The Battle is On!

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Galatians 5:16-17 says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  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.”

     We had a lot of snow in Indiana when I was young and in school.  I don’t think school was ever closed even when the snow drifts were higher than the car.  It made it difficult to walk and when I went out with my Dad, I would walk behind him and try to get my feet in the same impression that he had made in the snow.  Sometimes, it was a longer stride but kept my boots from getting snow over the tops of them.  

     Our spiritual walk is often described in the scripture as it is here in the above passage.  Paul admonished the Galatians to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.  In the spiritual sense, our walk is often used to describe our manner of living and how we respond to the things around us.  The Book of Ephesians mentions five different walks in the last three chapters and we have here, of course, the walk in the Spirit.  Paul here reminds us that we are in a spiritual war and that we should walk a certain way and to avoid another way.  We are to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.  Unfortunately, the battle is severe and people often lean more to following the flesh than they do the spiritual side of things.  In case one has forgotten the characteristics of both walks, they are mentioned further down in the passage with the walk or the fruit of the flesh coming first.  After it, comes the fruit of the spirit which should be familiar to all of us. The thing to remember is that it is a constant battle and that there is a continual battle going on between the flesh and the Spirit.  Paul here mentions the “lust of the flesh” and we should recall from Genesis 3 that Satan used it in the Garden and with Christ and John also mentions it as one of the three avenues in which Satan is working today.  The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are the three avenues of almost every sin and every temptation that comes to men and women today, so the battle is continual and we are in it whether we like it or not.  It is interesting to notice that some of the traits of the flesh are envy and jealousy.  How often do these raise their ugly heads in our lives?  One of my uncles would always purchase a new Pontiac right after Dad purchased one and he would get the next year’s model.  If we bought a 52 Pontiac, he would go out and buy a 53 pontiac.  The battle between the flesh and the Spirit consists of real severe sins, as we would think, and also such small ones as envy and jealousy.  Of course the contrast is in the fruit of the Spirit.  Praise God that He gives us the armor in which to clothe our spiritual body.