The battle between flesh, spirit

03 Feb, 2017 - 10:02 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Evangelist Peter Madondo —
UNCOUNTABLE decades have since lapsed and still the question remains unanswered. The question today is: What relationship does the body have with the spirit? Today, we embark on a quest to try and see how the two are interwoven.

APOSTLE Paul writes in the book of 1 Corinthi­ans 6:19: “What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you , which ye have of God and ye are not your own”?.

The physical body that we have irre­spective of colour has a special func­tion. This function is of housing the spirit of the Lord that is within us.

This is where the interdependence of the body and spirit comes into play. Without the body, the spirit will have no place to dwell in mankind and it is because of this reason that when men dies the spirit returns to the Father who gave it. Thus the spirit cherishes when the body is alive. In a nutshell, the Holy Ghost within humans stays for as long as the body lives.

The major challenge, however, lies in what the apostle asks. Don’t you know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit? This question was defi­nitely provoked by Paul having seen the way humans were conducting themselves before the Lord.

It is not a secret that mankind was behaving in a way unacceptable before the sight of the Lord. In today’s life when you hear someone asking you: ”Do you know you are a married woman or do you realise you are a school child? This defi­nitely means that there is something that you are doing which is in contrast to what is expected of you.

In cognisant of the above scenario, there is supposed to be harmony between the spirit of God within us and the bodies that bears the spirit. When the body starts behaving oth­erwise, the spirit will start grieving. It is therefore important that we do not make the spirit of the Lord grieve because of the pleasures of the world.

Romans 8:9: “But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit……….”Every per­son who has accepted the Lordship of Jesus ceases to behave like those of this world, instead they live a Christ-like life.

The two, the body or flesh and the spirit are always in a battle for supremacy. The more one gets to know Jesus, the more spiritual he gets and vice-versa. It is, however, unfortunate that the flesh seems to be registering a clean sweep, thus prompting mankind into lustful actions. When you lustfully glare at a woman, your body will give you the courage to go to the next level while your spirit will be whispering to you to stop. The most vocal will then take precedence.

The more we sin, the more we quench the spirit within us. It is essential that we all know that the spirit within us need to be constantly rekindled by dog­matic study of the Bible, prayer, fasting and upright living.

“Do not quench the spirit.” We are charged not to kill the spirit within ourselves. It is unfortunate that the combination that is supposed to work hand in glove has turned to be nem­esis. While the spirit of the Lord will be battling to evoke the righteous, you the fleshly lust will be singing from a different song book.

As I alluded above that we must not quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessaloni­ans 5:19). It is evident that we are doing exactly that. It is not only the ultimate putting out of the Holy Ghost that mat­ters, but also grieving it. Ephesians 4:30 charges us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. The irony in this instruction is that while we hurt the Spirit within us, we hurt others along the way.

It was God’s design upon creation that He gave us the body with the spirit within and He expected tranquil to prevail between the two, alas we have drawn battle lines between the two by our detestable ways of living. Simply because the Holy Spirit is synonymous to sobriety and purity, He will certainly pave way for the evil to occupy us if ever we show immense inclination to such. This is when one degenerates into unprecedented levels of immorality and profanity.

I am writing to encourage a host of you to resuscitate the dying Holy Spirit within us. Romans 12: 2 charges us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. A total overhaul of our mindset will ensure a harmonious core rela­tion between the spirit and the body. Every Christian should always have a self checklist that ensures the fleshly living is favourable for the existence of the Spirit.

A spiritual being is a blessing to the community and God. Strive to be one!

Share This:

Sponsored Links

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds