The other part of this series: The Battle of Desires Part I

THE BATTLE OF DESIRES

No Way Out?

Prone to wander Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
(Christian Hymn: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”)

Faith comes from the heart is a saving faith while intellectual faith is equal to the faith of the demons (Matthew 8:29, Acts 16:16-17). The manifestations of only knowing the truths vs. a changed heart can be as different as life and death. Who can change the desires of our heart? Only God can. Our mind can be renewed by knowing God’s truths but we can’t change our own heart’s yearnings even when we want it.

Why are we always in defeat with our New Year resolutions, our diet and exercise regimes, our plans to break bad habits and instill new habits? There are many best-seller books with topics on life hack, productivity hack and building positive habits because people are desperately seeking ways to crack and break their personal cycles of defeat.

Since our flesh strongly and instinctively seeks relief and relish in comfort and pleasure in a myriad of things such as food, entertainment, social media, nicotine, luxurious and sensual experiences, holding the reins of ourselves require willpower and willpower take up our energy. It can be very tiring. When we are not in our best condition especially when our energy level is low, it will be easier for us to fall into temptations. Our flesh wants to gratify its desires and continue to find ways to break the barrier of willpower.

Most people rely on their own willpower to harness energy for changes. Their motivation for making changes in their lives is for their self-betterment and self-advancement, not for God. For Christians, our main purpose is to please God with our lives, all the other good things that follow will only be bonus features.

Some people use meditation or hypo-therapy to enter and hack their subconscious minds and change their desires from the inside out. Some people train their body and appetites into submission by consuming more healthy food, using fake cigarette and doing routine exercises with the help of online apps, accountability groups, personal trainers and good ‘old’ personal disciplines.

All these good endeavors can be carried out without acknowledging the existence of God as the true vine, following Jesus’ parable in John 15:1-17. My concern is we as God’s children are merely the branches and we need to source our nourishment from the vine to produce godly fruits (results), not by harnessing our own personal strength, will and mind power. God gives common grace to all people so we can still see some really good results, but the results are not glorifying to God and bring eternal rewards to us.

When I was little, there was a Chinese Proverbs poster on my desk, it commends a set of wisdom for mankind to follow. The first rule said: to know and realize our greatest enemy is our own selves; if we can conquer ourselves, we can conquer the world. The Chinese sages got this right. Our greatest enemy is within. It is in our flesh, the desire to sin and for sinful things.

The Bible provides the way out of these ungodly and destructive cycles. The answer is in a divine person, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the expression of God’s nature, power and presence, and the Holy Spirit dwells inside the believers. The Holy Spirit actively changes us from inside out and empowers us to carry out the changes.

The changes are not only manifested behaviorally or outwardly but our desires are changed from the inside out. The things that used to be so desirable for us will no longer have the same effect and power over us. We can truly be set free(!) from the impure desires that imprison us and we can now genuinely desire the things of God from our hearts. 

God’s empowerment within us from the Scriptures:

Titus 2:11-12: For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age… 

2 Peter 1:3-7: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

The passage from 2 Peter 1 says with the divine power He has given us we can participate in our divine nature, leaving behind our earthly nature. The Holy Spirit moves the wheel for our transformation process but God also wants our effort, our faith, our knowledge, our self-control, our perseverance, our goodness, our godliness and our love.

But this time we are not left hopeless on our own, the Holy Spirit faithfully without ceasing reminds us, keeps us going, picks us up when we fall, instills godly desires within and empowers us supernaturally to change and conform to the image of Christ.

 

A note: How (authentic) is our faith in the closet?

Some people are wired differently, they don’t have certain ‘questionable’ desires and they can lead a seemingly good life without much trouble. Even though they seem to have it all together, we need to be careful. God sees the heart, the depth of our devotions to Him and the quality of our communion with Him, not only our outward behaviors.

For example, if I don’t have any addiction with pornography does not mean I am a better person, but simply porn does not appeal to me. My pleasures come from other ways and they are not better in God’s eyes. Some people are wired to have more self-discipline than others, they are more internally inclined and externally motivated to excel and advance.

Even the Pharisees have the utmost self-discipline in following God’s laws, but their hearts are so far from God’s heart. God exposed their covert motives. God called them hypocrites, because they obeyed the Law meticulously so they could enjoy the full benefits of their social standing instead of real communion with Him. There is no authenticity in their faith.

All of God’s laws are made for our own well-being, so it is no surprise we will feel the benefits if we follow them. What is the purpose of your self-controlled life? Is it to please and glorify God or for your own personal glory and goals? God knows our deepest motivations whether our actions are coming out of love for Him or love for ourselves. The answer to that question is important to God.

I pray for you and for myself may all of our fights are not for our own glory and benefits, but for the One who is truly worthy. May the glory only belong to Him.

 Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Corinthians 10:31: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

God’s Victorious Way

I see God’s work in these three ways to bring us into the path of victory:

1. Cleansing and Transforming

God cleanses our mind first from all falsehood with His word and transforms us as we walk together with the Holy Spirit and the godly community He has provided for us.

Changes to the heart start from the mind; new godly thinking penetrates and permeates our mind, washes off falsehood layer by layer. As our mind is cleansed, we know more about His truths and we have a sense which steps and directions we should take. The Holy Spirit inside us further convicts us of our sins, we become uncomfortable with our sins, we start to desire godly things and the Holy Spirit continues to conform us to new holiness from inside out. Our sisters in faith also help encourage and rebuke us as we walk along together.

John 8:32: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Titus 3:3-7: At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

True and lasting changes require changes from the heart. Do we have the power to change our own hearts thoroughly? I don’t believe so, there are many elements of the heart or the whole inner person: the will, the intentions, the emotions, the desires, the affections, the mind. We can probably change our thoughts and behaviors, but not our desires and our motivations.

God changes people in miraculous ways. Sometimes He takes away the bad desires instantaneously. Sometimes He wants us to keep fighting the bad desires for a long time until He takes it away altogether. Why? I think because God is also glorified in the process, not just in the results. That is why one of Hollywood movies’ enduring lessons is: the ends do not justify the means. Somehow, we instinctively know that the process has to be as honorable as the goals. It is one of His ways which He has written in our hearts.

When we gratify our fleshly desires, initially we might feel a sense of relief and pleasure but then the remorse and the self-loathing will follow almost immediately. We need to ask forgiveness from the ones we sin against (Psalm 51:4) so we can be made right again with God and be at peace.

When we do not follow our fleshly desires, we might ache temporarily but the grace of God through His Spirit and His people will help balm our pains until the aches slowly diminish with time; a loving and godly community is instrumental in this transformation process.

Knowing all these facts will not change and take away our addictions or ungodly desires but it will increase our self-awareness of our personal conditions and the battles we are in. We are mindful of our weaknesses in the flesh and our strengths in His spirit. This realization is one step closer towards victory.

 

2. Walk by the Holy Spirit

We need to abide in Him, walk by the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The more connected we are to the power source (God), the more strength and power we have in our disposal to fight.

Galatians 5:16-18: So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The work of the Holy Spirit might not always be visible until the changes come to fruition, but behind the scene, God’s Spirit is very active and intentional in transforming and conforming us into Christ’s image.

Matthew 13:33: The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.

(From ESV Study Bible Notes: yeast/leaven symbolizes the positive, hidden permeation of the kingdom of heaven in this world. The kingdom is indeed active though not fully visible to the world because it begins with an inner transformation of the heart)

God usually resorts to one of these two ways in overcoming our harmful desires:

1. We might not overcome the whole war yet but God continually gives us the power to fight in every battle. In every little battle, we receive power from God to say ‘NO’ and flee, and for each battle we overcome, we bring glory and delight to God.

We can’t fully understand why God allows this fight to continue until we die. 2 Corinthians 12:9 may shed some light. Although the context of the verse was not clear whether the author is alluding his weakness to physical sickness or temptations to desires, it said our weaknesses will make His grace and power evident.

There could be some reasons I think God in His wisdom allows the battles to go on in our lives: it may be to keep us humble, to keep us on our toes (not complacent), to keep us close to Him or to equip us so we are able to empathize with and minister to others.

2. In some cases, God miraculously takes a particular desire or addictions away completely and instantaneously. There are a couple of reasons I can think why God maybe chooses this route: to exhibit His power in this person’s life or God wants this person to focus on other tasks He has planned out for him or her.

No matter how God works in our lives, His ultimate goals for us are to separate us for Himself as His treasured inheritance, to make us holy, to conform us to the image of Christ and to form a royal priesthood for His kingdom. This is the destiny that is set for us.

1 Peter 2:4-5: As you come to him, the living Stone…, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

 A note: Let’s not forget aside from fighting our own flesh, there is also the existence of our archenemy. The Devil and his demon army persistently seek full possession of our material and immaterial self by influencing us to succumb to our degenerate desires. We have nothing to fear because the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us is much more powerful than all the dark forces combined.

 

3. Victory

Complete victory happens when Jesus comes again for the second time, and He as the rightful owner will redeem everything back. It is a guaranteed victory for all God’s children and there will be rewards waiting for our faithfulness.

1 Timothy 4:8: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Galatians 6:7-9: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

 Revelations 21:7: Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Revelations 2:17: To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

(From ESV Study Bible Notes: As God fed Israel in the wilderness, Chris supplies hidden manna (manna is food, food is to fuel us in our fights) to the one who conquers, who endures persecution and stays pure from defilement. A white stone was historically given to victors at games. The new name may refer to the Holy Spirit’s work of conforming believers to the holiness of God.)

So do not brood over the setbacks and the failures, that is Satan’s scheme to keep you from continuing the fight. On this earth, all of us will keep on fighting these holy fights against our earthly nature. We fall and rise, again and again. In the process, our spirit is getting stronger over our earthly impulses until God conquers this war completely for us.

If you still struggle with your desires, but you notice there’s a decrease in intensity and frequency of sinful desires surfacing from within, and every time you fall you faithfully rise again with a renewed strength from the Holy Spirit, then please have the peace of mind of knowing you’re on the right track. This is the path of holy battlegrounds and it will lead to a definite victory.

I pray we will experience joy through all the fights, the wins and even the falls, because we go through it together with God and we are promised the final victory at the end.

In our spiritual journey, we want to abide in His Spirit, to walk the narrow path with Him, together with Him in the trenches amid fiery arrows of earthly temptations. We want to win each battle by His grace and to bring glory for His namesake, and each day is a new fresh opportunity given us. May our knowledge of His grace in our lives also grow with each battle we face. Amen.

“Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, but I can truly say, I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

John Newton (1725 – 1807)

 

This is a great worship song from Michael W. Smith: “This Is How I Fight My Battles.”

The other part of this series: The Battle of Desires Part I