“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17, ESV)
Conflict has been a constant theme throughout history. We are now in the playoff times of the professional football season. The best teams in the league meet on the battlefield of the gridiron and compete in a win or lose the battle. We have wars raging in multiple places around our globe. Opposing armies are engaging in a win or lose struggle.
Yet there is another war going on in a different kind of battlefield. It is one of many types of spiritual battles. It is the battle that rages within the believer. It is one for control of the heart. The opponents of this battle are the “flesh” and the “Spirit.”
In the previous devotion, we saw that Paul began to explain how the believer can live free from the law and, at the same time experience victorious Christian living. Paul wrote, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, ESV). The key is to walk, that is to conduct one’s way by the Spirit.
However, the believer has a problem. Every true believer has experienced the regenerative work of the Spirit, by which the believer has been made anew with a new divine nature. However, while every believer has a new divine nature, the believer is still plagued with a fleshly nature which is prone to sin. These two natures are in conflict with one another. Paul explained it like this.
“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17, ESV)
The flesh or sin nature tends to seek for things contrary to the Spirit of God. Moreover, the nature of the indwelling Spirit of God in every believer seeks for the higher and more noble desires of God and His righteousness. This is the battle that rages in the heart of every believer. It is a difficult battle.
Now on a side note, we as believers are fortunate to be in this battle. It is only because God has moved in our heart. The unsaved world knows nothing of this struggle. Yes, they may struggle with choices, but it is not like this spiritual battle in the believer. Only the believer has the new divine nature and at the same time the old fleshly nature. The fact that we are in this struggle is a sign that we have been saved by God’s grace.
Yet what is our part in this battle? Since the Spirit and the flesh are in conflict, how do we ensure that the Spirit wins control of our heart?
I heard an old story that went like this. If you put two dogs in a cage and they fought with each other, which one would win? The answer is the one that you feed the most. If you would starve the one and feed the other, the well-fed dog would be the healthiest and that one would win.
As believers, there are two natures competing for the dominion of our hearts, the flesh and the Spirit. Which one will win? It is a matter of which one we are feeding and which one we are starving. We must exercise caution and avoid feeding our fleshly desires. They must be conformed to the revealed will of God.
How do we do this? It is by feeding the Spirit with the word of God. This is more than mere head knowledge of the Bible. It is an issue of faith by which the knowledge we gain moves twelve inches into the heart. It is there that the Holy Spirit transforms the will of man to conform to the will of God.
Continue to feed the Spirit through drawing near to Christ. From a practical standpoint it is through prayer, through participation in the body of Christ, through receiving biblical teaching, through personal Bible study, and through fellowship with other believers who will exhort and encourage one another to victorious Christian living. Through this every believer will be strengthened within and will find yielding the heart to the Holy Spirit’s control more natural as they mature in the faith.
Renewing the Heart 