking in the Spirit’.

One more consideration for being victorious over temptations from
Satan can be also found in God’s Word. We are told that because
God is in control (and more powerful than the evil one), if we resist
the temptations from Satan, then he HAS to leave us alone for the
moment.
    Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the
    devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

It doesn’t mean he has left forever and will never return to tempt us
again, but it does mean that each time he appears, if we resist him,
he HAS to leave again – that’s his orders from Almighty God.

Jesus quoted scriptures as a way of rebuking Satan’s efforts to tempt
Him (we can do the same thing). Did that mean Satan would leave Him
alone from that point? That’s not what the scriptures tell us.
    When the devil had finished all this tempting,
    he left him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:13)

The scriptures tell us that he left Jesus, but his plans for causing Him
to fall were not over. If Satan had plans to continue tempting the Son
of God, then certainly he is going to do the same with us, right?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I realize that I cannot rely on
my own strength to overcome the desires of my
flesh. I don’t want to allow Satan to gain a foothold
in my life, so I pray that You would fill me with Your
Spirit so I will be equipped to overcome the sinful
desires in my life. Fill me so fully with Your Spirit
that there is no room left for the evil one’s presence
in my thoughts and actions. I have faith that with
Your help and guidance, I will have the confidence
I need to overcome his temptations, which are bent
on destroying me and damaging my fellowship with You.”

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