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. (Galatians 5:17)
Man is a tripartite being - Spirit, soul and body. It is the proper understanding of this concept that will help man to really fulfil his purpose on the earth and even live to please God in this earthly sojourn.
With the spirit, man is enabled to commune with God and the spiritual realms. With the soul, he is able to relate with himself and this is the seat of the ego self of the individual. With the body, he is conscious of his works and environment and he is able to relate adequately with same. These three dimensions of the man must be rightly activated for the spiritual growth and divine progress of man.
The grand design of God is for man to put his body, mind and soul under the control and influence of the spirit while the spirit is in constant touch with the Spirit Divine for illumination, instructions and directions.
The soul and the body are good servants but bad masters. They function aright when they are subject to the Spirit control within man as the spirit of man retains his communion with the Father of all Spirits. The soul cut off from the spirit influence and control will chart a course for itself which more often than not is against God's divine plan for man. The ego self of man is always wishing to be an authority on its own while God has designed it to be a servant to the impulses, influences and control of the spirit within man.
The understanding of this is so critical for it helps us to see the great importance of our consistent communion with God, His Spirit and His angels. It is the light received in this place of communion that is passed to the soul through the nous of man to be interpreted rightly for understanding and proper execution of the will of God on the earth.
The Soul and mind of man ruled by the body or by the environment is what the bible refers to as the flesh. This is when the mind is controlled by the senses and not by the illumination of the spirit within man. (Job 32:8)
To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:5-8). To be carnally minded is to be controlled by the lower self, the senses and by the environment. Its simply yielding to the dictates of the flesh which is the lower human nature. However to be spiritually minded is to be governed and influenced by the Spirit within which is in constant touch with the Holy Spirit via meditation.
With the aforementioned as a background, the text becomes more real to us now. There is a battle within the new creation man - the man who has received the grace of rebirth and regeneration into the order of Christ. The old ways he used to live, his pattern of thoughts, worss, deeds and actions have become registered in his mind and even after his resolve to please God, he still finds himself doing those things which he doesn't desire or will to do (Romans 7:15-25). He struggles day and night to stop but he finds it kind of difficult to stop and after several failures, most men believes that it is normal and that there is no way out. The old mindset now becomes a very big issues for the one who is longing to please. While he desires to do what he knows to be right, he becomes frustrated because he feels he doesn't have the power to change his actions. The inner will now negates the outwards actions. This is one of the greatest frustration for an aspiring soul in the path of light especially for we youths with lots of distractions around us. This is what I call the great battle within.
To be continued!!!
Solarin T David
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