And in this corner...

Galatians 5:16-17
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

     This war between the flesh and the spirit is the greatest battle that we face. It is the most important thing that we will ever engage ourselves in. We can pretend it doesn't exist, but we are only fooling ourselves and setting ourselves up for a fall. In the text from Galatians 5, Paul says the flesh and the spirit are contrary to one another. In Webster's dictionary the word "contrary" is described as "to lie opposite, i.e. be adverse, to oppose." So we get the imagery of two opponents in the ring slugging it out to see who is left standing for control of our souls. This match is in reference to the Holy Spirit and our flesh, so while the flesh pulls us in one direction the Spirit would have us go in another!

      So what can we do to win this battle of the flesh vs. the Spirit? Is there a way that we can come out as the victor in all of this, or is the outcome already decided? Paul gave us the answer in the first scripture we referenced. "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Walking in the Spirit is the way to defeat the lust of the flesh, but how do we walk in the Spirit? By setting our minds on the things of the Spirit we can walk in the Spirit. We will get out of ourselves whatever we feed into ourselves. It is imperative that we fill our lives, our minds, and our understanding with Godly things. David said “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee”.

Ephesians 6:16-17
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

        The Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, is an offensive weapon. With the sword in our hands we must intend to fight and we must intend to kill. In Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus was lead into the wilderness and consequently tempted by the devil.  Upon each temptation Jesus fought with the Word by saying "It is written". In having the sword of the Spirit in His hand, He was able to kill off every attack of the enemy. We must "hide" the Word of God in our hearts, so we have the right weapon to fight off the attack of the enemy of our souls. Read the Word, sing the Word, listen to the Word, and continually contemplate the Word. You never know when or where an attack will come. You must be ready to fight at any and all times because the devil will come at you, but he can't defeat the Word of God. 

Let's be ready to win,
Pastor Hoffman