How the Power of the Spirit can help you

(Galatians 5:19-26)

These few verses give us the two opposing views of life in the Spirit versus life in the flesh. It shows us a dramatic contrast and what we must do to receive the good gifts given by the Holy Spirit that will overcome the passions of the flesh.

The passions and desires of the flesh shown in this list are not exhaustive by any means. But it does give us a flavour of the types of issues many people, ourselves included, face in their battles with the flesh.

The most amazing thing we see here though, is that the power and the working of the Holy Spirit will overcome these things and replace them with attitudes that reflect the nature of God.

Passions of the flesh

In my most recent posts I have been discussing the issues of the passions of the flesh and how to overcome them through walking in the Spirit.

The first few verses of this section give us an indication of some of these passions that we can and will overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit.

19 Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

This is quite a disturbing list of the evils that lurk within the nature of man, and many of these are at the root of other issues. For example, licentiousness. There is a sexual connotation in this word, but it also speaks about the “licensing” of illicit and inappropriate behaviours.

In this second function of this word we see that people often “license” others to do evil. The apostle Peter spoke about this in the following way.

18 For, uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. (2 Peter 2:18-20)

See here the way that evil men license others to do evil. They operate in a deceptive and deceitful way to suggest that by following evil they are somehow freeing people.

Think of the types of messages that have been promoted in recent years and decades. Things like:

• ”If it feels good, do it!” Or;
• ”If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.” Or;
• ”Just do it!”

Each of these, and other similar statements, have a very deliberate and promiscuous twist in them that is nothing more than a licentious message to those who listen. They ensnare and entrap the weak into living the lie that this is freedom.

Is it freedom to be able to do whatever you like? No. That is not true freedom, but that is the message of these licentious statements. Such things do not lead to freedom but to bondage.

Think of any person caught in the bondage of an addiction. How many addictions began with the essence of someone saying, “If it feels good, do it?” Most people fall into addiction because they want a feel-good experience. Unfortunately at some point they need more and more of the addictive substance or behaviour to get the feel-good feeling and they become bound by it.

This is not freedom. It is the path to bondage, desperation and death. And as Peter wrote above, “The last state has become worse for them than the first.”

And a similar argument could be made for all of the other passions of the flesh in the list above.

But Jesus came that we might be set free. He came to take away all of our bondages so that we can be free from the passions of the flesh. He set us free from sin and broke the bondage of the law, which led to us being able to receive the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who then gives us the power to be able to break the bondages of the passions of the flesh.

Fruit of the Spirit, and how to grow it

What is interesting about this description, is that Paul refers to these good things of the Spirit as fruit.

When you think about fruit, you must first understand that it takes time for fruit to appear on a tree. The tree must be fed and watered, and in time buds appear, they are pollinated and the fruit begins to grow.

Fruit does not appear on a tree instantaneously. It is not a “fast food” as so much of the food today is. It takes time to appear, grow and ripen before it is edible.

It is the same with the fruit of the Spirit.

When we learn to walk in the Spirit, as discussed in my last post, we are going into battle, using the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the passions and lusts of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit is an act of war against the flesh and every other form of evil that comes against us to tempt us or lead us astray.

But the fruit of the Spirit is the outgrowth of walking in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is what we gain and develop by exercising the power of the Holy Spirit and so over time we develop these fruits by which we can live.

Think about the person who gets angry all the time. They flare up at the drop of a hat.

If that person exercises the power of the Holy Spirit every time they begin to get angry, and they crush the angry thoughts before they can take hold, then over time they are growing the fruits of peace. By exercising the power of the Holy Spirit they are taking control of their anger and so peace begins to form, and as we see in the relevant verse, peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

And you can also see that as a person gains control over any of the passions of the flesh, such as anger, not only do they grow the fruit of peace, but also self-control.

God gives us grace to overlook our failings when we fall down. When we get angry and do NOT exercise the power of the Holy Spirit through walking in the Spirit, God overlooks these things by His grace because He knows we are works in progress.

But at the same time, it is His desire that we learn to walk as Christ walked. His aim for His people is that we become perfected in Jesus Christ, and that can only happen when we use the power of the Holy Spirit to take control of the passions of our flesh and defeat them. Not that it is we who defeat them, but we use the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome in the moment when the passions arise to try and defeat us.

This is the message of the last few verses in this section.

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. (Galatians 5:24-26)

Note the words in verse 24 well. Those who belong to Christ are the ones who have crucified and put to death the passions and desires of the flesh. We make the decision to do battle when the passions arise in us, and then the Holy Spirit steps in and takes control. Paul also said a similar thing elsewhere.

12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:12-14)

So again we see that if we live a life led and overcome in bondage to the flesh, then we will die.

But we see that the key to life with Christ, and to become the children of God, is in overcoming the deeds of the body. And the method we use to overcome the deeds of the body is by using the power of the Holy Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body so that we may live.

This is why it is so important to firstly, receive the Holy Spirit as the early church did, and secondly, to learn how to walk in the Spirit so as to put to death the deeds of the body. It is by this path that we are able to find the way to perfection in Jesus Christ.

And even when we learn these things, the walk with Christ is not over. The path still stretches out ahead of us because this walking in the Spirit deals only with what is inside of us, that is, the passions, lusts and desires of the flesh.

As you learn how the power of the Holy Spirit can help you, you begin to see beyond yourself and can truly learn how to love your neighbour as yourself. In the end, it is love that is the final destination. When we learn to walk in love as Christ walked in love, when we learn how to love our fellow man, then we will be perfected as Christ is perfect and as the Father is perfect. But that is a matter for another time.

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