There is a strength that comes from the Lord that those who have been born-again cannot live without, and which our flesh battles constantly against. (Gal. 5:17) It offers us the victory over pride yet demands that we relinquish our desires to see ourselves as worthy, as profitable outside of Christ, it offers us strength beyond anything that we can comprehend yet demands that we die to self.
No man can stand against the Most High, yet for His own reasons He has determined to allow all who would be master of their own lives to be so, to live in such a manner if they so chose that in many cases not only goes through this life as if He does not exist, but allows them to be openly rebellious towards Him. A King who rules His servants with complete authority but allows them to make decisions of their own free will that are not of His will. No King in the eyes of the world has ever been such as this.
The strength that the Lord offers us is what will allow us to continue in the battle against lust, against envy, vanity and all manner of evils, that we have no power over within ourselves, those that we will continue to war against as long as we live. Those who live in the world give little heed to these notions, unless their actions in this regard, unless there is a possibility that their actions would shine an unprofitable light upon them in the eyes of others is seen. Their pride, their self-worth is diminished when the moral code of those that they reside with is broken by them, when their unnatural lust is found out, they are rebuked by those who do the same, even if only in their minds. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Prov. 24:16)
Their pride and arrogance has led them into a form of strength that will indeed fail them, and by the time they have seen the error of their choices in life, it will be too late.
The strength that the Lord offers us does not guarantee that we will not fall into the traps of the adversary, but with the exercise of that faith, we will be able to see them more clearly. The strength that He offers always assures us of a way out of the sin that encapsulates us for a time, but the desire to be pleasing in His eyes must be greater than the pull of the flesh, of the world, of our own will.
Even with the strength that He offers, mankind continues to seek his own will for his own means, from Adam’s decision in the garden, the rebellion of the children of Israel in the wilderness, the Pharisees, to our own day, man has always determined that it is by his own strength that he will attempt to lead his very short life. Even for those who have been crucified with Christ, this strength that is offered to us can be denied at any moment we choose, this is always our decision to make. The Scriptures are full of the battles of man against the will of God, and it is only because of His mercy, of His remembrance that we are but dust (Psalm 103:14) that the King does not invoke His right to end our existence. His love for us compels His mercy towards us, and from the recognition of that mercy, our love should flow towards Him. Here is where you will find victory in the battle against the flesh.
