This is the continuation of a 4 week series with the passage of Galatians 5:16-26
Galatians 5:17-18
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
You know, as I was thinking about these two verses this week, I thought, “now these verses are self explanatory”. If you want an picture , just go to Romans 7:14-25.
You know the scriptures, where Paul gave his own personal account on how we do the things we don’t want to do and the things we want to do, we don’t do… Oh, what a wretched man I am.
I figured I would just quote these scriptures real quick and get ready for next week’s scriptures. You know, the good stuff, where we break down the acts of works of the flesh. (lol)
Well, my loved ones, God knows how to give you an experience with upcoming teachings of scriptures so you can have a clear understanding and teach from the heart.
In my short time of teaching this has happened to me numerous times. So watch what you teach or preach about, because God will make sure you are teaching from the heart.
First, let’s not forget the word “Lust”. Per my new Vine’s Dictionary, it means a strong desire of any kind, the various kinds being frequently specified by different adjectives. Desire can be good or bad.
Most of the time in the Bible we are dealing with the bad. In Galatians 5:16, the Lust of the Flesh, which describes the emotions of the soul, is the natural tendency towards things evil. Such lusts are not necessarily base and immoral, they may be refined in character, but are evil if inconsistent with the will of God (I will go a little deeper into this part next week when we look at Galatians 5:19-21).
So, there I was, facing some reckoning of my past. God told me two weeks ago to go face this situation and put this behind me, so I could go on being about His business. I was having a spiritual battle within.
My emotions (flesh) saying think and feel like this, and my spirit saying, “no Kevin, think, and feel like this”. As I tormented myself unnecessarily for hours and even shedding tears due to the pain my flesh was inflicting on me, I realized that my mixed emotions (flesh) were dominating, and oh what a wretched man I was.
Knowing that this was a major conflict, I had to stop and remind myself that I have a Spiritual Fitness Manuel, “The Bible”. I needed to break it out and go to God for power, in the midst of this situation. In doing this I got the wisdom and power to be the Spiritual Soldier that He created me to be.
He reminded me that as I abide in Him, He will abide in me. And that the only reason I am losing this battle at this moment, is because I choose to. Because He said that when Jesus ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to be in me and to fight these battles for me. So Kevin, get out of the way. For when the Spirit of Man & the Spirit of God join, created is The Godly Man of Love. Now walk in the Spirit and continue to be about My Business.
Stay Blessed my Family,
Kevin B. Mitchell (LW)
Teacher & Student
Always of the Word
