Winning the Daily Battle
ICS Daily Devotions
Galatians 5:17 (NKJV) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
A marriage ceremony may take only a day, but the marriage itself will take a lifetime to nurture, as it passes through three stages: enchantment, disenchantment, and maturity. God views marriage as a covenant. This was His original plan, and it is His will that we have strong and enduring marriages. God’s plan also includes us always being connected with Him, like a 3-strand chord that is not easily broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Therefore, every marriage should have the vision and goal of growing closer to God.
Sadly, instead of facing their struggles together and working to restore their relationship, many couples choose what seems like the easier path—divorce. Yet God calls us to confront the flesh that threatens to destroy our marriages through our words and actions. We need to live each day by yielding to the Lordship of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, doing what the Word of God teaches, because our flesh will always resist the Spirit’s prompting and instruction.
The work of the flesh is found in the realm of the soul. It is all about “me, myself and I”. The couple will think in terms of conditions, limits, rights, and even “outs”. These may reflect their old values before receiving Christ, which is why it is crucial to renew our minds and to think of marriage in terms of covenant.
Our souls will continue to respond to the senses that come from the body if we allow them. Our souls are accustomed to doing and saying what we like, with little accountability or restraint, because the lust of the world and the lust of the flesh used to govern them. Our souls desire the immediate gratification of our desires and wants—in sex, money, or power. The lust for sex comes through what we read, watch, and listen to, as well as our thought life.
Our lives should be very different after we receive Christ. Because of this, we inevitably experience an inner struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. As we grow spiritually, our ungodly habits and patterns begin to change—not instantly, but over time. This transformation is a lifelong journey of choosing, day by day, to yield to the Spirit rather than to the flesh. Living a consecrated life—walking in holiness—is a continual process that will only be perfected when we reach heaven. Until then, we face a daily battle, a constant tug of war, requiring us to choose whether to submit to the Spirit of God or continue yielding to the old master of our lives.
Reflection: In what areas of your life or marriage are you still yielding more to the flesh than to the Holy Spirit? In what ways is God leading you to surrender more fully to Him?
Sermon Series: As a Man Thinks in His Heart So is He
