Day 23: Grateful for a Transformed Life!
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For 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 prevent you from doing what you would. 18But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18
In today’s Scripture the Apostle Paul helps us see that we are engaged in an ongoing struggle to live the transformed life. The “combatants” in the struggle are the Holy Spirit and the “flesh.” The flesh is simply Paul’s term for the old, sinful nature that each of us has BEFORE Jesus becomes our Savior and Lord. The challenge we face as followers of Jesus is that in the instant of our being “born again,” as Jesus put it, or in the instant of our transformation from death to life to put it another way, the old nature “dies,” but it doesn’t go away. What I mean by that is that once we are born again we are truly new people. Yesterday’s Scripture from 2 Corinthians 5:17 emphasized that we are new people. Even so, the “flesh” continues to struggle within us, seeking to draw us back to the old life of sin, even as the Holy Spirit draws us to the fullness of transformation that we may live as Jesus lived! Look again at Galatians 5:17: 17For 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 prevent you from doing what you would. Paul recognized that the battle within us is ongoing, that when we wake up each day we will face the struggle again. The key is calling on the Spirit to fill and control us (as we’ll see when we read Ephesians 5:18!) As we do that the Spirit DOES take control and as Paul put it in Galatians 5:18: 18But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. So often we seek to live by the “rules,” and that’s a good thing. But something that’s even better is to live by the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is in charge of our lives, we don’t need the law, because we will do what God is calling us to do and that will ALWAYS be the right thing. May we be led by the Spirit today, that God may be glorified and others drawn to Him!
Questions and Comments for Reflection and Action:
What do you struggle with the most in this battle between the Holy Spirit and the “flesh”? Take some time right now to ask the Holy Spirit to fill and control you that you may have victory in this and in every area of struggle with the flesh!