Have you ever worked really hard to rid your life of a particular sin, and thought you had it beat, and then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, it comes back, stronger than ever before? Have you known the Bible verses that deal with such things, and known the promises of God, and known that in Christ you can say no to sin and win the battle? And yet have you still fallen, and has the call to feed your flesh* sounded much louder than the call to follow God? Does it feel as though you’re as enslaved** to sin as you were before salvation? Maybe you are struggling with this repetitive sin and desperately want out. Well, it’s easy to get out.

First, you need to recognize that your flesh is weak, and what seems to be strength is just cries of hunger that you are not licensed to fill.

Go get your Bible and read Matthew 26:38-41 and note this last phrase: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Generally, this is not the adjective used for the flesh whenever pastors preach on the flesh. 

But you see, there is nothing inherently evil about the flesh. It is merely the body (made in God’s image, no less), which desires to stay alive and well. It is weak and is not ashamed to let you know it wants food, clothing, shelter, companions, etc., and doesn’t have a way to care how it acquires these things. We are wired to listen to its voice (a defense mechanism), and the weaker it gets, the louder its cries seem. An unbeliever, still a slave to sin and relatively incapable of not sinning, will sin to feed the flesh. A believer, no longer in the old man, but the new man, in whom the Spirit dwells, has now the joyful ability to not feed his flesh through sin; in fact, to do only the most marginal parts of feeding oneself: putting the spoon to the lips. God provides the rest.

Next, you need to believe that God loves you and is stronger than your sins and temptations, and loves to provide your needs and desires in His perfect time.

In Luke 12:22-32, Jesus tells His disciples that they need not worry about their physical needs, the things their flesh would want, because God wanted to have that job. The same is true for you: God desires to fulfill your needs, desires, and wants, but if you force your own way to fulfill your own needs, you deprive God of His showering you with rich blessings while making it easier to do so again next time you need something.

Lastly, you need to yield to God and remember that His grace, His strength, is made perfect in your weakness, and that what seems to be your greatest hurdle can be what shows His glory most. 

Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Armed with this mental blueprint and faith, you can live a truly victorious life in Christ!

(See and study Romans 8 on your own to better understand the flesh and its carnal mind and how we are to be spiritually minded and let God keep our flesh for us.)

*The flesh: that which all humans have that looks after oneself and realizes the need of self-preservation.

**The old man: that which was enslaved to sin and died when a Christian got saved.

I’ll see you along the way!