There is a war going on inside you as we speak. Two natures within you are constantly at war. They are always opposing each other. They have their desires for you and conflict with one another.

Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

So, at any given point, you are either yielding to your flesh or to your spirit. To better understand the conflict happening inside, let’s take a deeper look at these two natures.

Flesh nature – our sinful nature, which is inherited from Adam, the first human who chose to disobey God and sin. So everyone who is born into the world is sinful by nature (according to scripture). The flesh desires to carry out whatever pleases it by any means necessary. The flesh is self-indulgent and self-seeking.

The problem is that the fleshly nature is influenced by darkness and is thereby sinful. The flesh nature is rebellion against God, is lawless, and has no limits. Living according to the flesh will eventually damage a person for we can become slaves to it.

A slave is someone who is forced to obey another. When you live by fleshly desires, you will abide by your flesh whether you want to or not.

We will see later that without God we become slaves to sin and the scary thing is that many do not know this.

But as believers, being in Christ gives us victory over our flesh.

So what is the nature of the spirit? The better question is who is the Spirit? He is a person. He is God on the earth. As believers, the Holy Spirit not only lives on the earth but when you receive Jesus into your heart, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. He is in and around you.

The spirit’s desires are focused on God’s desires and God’s will to be fulfilled in our lives. So He is focused on what pleases God and wants us to do God’s will.

When we follow Him we are always doing the right thing, no matter how it feels in the moment. Notice the focus of the Holy Spirit is not on us but on pleasing God, the complete opposite of the flesh. The flesh is about catering to you.

Sometimes when we do as God instructs us, it doesn’t always feel good, but you can be at peace knowing that you did the Godly thing and eventually, this will come back around full circle.

For example, someone may have insulted you, and in the moment you want to defend yourself or let them have it but you can tell this is not what the Spirit wants, so you back off and withhold the things you want to say. This may not feel good in the moment but later on, you will appreciate the response you choose as you would not need to worry about a continuous feud due to your harsh response.

Your obedience to God is the key to being led by His Spirit.

When it comes to your flesh, it is always caught up in feelings. It is often led by selfishness and fear, in its many forms. But the Bible states that we have not been given the spirit of fear but love, power, and a sound mind. We need to be led by God’s spirit who takes us to new heights and levels. Don’t be led by fear. The flesh does not want to wait for it loves instant gratification. It never wants to put others first.

But the Holy Spirit has come to deliver us from our flesh and has come to turn our lives right side up. He is looking for us to say, “God, what can I do for you? How can I help someone else?”

The entire law can be summed up in loving God and loving others. Here is where the struggle lies-because the nature of the flesh is looking to please himself and the nature of the spirit is looking to please God; this creates a tug of war on the inside. Paul describes his struggle in Romans chapter seven. He talks about wanting to do the right thing but ending up not doing what he wants to do.

A lot of the time this happens to us. We want to do the right thing but end up not doing it. But here is the key: when you mess up (which you will), don’t beat yourself up or condemn yourself. Take it to your dad, Father God, and every time you do, you will see how merciful and kind he is. He is forgiving and does not hold your sin against you.

The fleshly nature is quite powerful. But again, it’s heavily influenced by darkness. This is why Jesus came. He came to deliver us not only from the penalty but from the power of sin. You no longer have to choose what you don’t want to do because you have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you. He fuels and empowers you. He gives grace that leads you to holiness.

As you obey the Holy Spirit and allow yourself to be led by him, this will help to overpower the flesh. He will continue to lead you on to paths of righteousness.

This is how you overcome your sinful nature: walk by the spirit. Obedience to His leadership will prevent your fleshly desires to come to maturity. As you yield to God’s Spirit, His desires will begin to overtake your fleshly desires.

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

If you are trying to keep a bunch of rules, this is the wrong approach. It is not by works but by faith in Jesus Christ an allowing yourseld to be led by the Holy Spirit. Those led by the Spirit are sons God. Therefore, we must yield ourselves to Him. One way to accomplish this is with the spiritual practice of Biblical fasting. When you carve out time to stay away from food, social media, etc and to focus your attention on God and his word, He will meet you and strengthen you.

Fasting is a potent way to slay your flesh and further surrender to the Holy Spirit. As you go on with your day, remember the Holy Spirit wants to be involved in every aspect of your life. He wants to become your best friend. He wants to be a part of everything- not just spiritual things.

When you allow him to lead you, your choices become clearer. The world is set up to cater to your flesh. This is why we need to unplug from the world and plug into God. Fasting helps you do that.

How can you tell if the Holy Spirit is leading your life?

The Bible gives us some insight into this. Scripture talks about fruit. Fruit is something that can be seen. Desire, however, cannot be seen. But it is only when the fruit comes out that we can see the desire that is now mature.

The question now is, what fruit are you producing?

The fruit of our lives will show what nature we are choosing consistently. Our fleshly nature or the Holy Spirit?

When you follow the desires of your flesh the fruit is clear.

All of us have the sinful nature in us and God knows we are imperfect. Now we should not be habitually sinning but when we do mess up, we need to repent and move on.

The works of the flesh are very clear.

Galatians 6:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who dosuch things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

But the fruit of the spirit is at the opposite end of the spectrum and will leave us in peace.

Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The Spirit always produces internal peace, leaving you to know you made the right choice. Even when your flesh chooses to act out.

On the other hand, the flesh will leave you exhausted and empty. This is because sin is bondage, It keeps you enslaved and The Spirit is always life-giving. The flesh seeks to take away from you while the spirit seeks to give life.

Christ came to liberate us and give us true freedom (John 10 10). But you must yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. God’s will for you is to be led by his Spirit. Those who are led by his Spirit are sons and daughters of God.