Desires

Desires, we all have them, we all have to be cautious of our desires and fight against them. The Apostle Paul who wrote most of the New Testament gave testimony to his own failure in this battle.

Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Everyone of us have had this frustrating experience of wanting to do what is right only to find ourselves doing that which we didn't plan. It's no different in the Christian life but we should never use this as a scapegoat. We want to do what pleases the Lord, but we find ourselves being unable to accomplish it; so what causes this?

Galatians 5:17 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.

Do you see the reason, "Our flesh?" Our natural desires are not toward holiness, but rather toward self-indulgence and self-sufficiency. Therefore what the Spirit desires and what our flesh craves are set against each other. "These are contrary to one another." The consequence of this internal conflict is "that we do not do the things that we would like to do." That’s the problem Paul was having; his personal resources, his flesh was not able to produce the desired results.

Romans 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Paul had Godly desires.

Romans 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But there was a problem.

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

There is a battle going on inside of every believer; which one wins? The one that you and I feed! Steve Curington gives an illustration about an Indian with two dogs a black one and a white one. He would take them to dog fights and fight them against each other. The Indian always knew which dog would win and always walked away with the money. Then someone asked him how he always knew which dog would win. His answer was simple he said “me want white dog to win me feed white dog and me starve black dog and white dog always wins.’ “Me want black dog to win me feed black dog and me starve white dog and black dog wins.” Now the truth to the story is that whatever you and I feed the most will win. Feed our flesh and our flesh will win. Feed our spirit and our spirit will win. How do we avoid failure? Here is what Solomon said.

Proverbs 22:3  A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

 A sensible man sees evil coming and hides themselves from it but gullible people pay no attention and suffer the consequences. Feed the spiritual man and the spiritual man will win. Feed the flesh and the flesh will win. You and I won’t win every battle but the more we put our trust in the Word of God and trust His leadership we will win more and more.