Does it ever feel like there’s a conflict that constantly takes place inside yourself? As if there’s a “war” taking place in your heart between the part of you that wants to do the right thing and another part that wants to do the wrong or selfish thing? Right now there is a constant battle inside over how we are to act, think, and believe. When we have been wronged or even when people have done the right thing to us we have many different thoughts on how to respond. Some thoughts are good, others bad, and sometimes bad thoughts appear good in our own eyes,
The answer to all of these emotions is the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we learn to hear his voice over our own then we can truly have fellowship with Jesus. When we learn to listen and trust his voice then we have the advantage over the war that’s in our hearts,
Where does this whole conflict come from?
In Galatians 5:16-17 Paul shows us the source of this struggle: it’s the war between our flesh, which is our fallen nature, and our spirit, which is part of us that has been made alive through Jesus,
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want” – Galatians 5:16-17.
We must first understand that we have two realities, so we have two natures within us striving for control. One of these desires to please God and the other one is in constant rebellion against God. The second nature is what is in control without knowing God. Our flesh – our self-focused sinful nature. The nature that only looks out for you, me myself and I are the only thing that matters. It is our physical needs, wants, and desires. It is our physical needs that we require to survive and supercharge them and forces us to go above and beyond to satisfy every desire no matter the cost or consequences.
If you’ve accepted God as your savior you have the Holy Spirit within you. And have been made alive through the resurrection of Jesus and have been adopted into the New Covenant you have both of the above natures fighting for control of your every thought and action. Your spirit is alive and trying to live according to God’s standards while your flesh is trying to lead you back to living according to your own standards.
A heart torn between two masters
One of the best examples of this cuak nature living in us and at work in the believer comes from Paul in Romans 7:14-24. Here Paul lays out one of the greatest struggles faced by believers, which is that although we are saved, redeemed, and made righteous the flesh’s desire to sin and act selfishly does not automatically disappear. We see and know that we still struggle to do the right things at times and at others we have no will to do what we know God wants to do in any given situation,
“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” – Romans 7;25
Through Jesus, we can receive forgiveness of sins when we do follow the will of the flesh, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit living inside of us we have hope to prevail, as long as we are aware of the battle between the flesh and the spirit taking place,
That is why prayer and taking moments to stop and wait in God is crucial in many instances. When we don’t stop for a moment and bring God into the picture we are exceedingly more prone to following the will of our flesh because it seeks instant gratification and can’t stand playing the waiting game.b
The secret of winning this war.
In Romans 8:5-6 this is revealed,
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
What we get our minds on will determine how we act and respond. If we are only concerned about ourselves, our will, and our feelings then we will inevitably turn towards acting in a fleshly way. But id we are mindful of the Holy Spirit and God living on the inside of us and think about His will and feelings first then we walk according to the ways of the Spirit. We begin by making willful choices on how we are to live and interact with others and how we follow God,
The soul is the heart of our being.
Our flesh will try to lead us to sin and the Spirit (Holy Spirit), in us tries to lead us closer to God but there is a third power at work among all this turmoil -the soul.
The soul is the combination if our mind, will, and emotions. It is the center of our being here on earth and it is the one which both the spirit and the flesh are trying to dominate. Our spirit is eternal, it is how we communicate with God and this is the point of contact between the natural and supernatural realms. The flesh represents our bodily needs such as food, drink, sleep, sex, self-preservation, and so on. In its current state, these are the only things that the flesh cares for and it does whatever it can to get as much of these things as it can.
The soul is left in the middle to pick and choose which other parts of our being it will submit to and follow.
Our soul is not just our mind, but it also our desires, memories, and intellect. It’s the captain of our choices and it’s the part of our being that makes the choice to accept Jesus and receive salvation and forgiveness.
Going back to Romans 8:5-6, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit…
Here we see the interaction between the spirit, soul. and flesh. Paul lays out how desires and urges begin in one place but are acted out in another.
Whether it’s good thoughts, urges, and desires from the spirit or from the flesh. It is the souk that casts the deciding vote on how and what we act upon.
If we allow our flesh and carnal nature to rule over our lives and thoughts we become hostile toward God and will not allow ourselves to be subjected to the love, power and expectations of God.
Even Jesus eluded to the contrast between the ways of the spirit and the ways of the flesh throughout His ministry when He spoke of the ways of the Kingdom, how He expected His followers to act in nearly every parable He told.
Seeing all of this we must accept that the way of the flesh will never be aligned with how God sees the world and how He wants us to live. If left unchecked our flesh will always choose the exact opposite of what God would have us do or at least corrupt our motives for doing the right thing, because the flesh is focused on itself -it’s true God.
This current situation isn’t hopeless because we have been given an unfair advantage in the war over the control of our hearts. Our spirit is not alone if we are living in communion with God and through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit we have living in our spirit so that it can speak loud and clear to our soul. (Romans 8:9-24; Galatians 2:20).
We must come at this war over our soul from the mindset that our spirit actually has the advantage over the flesh, but only if we allow it. Through patience, we learn the ability to not act impulsively when situations come up, we must always give God the opportunity to speak and intervene within our spirit and soul.
From Pity to Praise 