What Is the Solution?

If people, positions, or possessions do not offer freedom or the solution for enjoying a complete life, what is the solution? Galatians 5:16 (NIV) supplies the answer: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We are to conduct our lives “by the Spirit.” This requires a relationship with God’s Spirit in which we dependently trust Him with all our needs. This is an astonishing assertion, “. . . you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (NASB). In the Greek text the double negative construction emphasizes, “there is no way on earth, you can ever” carry out the desires of the flesh if you are living by the Spirit. Do you like the sound of that? The catch is that brokenness is a prerequisite: we cannot depend on God without first giving up our willfulness. We must give up the right to want what we want and trade it for wanting what God wants. “But I don’t want to give up what I want,” you may whine. Then you are not ready for a desperately dependent relationship on God that results in a life that is divinely enabled. This relationship begins by giving up our self-centered lives in exchange for Christ-centered lives that result from the forgiveness of sin. Without giving up our willfulness, we cannot know the heart of God and want what He wants.

BIBLE TRUTH
“We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4–5 NLT).

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
If we are to be a picture of Christ, a Christian, then we are to live as He lived—desperately dependent on God for divine enablement for personal empowerment. Thus, holiness is true healthiness—to be complete in Christ. How is this possible? We tear down strongholds through obedience to Christ.

PRAYER
Father, know my heart and renew a right spirit within me. (Ps. 51:10)


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)