As a Christian, you are a follower of Jesus Christ.  You have made Him your Lord and you seek to do His will.  But you find there are times when you do contrary to His will, and other times when you don’t do the good that you know you should.  Well, don’t feel alone.  Every one of us experiences these problems.  In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote of himself in Romans 7:19-23 “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”  First of all, this was written by one who “wills to do good.” If that is not you, then you have an even bigger problem.  But I will assume that you have a desire to do good.  The Apostle Paul is describing the conflict or war between the natural human desires and impulses (“the flesh”) against the spiritual desires to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and to do God’s will.  Your spirit wants to do good, but your flesh does not always accomplish that good and the result is sin. The apostle Paul gave a similar warning in Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.   For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

As a Christian, you have died to sin.  Romans 6:2b, 6 “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”  You can no longer be a slave to sin. But at times, in the war of the flesh against the spirit, the flesh wins a battle and you sin. That is when you need to go to God in prayer and confess our sin and ask for forgiveness. 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you humble yourself and admit (confess) to God your sin, He has promised to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Ask for God to strengthen you against sin. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  Ask God to help you take your thoughts captive so that you are not enticed to sin. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prayed Matthew 6:13a “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Ask God to deliver you from the evil one.

We have the story of Jesus and His disciples in Gethsemane before His crucifixion. Matthew 26:36-41 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’” This story illustrates the war of the flesh verses the spirit.  Jesus was the Son of God but He was also human. The flesh side of His nature saw what was going to happen in the upcoming trial, crucifixion and death with all its pain and suffering.  He asked the Father “if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.”  But He desired to be obedient to His father and said “not as I will, but as You will.”  We know that Jesus did not give in to His fleshly nature but obeyed His Father and went to the cross.

Now look at the disciples.  Jesus told them “stay here and watch with Me.”  After He prayed earnestly to the Father, He came to the disciples and found then sleeping.  They had not continued to watch, but had fallen asleep.  He said to Peter “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  The admonition of Jesus is appropriate for us today.  Can we not resist temptation for even a short period of time?  We must put in the effort to watch and pray so that we do not enter into temptation. We watch to see the dangers approaching and what we need to do to avoid the temptations. By praying to God, we ask for His strength to overcome the temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Ask God to show you the way out of temptation so that you may be strong against the fleshly desire to sin.

 Jesus gave the warning: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  That is the warning that applies to us today.  We need to be reminded that although our spirit is willing to do what is right, our flesh is weak.  This is the reason we need to seek help from God the Father.

My encouragement to you is to watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Through God’s help the spirit can overcome the flesh.