The Greatest Enemy to you as a Christian

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The Greatest Enemy to you as a Christian is not satan but your Flesh. Your flesh is more close to you than the devil you never knew nor saw.

Man is a tripartite being (spirit, soul and body) but the true self is his spirit. Satan is also a spirit who is only roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it, just to find a medium or a body  to operate in (Job 2:2, 1Peter 5:8). Without it, he can not function effectively . The devil can never have access to your heart (spirit) which is your regenerated self as a christian, unless you willfully submit yourself under his control. Even during the days of Adam and Eve, the devil had to enter a medium (serpent) to tempt and deceive Eve to eat the forbidding fruit and as a result sin came to the world through the Flesh (the sinful nature of man). This same flesh is the medium through which satan carries out it's evil activities in man to war against his 'regenerated spirit'. Most times, satan also whispers in our ears evil things or speak through other people to tempt us into sin.

 Pastor Mark Bubek defines the flesh this way: “The flesh is a built-in law of failure, making it impossible for natural man to please or serve God. It is a compulsive inner force inherited from man’s fall, which expresses itself in general and specific rebellion against God and His righteousness. The flesh can never be reformed or improved. The only hope for escape from the law of the flesh is its total execution and replacement by a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ.” In Galatians 5:24 and 2 Corinthians 5:17, we understand this 'total execution of the law of the flesh and the replacement by a new life in Christ Jesus'.

The flesh is the "weak-willed man" inside of us and it is what desires and generates unbelief, hatred, envy, enmities, drunkeness, sexual immoralities, wickedness, idolatory, anger, love for money,etc (Galatians 5:19-21). This sinful nature (flesh) is solely responsible for the war against the Spirit and that makes us unable to do what we want to do to please God in our lives. 
"Galatians 5:17 says "For the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would."
In Romans 7:15, the Apostle Paul expresses a deep struggle with sin, saying, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.". He acknowledges that he desires to do good and avoid sin, but he finds himself doing the very things he hates. This verse highlights the inherent conflict between a believer's desire to obey God and the persistent power of sin in their lives. Brethren, this power of sin is the 'flesh'... So you see, the flesh is established to be your greatest enemy and there is the need for you to 'conquer it'. 

The question now is, "How do we conquer the flesh as sons and daughters of God?"
In order to  achieve this, we need to walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:16 reads,
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

 We must at all times walk in the Spirit by meditating on the Word of God (Joshua 1:8, Hebrews 4:12), praying without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) and yielding to the Holy Spirit for His wisdom, self-control and power to overcome the flesh as well as satan and his agents.

May God continue to be gracious unto us to live a victorious life through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN!

©Isaac Opong, 2017


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