This week I want to start off with some verses from God’s word, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And 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 5:16-26
The word Christian is often defined as being like Christ, we should be striving to be like Christ every day. When we become Christians there are two spirits that are then inside of us we have the Holy Spirit and the flesh. The flesh has the desires of the world which always lead to sin, death, destruction, and hurt. But the Holy Spirit is God inside of us, we have the one true God inside of us and every day we must choose which spirit we will allow to govern our lives. You see we have to choose, the choice is ours, the Holy Spirit is the easy answer on the outside looking in, but when it comes to actually living life the choices become a lot harder. Because we have had the desires of the flesh since birth and the desires of the Holy Spirit since we became a Christian and the desires of the flesh always seem more alluring in the moment but always lead to the same end. The Choice of choosing the Holy Spirit way is hard, but leads to the same end, we come to know God better and reflecting the light of Jesus for the whole world to see and hear.
The Holy Spirit that each and every Christian has is the same one that raised Jesus from the grave, the same one that the disciples had to heal the sick and cast out demons. We are not accepting the full power of the Holy Spirit, we have God inside of us and we have the power to move mountains. Miraculous works of God are not a thing of the past, they are for right now and we have the power to heal the sick and cast out demons. We have the Spirit inside of us, but so many of us do not crucify the desires and passions of the flesh and we have come to believe that we can operate in the power of both and not let the other one know that we are operating in the power of the other. Jesus said, no one can serve two masters, either He will hate one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24). We have to choose which spirit will we serve, will we serve the flesh or will we serve the Holy Spirit.
So this week, know that we have the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave living inside of us. And that we have the ability to choose every morning and really every moment of the day which Spirit we will serve, the flesh or the Holy Spirit. So this week I would like us to pray this prayer together, God please help me to choose to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in every choice I make this week, guide and teach me to crucify the desires and passions of the flesh daily.