"No Contest!" -2

"Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters." (Psalms 74:13) It's the second part of this verse that has me wondering, Why are we so easily given in to sin? I mean, if we have God's Spirit in us, Why are we not using the power of the Spirit more often than we do? I was listening to Pastor Matt yesterday, and he was speaking about Abraham and Sarah, and how much they were just like you and I, sinners who had been given grace. There were some interesting points to his teaching that I had never seen before, and that I could easily relate to. For starters, the point about Sarah's handmaid Hagar, and Sarah's comment from Genesis 16:5, "My wrong be upon thee." It's interesting because Abraham was to be the spiritual leader of his house, and he should not have listened to Sarah to begin with; however, he was not thinking with his head, if you get my meaning. I am willing to bet that Abraham got a little aroused by the idea, thinking, "Are you kidding me, sure I will do this!" It had only been maybe six years since Abraham had left Egypt, and Hagar was most likely still very young. It was most likely hard for Abraham to take sides between Hagar and Sarah, so he just left it up to Sarah to do with her what she pleased. (Genesis 16:6) I can see that scenario playing out, as if Abraham had grown attached to Hagar in some way, and did not want to disturb their relationship by taking sides, so he just pushed it back on Sarah. The most interesting thing about that whole complex story, is how it all shows the war between the flesh and the Spirit. Each and every aspect of that whole story, be it Hagar verses Sarah, Ishmael verses Isaac, or Abraham and the choices he makes, they all speak to the daily struggle we have between the flesh and the Spirit. Will I walk in the Spirit today, or will I walk in the flesh? Taking Pastor Mike's version to heart, it more like, "Will I walk faithfully in the Spirit for the next ten minutes?" Some people think that God and the devil are equal adversaries against one another; not nothing could be further from the truth. The devil is a created being and has no power against the Creator, he only has power against creation; and even then, his power is limited by God. Unfortunately, we really don't need any help from the devil to sin, so we really can't say, "The devil made me do it," because we sin just fine on our own. But, if we are going to overcome sinful desires, then we are going to need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, because we only have two choices: we either walk in the flesh, or we walk in the Spirit; there are no other options, and there surely is no contest between the two! If you walk in the Spirit, the flesh has no chance of winning! Now, I do not have the time to break it down for you, but study for yourself the significant meanings behind those words, because they speak of Spiritual warfare, verses the first part of the verse, which speaks of a signs and wonders. The children of Israel saw many signs and wonders coming out of Egypt, but that did not stop Egypt from coming into them... "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for our weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) NASB