Let Holy Spirit Lead
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses….But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!…Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:16-18, 22-23, 25 (New Living Translation, NLT)
As we let Holy Spirit guide and lead our lives, we won’t want to do what our sinful nature, what the King James Version calls the flesh, wants to do. Flesh in the Greek is the word sarx, which means reasonings, desires, appetites, sinful desires of the body. I call it animal appetites. The sinful desires are strong, but God is stronger, and who we say yes to wins in our lives.
The flesh, the sinful nature, wants to do evil. Although your spirit is saved, your flesh is not, and your flesh desires what is opposite of what Holy Spirit wants for you.These two forces fight one another. Holy Spirit gives us good, godly desires, but the flesh has sinful desires. Whoever your spirit man yields to and says yes to, wins.
When we let Holy Spirit lead and direct us, we’re not under bondage. As we yield to Him, He will produce His fruit in our lives. Holy Spirit will work in us and through us so we’re empowered to live by Him. As Galatians 3:25 says in the New Living Translation, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” As we do, we gain victory over our flesh to live the crucified life, which is being dead to sin and alive to God!
