The Battle for Your Soul

Day 28- The Battle for your soul

Romans 8:6-8 NIV

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

As we have established yesterday, there is no sitting on the fence when it comes to light and darkness. The light and darkness are governed by two different laws and lords, and they were not created to co-exist in the same space at the same time. No wonder at creation then, that the first thing God did was to speak light out of the darkness that covered the earth, separating light from darkness. There were lights created to rule the days, while other lights were created to rule the nights. 

The same picture is applied to the spiritual here. The Flesh and the Spirit are two very exclusive powers and realms, with their own laws and powers, and we all must fall under the control of one of them. Before you make a choice between two opposites, you have the power to choose; you can take your time to choose, but as soon as the choice is made, the end-results or consequences of your choice begin to follow you. That is established in the extract above. The end of flesh's control is death, while that of the Spirit is life and peace. Fortunately, the choices we make are not permanent; we are free to switch allegiances as often as we like, as long as we are alive. Unfortunately, because the effect of our choices are not immediately visible and apparent, we keep thinking we have much time and we can switch allegiances anytime we like. By the time reality dawns, we have crossed into immortality and the consequences of our choices on earth will determine where we spend eternity.

Make no mistake: the flesh can never please God. There is no sacrifice, moral living, alms giving or physical show of piety that can make up for the lack of substance that the Spirit gives. Just ask Cornelius of Acts 10. In the old testament, the people had to offer the blood of bulls and goats so many times, just to cover up their sins. The blood could not wash sins away, so the sacrifices were grossly inadequate for the remission of sins. Christ's sacrifice, however, was a once-for-all offering that took away sins permanently, and is a free gift we are invited to take advantage of. No other offering can please God, because the best and the greatest offering has already been made. If a man would therefore seek to please God, he must take advantage of this free gift on offer. The Spirit gives life and peace to all who accept this free gift, and at the end, eternity is secure. Let nobody deceive you into thinking that we were made to live forever on earth here. Yes, we will live forever, but the choice of residence is determined by the choice of masters we make while on earth here.

People, the choices are laid before you. Men like Joshua, Moses, Samson, Judas Iscariot, Demas and Alexander the metalworker all made their choices at different times. The results of their choices are seen in the stories we read in the bible. The world is reading us today. What are your choices? Who is in charge? His time of favour is here.

PRAYER- Lord, help me decide for you. The world holds no attraction for me, and I know that you have the best plans for me. Give me grace to follow you and depend on the help of the Holy Spirit every day of my life. Amen.