Galatians 5:16-25 talks about the inner battle in the life of every believer. When we accept Christ into our lives we receive the Holy Spirit, who has godly desires that He longs to see accomplished in and through us. But then there are those places and desires in our hearts that the Holy Spirit has not yet renewed and those desires are diametrically opposed to the desires of the Spirit and the life He chooses for us.
Every moment of every day, we must choose which desires we will yield to. If we will through the indwelling Spirit, war against the fleshly desires and their motivations, then we can be directed by God’s Spirit which means we won’t be following the over-desires of our natural being.
When we give into our flesh, we begin to bear the fruit of those ungodly desires which get expressed as the unholy attitudes and actions found in verses 19-21. And Paul reminds them that those who habitually practice those desires will not inherit God’s kingdom. On the other hand, if we will choose to yield to the Holy Spirit’s desires then we will gradually develop His fruitful characteristics of love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
If we belong to Jesus, then with the Spirit’s help we can crucify the flesh with its ungodly desires and walk out our everyday lives in step with the Spirit’s grace-filled leading, accomplishing all that He purposefully created us to fulfill!
Pastor Sandy