Monday, July 8, 2013

The War Within Galatians 5:17 - Equipped for Battle

Paul the apostle has cared earnestly for the church members in Galatia. He has dealt with their exposure to false teaching Judaizers who were teaching them that they must follow the law of Moses in addition to believing in Jesus for their salvation. In our latest verses Paul has instructed them to love and serve one another, and he has warned them against biting and devouring one another. In chapter five and verse sixteen he told them if they walked in the spirit, they would not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and in verse seventeen he shares why this way of walking is so important. He wrote:

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.

Once again we encounter Paul using the word, “For” to begin this verse. Let us remember that this means, “because” or “by cause of” or “since” which denote a conclusion to a previous thought. Paul says the Galatians should “walk in the spirit” “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:” in other words there is a war within every person who has received Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul said in chapter seven and verse twenty-three and twenty-four of the book of Romans:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Notice that Paul the apostle who had been a Christian for thirty years when he wrote these words said “O wretched man that I am!” He didn't say, “I was” or “I used to be”. He said, “I am”. Paul knew the battle between his fleshly desires and the Spirit of God. Just because he was a believer in Jesus was not sufficient to remove the lusts of his flesh. The Spirit of God was in a battle against his flesh, and it was to be that way until the day of his death.

Paul goes on to say, “and these are contrary the one to the other; so that you cannot do the things you would.” In other words, because of this constant battle where the Spirit of God is saying one thing, and the flesh of the body is saying another, we are often pulled away from the things of God and succumb to the works of the flesh. It is like a tug-a-war going on inside of us where the flesh tells us to do this thing or that, and the Spirit of God is telling us to do the opposite. For example, try not to think of a pink elephant with purple poke-a-dots. Try harder, and harder. If we have any imagination at all, we cannot get this image out of our heads. We can try to pray it out, think about other things, tell ourselves not to think about a pink elephant with purple poke-a-dots, but the elephant doesn't disappear. Well, at least for as long as this devotion takes to read anyway. So is it with our fleshly desires.

Paul knew that if the Galatians were ever going to live righteously, they were going to have to depend upon the Spirit of God to do the work. They could not fulfill Spiritual righteousness with fleshly efforts, and their attempt under the influence of the Judaizers to keep the law of God with their flesh would end in utter failure. Paul did not end his words to the Romans with the question of “who shall deliver me from the body of this death”. He answered it in Romans chapter seven and verse twenty-five where he wrote:

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

It is only by way of Jesus Christ and His Spirit growing stronger and stronger in us every day that the flesh will have less and less impact upon our lives. The war within is only won by growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and as we grow, the works of the flesh will fall victim to the power of the Spirit of God battling within us. They will not go away, but they shall be defeated more and more as we grow.

Next time Paul will write about being led of the spirit, so read ahead, and let us join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major
bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore


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