Today’s 333 Devotional: “The Great Tug of War”

How do we conquer the lust of the flesh?

It is through the Holy Spirit alive in every believer.

This was the Apostle Paul’s advice to all of us who battle every day with temptations.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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.” (Galatians 5:16-17)

The word, “lust,” means to have a yearning passion for, which is something every one of us have, and we continue to have when it comes to our fleshly desires. We all know what it is like to lust after something. We have to have it, and like an unbridled horse, it’s hard and difficult to control.

So, a tug of war for our souls breaks out because there is also within every believer the Holy Spirit who passionately desires for us to follow the ways of God. To accomplish this the Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome the flesh, to call upon God and stay away from these fleshly desires. This is what it means to walk in the Spirit.

And so, a battle ensues within us every day. Every day the flesh comes at us with desires that are too tempting, and while we fight against it, knowing it’s harmful and even hurtful, we still give into it.

But when we tap into the power of the Holy Spirit, then He will set us free from these lustful desires. The Holy Spirit frees us to live as Christ lived.

But there still resides within us the sin nature, and even when we give into its desires, through the power of the Holy Spirit we can ask for God’s forgiveness knowing we’ve been forgiven and set free.

So today lust for the Holy Spirit and then the lust of the flesh will diminish.