The War Within

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 (Galatians 5:17).

Our sinful flesh craves instant gratification, yearns for attention, seeks the approval of others—yet stubbornly resists accountability. The life of the Spirit, by contrast, desires godliness and seeks to glorify the Lord. It longs for Jesus and the true freedom only He can give.

Have you noticed this ongoing battle between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit? One moment, you’re overwhelmed by your love for the Lord; the next, you’re enticed by selfish desires. This side of heaven, you’ll never be without sin. Each day you wake, you wake to war.

The Christian life is not passive or casual—it’s a battlefield of competing desires, where the flesh and the Spirit are constantly at odds.

And yet, even knowing this, we often let our guard down. We want to follow the Lord. We want to be faithful. But how easily we stray from His love and grace. How quickly we forget that we’re in a war.

As Martyn Lloyd-Jones noted in his exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13, “You are always on duty in the Christian life, you can never relax. There is no such thing as a holiday in the spiritual realm.”

Far too often, though, we let down our guard. We grow complacent. We take spiritual holidays—even though the war rages on. The enemy doesn’t retreat when we do. And the desires of the flesh don’t rest because we’re tired.

The moment we stop watching and praying, we drift. We give ground. And left to ourselves, we wander.

Robert Robinson captured this inward pull with painful honesty in his hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Though we’re tempted to wander and abandon the Lord, we must fight. We can’t surrender. We must press on (Philippians 3:14). We can’t give up.

The Lord Jesus Christ is worth the battle.

Don’t let the desires of the flesh define you. As the Puritan pastor and theologian John Owen wrote in The Mortification of Sin, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” But don’t despair either. In Christ, you have been set free!

As you submit to Him and walk by the Spirit, you are drawn away from the selfishness of the flesh and formed more and more into Christ’s likeness. Living by the Spirit means resting in God’s love, walking in His grace, and battling the desires of the flesh—not in your own strength, but in His.

There is real joy and freedom in following Jesus. Will you fight—not in your own strength, but by the Spirit’s power? Will you live—not for yourself, but for the glory of Christ? Life in Him is abundant and eternal. The desires of the flesh are fleeting and destructive. They never satisfy; they only consume. As Thomas Watson reminds us with these brief but impactful words, “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”

But there is a better way: the way of rest in Jesus. He lived, died, and rose for you because He loves you. Submitting to Him and walking by the Spirit frees you from isolation, brokenness, and the tyranny of selfish desire. This moment-by-moment following of Jesus is the path of freedom, joy, and peace. As Richard Sibbes wrote so pastorally in The Bruised Reed, “There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”

Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in His love. Walk by the Spirit.
He has changed you—and He will continue to change you.
He will not only forgive you—He will transform you.
So take up the fight. Live by the Spirit. And rest in the victory Christ has already won.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.