DAY #14: The Conflict of Flesh Versus the Spirit – by Mn. Corey J. Jones, M. Div. | June 21-Day Firm Foundation Devotional: “Renewing the Mind”
June 21-Day Firm Foundation Devotional: “Renewing the Mind”
DAY #14: The Conflict of Flesh Versus the Spirit
Today’s Lesson by Min. Corey J. Jones
In Chapter 8 of Winning the Battle for Your Mind: A Biblical Approach to Renewing Your Mind, Pastor Hudson, does an excellent job of explaining how our minds are a battlefield. Imagine a tug of war, except instead of the competition being horizontal, it is vertical. On one side, your spirit is striving to pull you upward toward God; on the other side, your flesh is striving to pull you into sin, death, hell, and the grave.
It is essential that we feed our inner man (spirit). Renewing our minds is the key to victorious living and winning the battle for our mind. Since we can have both holy thoughts and sinful thoughts, we must read and meditate on the Word of God, which is our guiding truth. Scripture is the measure by which we can evaluate our mind, will, and emotions.
2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
To do so, there are spiritual disciplines that will establish and improve our effectiveness in taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Dr. Hudson described how prolonged periods of failing to pray, worship, or receive the Word result in the flesh nature gaining strength, leading to ungodly thoughts and/or feelings of despair.
To aid in ensuring that you do not lapse in any of those activities, one must practice self-awareness. Understand that the enemy is sneaky and strives to use things like fatigue, isolation, lack of devotion, and even idle time to present opportunities for the flesh. Walking in the spirit is a daily task. When paired with self-awareness and intentionality, we grow through essential spiritual disciplines, and we will be victorious!
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. What are your go-to scriptures for combating temptation?
2. How often do you spend time with God Daily?
3. Do you have specific prayer times in your weekly routine?
4. Which spiritual discipline would you like to improve upon?
ACTION ITEMS (What I will do with what I have learned):
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