Ah, the flesh! Its desires and impulses lead us in a direction opposite to that which God asks us to take. If you can not resist the temptations, it may be because you are not fighting in the right way.
For a born-again Christian, the desire to follow the will of God is always in opposition with the desires of the flesh. If it’s a fight you feel deep inside, if you start thinking about what you’re doing, it’s a good sign! It means that you have a well-connected mindfulness to the Kingdom of God. Because for a Christian, this internal struggle is inevitable. “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:17 NASB).
If you let yourself be seduced by the desires of the flesh, you will have a momentary pleasure, some satisfaction, but you will experience a long period of remorse afterward. Most of the time, this remorse will even cause you to avoid the Presence of God, to hide from Him, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden after sinning. Since you know that your relationship will be restored through repentance, you will feel the Holy Spirit pushing you to repentance. Then after pouring out your heart in front of your Lord, you will get back on your feet. Until the next temptation …
First, this temptation comes as a thought, and you begin to fight it. You talk to yourself, you try to refocus yourself by thinking about what God expects of you, but the more you fight those thoughts, the more they seem to grow. Why? And above all, how to win your fight and break this vicious circle? By not fighting those thoughts!
Are you surprised by this answer? Well, consider what the Word of God says. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NASB). It is not written that we have to fight our bad thoughts, but fight the one who sends us these thoughts! It is possible that these thoughts do not come from our enemy, but when he sees that we begin to be disturbed and weak, he takes advantage of that! When we try to fight our bad thoughts with positive thoughts, our fight is already lost because we are then fighting flesh and blood.
So what do we do if these thoughts come? We can’t just ignore them! The Word of God says that our best weapon is to run in the arms of God. If we go to the throne of grace, not to complain and to groan, but to praise and worship God, if we start to love Him above all else, the desires of our flesh will not be as attractive. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6 NASB). As we meditate on the Word of God, our thoughts change and we enter into his victory. “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1 NASB). This is why serving God keeps us on the right path. The more we are busy taking care of His Kingdom, the more we must die to ourselves and remain sanctified and therefore, the less time we have to pamper our flesh.
To win your fight against the flesh, avoid fighting using human means. Be transformed and passionate about God, and if you still feel the pressure of temptations, fight your true enemy, that is, the devil and his evil tricks. In doing so, you will realize that this fight is not inside you. By fighting your outside enemy, it will be easier for you to deny him access to your life. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB).