I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19-20)
As believers in Christ, we have a new, recreated spirit. The Holy Spirit is joined with our own human spirit, making us new creatures in Christ.
However, while we live in this body, we will engage in a battle. The battle with the flesh. Galatians 5:17 says: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
The deception often arises when we are confronted with temptation and we believe that we are somehow weak and inadequate. The truth is, we aren’t. The real man, the new creature in Christ Jesus, isn’t weak or inadequate. It’s the fleshly man that wars against the real us.
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph 4:22-24)
When I found this out in the scriptures, it removed a lot of guilt and condemnation I felt whenever I succumbed to sin. As I build up the real me by feeding on the Word of God, I’ll grow stronger in my spirit. Eventually, I will be able to keep the fleshly man, the carnal man in subjection.
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (I Cor 9:27)
It’s a freeing thought.
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