An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, pride, superiority, and ego.” He went on, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, goodness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith – oh and did I say Love. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
One of the most troubling things for me has been the time I spent losing the battle for my life and I didn’t even know who or what I was fighting against. I know now that battle was between sin and Spirit. Scripture tells us about it this way in Mark 14:38 where it says “Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Because I didn’t know enough about the power of sin and the overcoming power of the Spirit, I spent many years strengthening my sinful nature so I could live the life I thought was good for me, not understanding every time I won at something in my flesh I lost another battle for my life. The flesh is never strong enough to overcome sin; indeed as strong as we may be in the flesh it will always be weak against sin.
Perhaps some of you understand what I am saying. So like the grandson in this story, I wondered one day, “Lord, why is it that it seems like I am always fighting against myself for myself?” It was then I learned that the Spirit wanted me to always choose what was good and right, but my flesh wanted to choose what was appeasing and gratifying. I also came to fully understand the nature of sin and to know that sin would always give the flesh what it wanted, so my flesh was kept weak to the power of sin.
So how did I overcome this fight? For me, I had to learn to starve my flesh and to feed my Spirit. You see, I knew I couldn’t just defeat my flesh; I knew that I had to kill it or it would always find a way to make me mess up. So starving it was the best way to rid myself of it. But I also learned that I had to feed the Spirit so that It would be strong enough to help me live the life God wanted me to live–the the life that I actually wanted to live for Him. I also learned that the fight against sin and the fight to do the will of God has to be left to the power of the Spirit. So we must learn that instead of fighting in our flesh to stay away from sin that it is an easier fight to give our flesh over to the power of the Spirit. So we strengthen the spirit to subdue the flesh because the Spirit is indeed the only thing strong enough to fight and win again sin.
If you try to fight the battle for your life on your own, you will lose; so learn to feed your Spirit the things of the Spirit and to starve the flesh of the things it desires. The Spirit is the champion you have inside you Who is there to fight and win your battles for you. So feed Him and leave no food for your flesh. Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 