Scripture – “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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Galatians 5:16-18 NIV
Observation – The Holy Spirit resides in the life of a believer. As a friend of mine says, he is either a resident or the president. We elevate the Holy Spirit as president through seeking God and obeying his commands. We demote the Holy Spirit to resident when we take matters into our own hands and live life the way we think it should be lived. This creates inner conflict because the Holy Spirit is guiding and leading us down the right path and our flesh is coercing us towards a selfish path.
Application – When we live under the law we check boxes and declare ourselves righteous because we did what we were supposed to do under the law but our hearts were not right with God. When we live under the law we focus on what we did and ignore what we didn’t do or minimize it. In order to walk by the Spirit one needs to spend time learning to hear from God so that when the Spirit speaks we can clearly hear what he is saying. When we understand what to do we need to do it and not worry about the results, that is God’s job.
Prayer – Lord Jesus, give us hearts to desire to live according to the Spirit and not the flesh. Amen.
What are you doing? Do it better 