Since the very same moment when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s first and only commandment, they transgressed against His law, – they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereafter all the next generations of the mankind inherits the fallen nature of the first couple on Earth. We are all fallen and sinful. The flesh what we indwelling in is corrupt and vicious. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?“, says in Jeremiah 17:9. The desires of such a heart can produce only the fruits what are alike. Therefore all our desires and longings are fallen too. Here is what says in Genesis 6:5, – “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually“. If people live according to the desires of the flesh they cannot produce anything better than evil: pride, envy, jealousy, greed, anger, hatred, lust, deceit, sloth, villainy, infamy, shame, despair, hopelessness, anxiety, depression, felo-de-se.
Scripture
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. -- Galatians 5:17 KJV
Observation
Every person struggle inside himself. Regardless of your believes, if you are Christian or atheist, you have that violent effort to get free of restraint or resist attacks. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh“. The corrupt flesh resists and oppresses all the motions and endeavour of the Spirit. With all the strength and tenacity flesh oppose to everything what is spiritual. “And these are contrary the one to the other” – the Spirit, on the other hand, does everything to obtain freedom from the bondage of the flesh. Because “ye cannot do the things that ye would“, we need to commit ourselves to the guidance of the Word of God, wherein the Spirit makes know the will of our Father who art in Heaven. And if we act according to the guidance and government of the Spirit, if the Word of God rules in our lives, then we are not condemned, but we are under the commanding power of His mercy and grace.
Application
This is the time for your journaling. Reflect on these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit to test your faith and your walk with Christ.
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? — 2 Corinthians 13:5 KJV
- Do you have any struggle between the flesh and the Spirit in your life?
- What your flesh is resisting to?
- What the Spirit is trying to freed from in your flesh?
- Do you desire the Spirit to win over the flesh?
- Have you fully submitted yourself to the commanding power of God’s grace and mercy?
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, we lift up Your Name above all the other names. We thank You Lord that You love us despite our wickedness and sinfulness. We thank You Lord that You are revealing Yourself in Your Word. We pray that the Spirit will guide us according to Your will. We pray that Your Word will rule in our lives, so we may live under the commanding power of Your grace and mercy.
In Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen
