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Our Daily Conflict: The
Spirit vs the Flesh
Dear Brother Bob,
I have a question concerning a spiritual matter that Satan is
really using to get at me... I am a recovering Alcoholic and attend AA
regularly. I am having trouble trusting GOD completely at times. I
say that he is in charge but I take it back and then impose my will on my
life. This is about the time chaos begins. Can you please tell me
how to totally surrender to GOD's will, or is this just part of the spiritual
battle we all must face. Thank you for you attention and
time.
Signed,
X
Dear X,
The problem you describe is universal to
all Christians, whether they will admit it or not. It is so universal that Paul
the Apostle writes about it at length in the book of Romans, that he himself was
struggling with this. This is also summarized in the book of Galatians in these
verses.
Gal 5:16-18 (KJV)
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
{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.
{18} But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law.
Or as the Living Bible puts
it:
Gal 5:16-18(TLB) .
{16} I advise you to obey only the Holy
Spirit's instructions.
He will tell you where to go and what to do,
and then you won't always be doing the wrong
things
your evil nature wants you to.
{17} For we naturally love to do evil
things that are
just the opposite from the things that the Holy Spirit
tells us to do;
and the good things we want to do when the Spirit has
his way with us
are just the opposite of our natural desires.
These two forces within us are constantly fighting
each other
to win control over us,
and our wishes are never free from their pressures.
{18} When you are guided by the Holy Spirit,
you need no longer force yourself to obey Jewish
laws.
So there is a spiritual struggle
going on inside every person at all times. Before we are born-again and
Christ lives in our heart by the person of the Holy Spirit, we have no choice
but to follow the sinful path because we are fallen creatures, cursed because of
Adam's sin, and unable to display the Glory of God. We are a slave to sin.
Rom 3:23 (KJV)
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God;
BUT, once we repent of our sin, both
the actions and the condition of sin, and turn away from them, and invite Jesus
Christ to come into our hearts and to make us born again, then we get a new life
from God, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. We still may be
tempted to sin, but now the Holy Spirit in us gives us the power to say "No" to
sin. It is then our job to continually say "no" to every temptation to sin, and
there will be a lot of them, and let the "saying no" become a habit,
replacing the old habit of just giving in to sin.
And one more thing, "the principle
of replacement". If you have a sin that continually presents itself, let's just
say for example, it is listening to really bad rock and roll music. This music
leads you into thinking about all kinds of sins, sex, drugs, violence, whatever.
It would make good spiritual sense to stop listening to it ever again. But then,
you have a vacuum. If you stop listening to all music, you will probably miss
it, and eventually you will go back to the sleezy rock and roll. But if you
replace the "bad" music with "good" music, and say, only listen to uplifting
Christian music, or beautiful classical music, your desire to hear music will be
fulfilled and you mind will be led back to God instead of back into the gutter.
The same is true in your case being
a recovering alcoholic: you know you have to stay away from all forms of
alcohol. But you can't stop drinking all liquids. So you do a "replacement" in
kind, and drink club soda instead. So you still get the benefit of drinking
liquids without the corrupting influence of alcohol.
In fact you have to even stay away
from the places where alcohol is sold or consumed, because this will tempt
you by the smell and the sight of others drinking it, and the comradery of a
tavern experience. So you replace all that with something which uplifts you and
gives you the opportunity of experiencing Christian fellowship and service to
the Savior: you join the choir or
take part in some volunteer service at your church where you will get the
fellowship we all need, but will be uplifted in doing the Lord's work, and being
around those who love and serve Him.
I also remember this analogy about
the spiritual conflict in a Christian's life that may help to clarify the issue.
Someone once said that the Christian life is like putting two fighting-dogs
in a burlap sack. They will inevitably fight each other, and the one who
wins the fight is the one who you feed the most. And so it is in the Christian
life... we have two adversarial spiritual natures in our lives. The one
that will habitually win over the other will be the one that you "feed" and
nurture the most.
I have copied below a relatively
long passage below from the Living Bible in Romans. This is admittedly really
long, but it clearly states the problem and the solution. Paul's discussion of
this actually starts earlier in Chapter 7, but this part covers it pretty
well.
Rom 7:18-25
(TLB)
I know I am rotten through and
through
so far as my old sinful nature is
concerned.
No matter which way I turn I can't
make myself do right.
I want to but I can't.
{19} When I want to do
good, I don't;
and when I try not to do wrong, I
do it anyway.
{20} Now if I am doing what
I don't want to, it is plain where the trouble is:
sin still has me in its evil
grasp.
{21} It seems to be a fact
of life that when I want to do what is right,
I inevitably do what is
wrong.
{22} I love to do
God's will so far as my new nature is concerned;
{23} but there is something
else deep within me, in my lower nature,
that is at war with my mind and
wins the fight
and makes me a slave to the sin
that is still within me.
In my mind I want to be God's
willing servant,
but instead I find myself still
enslaved to sin.
{24} So you see how
it is:
my new life tells me to do right,
but the old nature that is still
inside me loves to sin.
Oh, what a terrible predicament
I'm in!
Who will free me from my
slavery to this deadly lower nature?
{25} Thank God! It
has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord.
He has set me
free.
{Rom 8:1-21} So there is now no
condemnation
awaiting those who belong to
Christ Jesus.
{2} For the power of the
life-giving Spirit--
and this power is mine through
Christ Jesus--
has freed me from the vicious
circle of sin and death.
{3} We aren't saved from
sin's grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can't and don't keep
them,
but God put into effect a
different plan to save us.
He sent his own Son in a human
body like ours--
except that ours are
sinful--
and destroyed sin's control over
us
by giving himself as a sacrifice
for our sins.
{4} So now we can obey
God's laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit
and no longer obey the old evil
nature within us.
{5} Those who let
themselves be controlled by their lower natures
live only to please themselves,
but those who follow after the
Holy Spirit
find themselves doing those
things that please God.
{6} Following after the
Holy Spirit leads to life and peace,
but following after the old
nature leads to death
{7} because the old sinful
nature within us is against God.
It never did obey God's laws
and it never will.
{8} That's why those
who are still under the control of their old sinful selves,
bent on following their old evil
desires,
can never please
God.
{9} But you are not
like that.
You are controlled by your new
nature
if you have the Spirit of God
living in you.
(And remember that if anyone
doesn't have the Spirit of Christ living in him,
he is not a Christian at all.)
Rom 8:12-17(TLB)
So, dear brothers,
you have no obligations whatever
to your old sinful nature
to do what it begs you to do.
{13} For if you keep on
following it you are lost and will perish,
but if through the power of the
Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds,
you shall live.
{14} For all who are led by
the Spirit of God are sons of God.
{15} And so we should not
be like cringing, fearful slaves,
but we should behave like
God's very own children,
adopted into the bosom of
his family,
and calling to him, "Father,
Father."
{16} For his Holy Spirit
speaks to us deep in our hearts
and tells us that we really are
God's children.
{17} And since we are
his children, we will share his treasures--
for all God gives to his Son Jesus
is now ours too.
And as if that weren't enough scripture, if a christian does sin,
there is always 1John 1:8-9, which is the way to confess it and ask God's
forgiveness, and to get right with God again.
1 John 1:8-9
(KJV)
If we say that we have no
sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.
{9} If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
I am also recommend that you read, "My Heart,
Christ's Home. This is also an excellent "exercise" in pursuing total
Lordship of Christ in one's life. If you haven't done so before, go through it
again, perhaps with a new understanding of what is at stake.
God Bless you, Brother, in your walk with Jesus.
In Christ.......brother
bob....<><
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