Proclaiming Christ’s Victory Over Sinful, Personal Desires

Here are four spiritual warfare habits that are essential to keeping in step with the Spirit and proclaiming Christ’s victory over sin.

Fully aware of the importance of the company I keep (see Proverbs 13:20), I admit there is a person in my life who is no good for me. When I allow him to influence me, I think, say, and do things that displease God and prove hurtful to me and others. I hate the fact this person wields so much power over me, yet I keep yielding the reins of my life to him. Perhaps you think I should just break off this association and have nothing to do with this problematic person. Easier said than done. You see, this person stares back at me every time I gaze into a mirror. This person, who too often entices me to think, say, and do things I later regret with all my heart, is me.

Can you relate to this honest admission? Have you ever thought of yourself as your own worst enemy? Does the term self-sabotage ever occur to you? Do you hate the fact you seem to possess what psychologists refer to as a shadow self who thinks, says, and does things that have the potential to ruin more than your reputation as a fully devoted follower of Jesus?

What psychologists call a shadow self, the apostle Paul refers to as our flesh.The rather consistent teaching of the New Testament is that a Christian’s flesh can serve as a very serious impediment to his or her walk with Christ. This article is about what must occur if we are to avoid spending our lives as church-going, church-leading Christians who nevertheless keep allowing our flesh to cause us to act in ways that are not only self-destructive but also detrimental to the cause of Christ. The bad news is we all possess the kind of flesh this article is about. The good news is that there is hope. Because of what Christ has accomplished through His flesh, and is doing now through His Spirit, our flesh does not have to rule (and ruin) our lives. Read more