They Clash by Day!
They Clash by Night!
It is the Life Long Battle Within!


Matthew 26:41,
"Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

It is the on-going battle within.
It is the battle between the spirit and the flesh. It is a life long battle......that is, if we allow it to be so.



Genesis 6:3,
"And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years."

Luke 24:39,
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have."

John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

John 6:63,
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

Romans 8:1-22,
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (5) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (13) For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (15) For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (16) The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (17) And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (18) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (19) For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (20) For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, (21) Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (22) For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together."

1Corinthians 5:1-7,
"It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. (2) And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. (3) For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, (4) In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (5) To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 
(6) Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (7) Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:"

2Corinthians 7:1,
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Galatians 3:1-3,
"You stupid people of Galatia! Who put you under an evil spell? Wasn't Christ Jesus' crucifixion clearly described to you? (2) I want to learn only one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by your own efforts to live according to a set of standards or by believing what you heard? (3) Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way?"

Galatians 5:16-26,
"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. (17) 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 prevent you from doing what you would. (18) But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. (19) Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, (21) envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (24) And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (25) If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (26) Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another."

Galatians 6:7-9,
"Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (8) For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (9) And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart."

Philippians 3:3,
"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

1Peter 3:18,
"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit;"

1Peter 4:5-6,
"Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. (6) For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

1Thessalonians 4:1-8,
"Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more. (2) For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. (3) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from unchastity; (4) that each one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor, (5) not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God; (6) that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly forewarned you. (7) For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness. (8) Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you."


The great Saint Augustine (354-430) fought the battle for many years. He lived the first part of his life living in the flesh. Then one day as he was reading the Bible, these verses suddenly hit home with him and he changed from a man living in the flesh to a man who lived in the Spirit forever more.

Romans 13:13-14,
"Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. (14) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

Augustine came back to the Church, became a priest, and then the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. He went on to write what has been called the second most popular book that was ever written, second only to the Bible itself, "The Confessions of Saint Augustine".



   ©
Written by Bob Stanley,  September 5, 2008
"Have I then become your enemy, because I told you the
truth?"
Galatians 4:16




 
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