The War Between Spirit & Flesh

The War Between Spirit and Flesh

When we are born again, we get a new lineage and we inherit new traits--traits of the Holy Spirit of God.

God gave us a new soft and loving heart, a new spirit, and He placed His Spirit within us. Our former nature is eradicated. It was crucified, died, and was buried with Christ.

Because of these profound changes we do not need to fear what we want.

Think about it. If we did not want what God wants, our life in Christ would be one where we were faking it and acting in a way contrary to our heart's true desire.

It would bring us to a lifestyle of being sinful at the core yet needing to act righteous and holy.

If we did not want what God wants, we would have to go against ourselves for the rest of our lives.

But Galatians 5:16 tells us that if we walk according to the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts, or passions, of the flesh.

Our responsibility is not fighting with ourselves. Our responsibility is to walk in the Spirit--to walk by faith.

It is God, by His Spirit in us, who is fighting the flesh. The very next verse, Galatians 5:17 says that the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another.

The Spirit of God does it because we cannot do it. That is what verse 17 says at the end; we cannot do the things that we want, or intend, to do.

Apart from the Spirit of God, we have no power over sin. He is the source of victory. When we sin, we are going against our true desires.