The Battle Within

What part of you controls you?

Regret is something each one of us deals with. Regret about poor choices in our lives. Regret over some past action that we did which we are now ashamed for doing it. Regret over something we should have done, but failed to do.

We usually know what we should do, but when it comes to the time to actually do it we don’t. The reasons why we don’t do the right thing is because we just don’t want to. We want our way, not the right way. Sometimes we are too afraid to do the right thing, afraid what people will think of us.

The consequence of not doing what we know is right usually comes back to haunt us. A guilty conscience, being caught doing the wrong thing, or the results of our bad decision bring on the regret.

Regret can lead to depression which is one of the biggest problems of the age. Even the Apostle Paul in the Bible talked about the failure to do the right thing. He wrote in Romans 7:15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”

So why do we have this battle within ourselves to do the right thing? We fight with ourselves because we can divide ourselves into three parts, the spirit, the soul and the body, and each part has its’ own interests. Each part wants to control us.

An example of this division and the battle within is found in Galatians 5:16-17 which states,

Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 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.

The Desire of the Flesh

Galatians 5:16-17 states that there is a battle between our flesh (i.e. the body) and our spirit.

Our body is tempted in many ways. Anything that affects our five sense of smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight can be a temptation to our bodies.

Even society teaches us to follow the dictates of our body. Who hasn’t heard the phase, “if it feels good, do it!”

Though that might be the teachings of the world around us, it isn’t sound advice. Eating in excess might feel good, but the damage to your body from the excess weight and clogged arteries can be life threatening.

The sexual affair with someone who physically appeals to you can end up ruining other relationships and put you in an emotional spiral that can destroy you and others.

What feels good should only be done when it is right and should never be whenever you feel like it. To follow your bodies instincts alone leads us to destruction.

Romans 8:5-8 puts it this way.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

God’s way is not the way of the flesh. Our body’s appetites should not be the basis of our decision.

There are some who would say, ‘I have the willpower control the appetites of the body. I am in control of my own life without God’s guidance’.

The only problem with that is when we follow our brain rather than our body we still will still end up with regrets because we have the tendency to rationalize right and wrong.

The soul rationalizes to do what we want.

1Corinthins 2:14 says, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

This verse opened up to me in a brand new way when I found out the Greek word for ‘natural’ is the same word that is normally translated as ‘soul’. This natural man or soulish man is someone who allows their soul to be in control of their lives.

Just as the carnal or fleshly man is controlled by the physical appetites of the body, the soulish man is controlled by his intellect and emotions.

That is why the verse above says the soulish man doesn’t accept the things of the Spirit of God. He sees spiritual things as foolishness because he tries to comprehend them with his reason. Spiritual things are not tangible though. They can not be measured or observed in a laboratory.

This is the same reason so many scientist look at faith as illogical, because they are looking at it clinically and that is impossible. The things of the Spirit of God can only be comprehended by our spirit, but to many our spirit is about as useless as our appendix.

Without God and a relationship with him, all we have is our body and our soul to control and govern us, but God has a better way.

Ephesians 2:4-5 states, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

When we trust God as our Lord and Savior he revives our dead spirit to actually function the way it was intended to be used. Our spirit communicates with the Spirit of God.

Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

The Spirit of God guides us and teaches us the truth in God’s word so we learn to understand the way we out to live. The Spirit of God also uses our conscience and intuition to make the right choices in our lives.

But we are still left with this battle within because the desires of the body and the reasoning of the soul tries to resist the leading of the spirit. That is why we must daily learn to -

Walk in the Spirit

At the beginning of this I quoted Galatians 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

This is what we need to learn how to do. We need to ‘walk in the Spirit’. We need to live our lives so that our spirit is connected with the Spirit of God.

Our spirit is the control center of our lives. It is to control and govern the desires of the body and the soul. As our spirit is fed by the Spirit of God, especially as we feed on the Word of God and pray for His guidance, only then will we really be living our lives according to God’s will.

We see this very thing in the very well known Bible passage of Romans 12:1-2 which says,

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

In these verses we see a couple of thing. First, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words we are to submit our bodies into God’s control rather than allowing our bodies to control us.

Secondly, we are to be transformed by renewing our mind. That is instead of thinking the way the soulish man thinks, we are to transform our thinking to see the world spiritually.

Thirdly, we will then, once our body and soul is in submission, be able to see how great God’s will is for our lives.

The biggest mistake people make all the time is to think God is some mean bully with a big list of ‘do nots’ keeping us from enjoying life. The truth about God’s will is that if we follow the pattern of life that He sets forth in His Bible, we will have so much less heartaches and so much less regret in our lives. He wants us to live an abundant life, not a boring life. I hope you discover that for yourself.

Have a wonderful and blessed day.