TUESDAY April 1st
Galatians 5:16
‘But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.’
A walk in the Spirit
There is absolutely no doubt as we have covered in previous devotions that walking the walk can sometimes be difficult because the enemy of our soul will seek to do all he can by putting things in our way to try to trip us up and to distract us. And in the book of Galatians Paul would sum up some of those things as being to do with flesh. That is the old nature with its ungodly desires. And so, to help combat these things Paul encourages us to walk in the Spirit.
In verse 17 he says this ‘For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.’
I am making a bold statement here, but I am confident that it is true, whether individuals might want to agree or not, and it is this: ‘It doesn’t matter how long we have been walking the Christian Walk, it also doesn’t matter how spiritual we may consider ourselves to be, we all battle with the flesh every day!’ And God knew how it would be, for until we get to the finishing line and cross over into our eternal inheritance we are in a constant battle. We could describe the battle in many ways, but here it is the battle of gratifying the flesh versus walking in the Spirit.
Well, what about an application: We all need to constantly assess where we are regarding living or walking according to the Spirit. Do we give in too easily to those things which would come under the category of gratifying of the flesh? In fact, looking back to the previous devotion and the acronym WWJD is a great help to us if we were to apply it to every area of our lives.
If you can make the time, consider reading the whole of Galatians 5, and also Ephesians 5:1-20 at the same time asking the Holy Spirit to point out to you those things that you may be gratifying that are of the flesh, and ask for his help to enable you to walk in the Spirit.
Romans 5:1-17 is another portion of Scripture that can help us in this, and here are a couple of the verses.
Verses 5-8
‘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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.’