“THE THINGS YOU WANT!”

Galatians 5:16-18                                    (ESV)

“16 But I say, walk by the SPIRIT, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

17 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.

18 But if you are led by the SPIRIT, you are not under the law.”

As I drink my coffee this morning and the world comes to life around me, my thoughts are captive to several things.  How and what I allow to grow and mature in my mind will determine whether I live in THE SPIRIT today, or in the flesh!  The ones of us who are BORN OF THE SPIRIT have an ability to SEE things that the natural person (1 Corinthians 2:14-15) isn’t able to understand.  Allowing ourselves to be distracted by the things of “this world” is liken to ingesting small doses of poison until our Spirit becomes so toxic that we are ineffective for the Kingdom of GOD!  

Gratifying the desires of the flesh is in direct opposition to THE SPIRIT living inside of us.  I have been known to say that we are crucified to the flesh, but then spend the rest of our lives giving CPR to the corpse!  The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:15 “For I do not understand my own actions. FOR I DO NOT DO WHAT I WANT, but I DO THE VERY THING I HATE.”  Why do I DO THE VERY THING I HATE when I have the SPIRIT OF GOD living in me (John 17:23)?  Because we are “bent” toward sin (Psalms 51:5), our only option for being “made whole” is the righteousness of CHRIST being substituted for our wickedness.  We have NO HOPE outside of HIM!

The enemy (Satan) joins with the weaknesses of our flesh and battle against THE SPIRIT living in me in an effort to gain control of my life. “THE THINGS I WANT” (my SPIRIT wants) is to walk after JESUS.  Colossians 1:15-20 says that JESUS is the glue that holds everything together.  We can’t allow our flesh and the enemy to rob us of “THE THINGS YOU WANT”!