Romans 7:15 – For that which I do I allow(understand) not: for that I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Have you ever felt this way in your Christian walk? I know that I have! It seems like a constant battle, because there is a constant battle! As a child of God we have a continual battle on our hands. On the one hand we have our old sinful nature that wants to rebel against God and focus just on self! On the other hand we have our new nature that is spiritual and wants to serve and glorify God. The problem? We at times do the things we don’t want to do. We might lash out, we might get angry quickly, we might harbor bitterness, we might be jealous, we might battle with little faith and we hate all those things yet it seems like we do them all the time!
This is the struggle within, we battle between our old nature and our new nature! It is a battle each and every day. The good news is that you are not alone every child of God faces this battle, the bad news every child of God faces this battle! No matter how long you have been a child of God you will have a struggle between the two natures. There will be times when you have put down the old nature and your new nature is in total control and then there will be times when the old nature creeps in and wins a few battles. To be honest that is what drives me crazy, when I know the old nature has reared its ugly head.
How can we overcome the struggle within?
1) Realize that all Christians have this struggle you are not the only one. So many time when the old nature comes we think we are the worst person alive because we allowed the old nature to win a battle. Your not the worst person in the world, we all have struggles and times when the old nature comes out. The key is to get back up and try again. Do wallow in self-pity, repent and try again!
2)Renew your mind! The mind is a terrible thing to waste, so don’t waste it on the trash of this world! Fill your mind with Godly items and thoughts. Remember to hide God’s word in your heart!
3) Feed the new nature! When the battle begins to rage within you the nature that has been fed the most will win. Why? Because it has the most strength. You want your spiritual nature to win feed it more! Your new nature needs more food than just on Sunday morning! Feed your new nature some spiritual food and just see who will win the next battle.
Pastor Chris
