Monday, September 28, 2026
I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18
Our Internal Battle: The Flesh and the Spirit
On Sunday mornings we are currently in a series on Spiritual Warfare called Stand: Equipped for the Battle. As Christians we stand in a war that wages all around us unseen – a spiritual battle. As we walk through this series we will learn about nature of spiritual warfare and the weapons God has given us to fight this battle. We will learn how to fight spiritual battles in a way that honors God while being a witness for him to the world. We will embrace our key truth: We fight from victory, not for victory, because the battle belongs to the Lord.
Yesterday we had a guest speaker, Jay McSwain, who spoke about the battle we have going on internally between our flesh and the spirit. Our flesh is our sinful nature or desires that are apart from God. When our focus is off of God they can lead us into sin, causing us to miss out on God’s design for abundant life for us. That abundant life can only be found in walking in a relationship with him, stepping where he steps, and learning to live and love like him. We cannot satisfy the desires of our flesh while we are in step with him and living and loving like him.
But… this battle will always be a part of our life as long as we have breath in our lungs. We are human and the desires of the flesh are powerful. Paul, in his letter to the church in Galatia, lists them with a heavy warning in Galatians 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul goes on to say what life looks like when we deny our flesh and live in the spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5: 22-26
So we know we have these sinful desires that are not in line with our relationship with walking in the spirit. Here is something else we need to know and remember every day. We have an enemy who hates God and therefore hates us and he works endlessly to take us out of the battle. He knows our vulnerabilities and will use them to try to trip us up. When we fail, as we will, it does not nullify our relationship with God, negate our salvation, or cancel us completely from abundant life, walking in the spirit. But it does derail us and can honestly make us feel like all those things are true. It will render us useless – at least for a time – from the kingdom work God has planned for us. That is the devil’s plan. Less soldiers for the kingdom on the battlefield. But we still have victory even from the depths of failure. We just have to reach out and take it, repent, and get back on the right path with the spirit.
Yes, we will always have the battle against our sinful desires but as our key truth states, the battle between the flesh and the spirit has already been won. We have been crucified with Christ so we can fight from victory and not for victory. We can stand firm in the power of the spirit and live victoriously through him over our sinful desires.
