Starve the Flesh, Feed the Spirit

By Darryl Fitzwater

from his soon to be published book

Exposing the Darkness: The Chronicals of a Prodigal

Temptation does not constitute sin.  Jesus was tempted, yet without sin.  “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).”  Temptation is presented by the devil, but whether it leads to sin depends entirely on the spiritual state of the tempted one.  One who minds the things of the flesh will be more likely to fall to temptation because the flesh desires pleasure and satisfaction above all else, and therefore the temptation will be irresistible. 

In this chapter, I will emphasize the importance of feeding the Spirit that God has conceived within us as born again Christians.  Just as there are two wills: the will of man and the will of God, there is the flesh and there is the Spirit.  The will of man will naturally feed the flesh, as we have seen in chapter three.  But the newly born Spirit must be fed and nurtured in order for us to grow in Christ, which is the will of God.  

Satan knows what turns us on.  His watchful eyes are on us continually.  He is like a used car salesman crouching in his lair like a spider awaiting his next prospect.  If we are already in his lot, he knows he has his first advantage, our interest.  He studies every facial expression, flick of the eye, hesitation and every other tell tale sign that we may falter toward the flesh.  When he sees that the signs line up, he taps us on the shoulder and asks with a friendly and compassionate voice, “May I interest you in buying one?”  He is the most intelligent created being that ever existed.  Do not toy with him, because you will lose.  He knows when we are weak and primed to buy.  Without fail he will complete the formulae for sin, which is: weakness + opportunity + temptation = sin.  Without fail, when he perceives our weakness, he will present the temptation and provide the opportunity.  If our flesh is stronger than the Spirit at this critical moment, there can be only one outcome, sin.  This is known as the law of sin and death, “which is in our members” (flesh) that I will discuss later in this chapter. 

But first, what is the flesh, and what are the things of the flesh?  The flesh is simply our natural self: this body that we live in with all its needs, cares and desires.  And the things of the flesh are anything that will gratify, satisfy or give pleasure to the flesh.  They are anything that we can become focused on that satisfies in some way our selfish desires and that are not specifically kingdom oriented.  Some things of the flesh are essential to our survival, such as food, exercise, clothing, and shelter.  These things must be attended to, but they become a perversion and therefore an opportunity for sin when we focus on them beyond our basic needs. 

Other things of the flesh are not necessary for our survival at all but yet are not sin in and of themselves.  A few examples would be sports, education, music, career, entertainment, alcohol, recreation, and material possessions, to name a few.  It is when we become focused or even obsessed with them that they draw our attention away from spiritual things and therefore feed and strengthen our flesh.  And “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5). 

Paul tells us that, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.  All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1 Cor. 6:12).”  It is when we begin to focus on these things that we are brought under the power of them and we have made flesh our strength.  Thus God tells us in 2 Cor. 12:9, “My power is perfected in weakness”.  When our flesh is weak, God gives us His strength.  But a strong flesh becomes our spiritual weakness.  For it is then, as Jeremiah tells us, we are cursed and we “shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is uninhabited” (Jeremiah 17:6).”  The implications here are enormous. 

But how do we know if we are “under the power of” the things of the flesh, making flesh our strength, and therefore being cursed?  We are under their power when we feel driven to do them; when they become a habit; when we feel drawn toward them; when we feel that we need them for our happiness.  Satan will use these things to draw our attention away from God and deeper into his domain, the world; “the desert”, “the parched places in the wilderness”.  Our being focused on them is what John was speaking about in 1 Jn. 2:15.  “Do not love the world or the things of the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  Because his “heart departs from the Lord”.

If you claim to love the Lord, this should scare the flesh right out of you.  But it’s not that simple if you are already under the curse of habitual sin, flesh has become your strength.  You wander in the “parched places in the wilderness” unable to find the strength to escape a desperate and defeated lifestyle of self-gratification.  I am no stranger to this place.  I have felt the hopeless despair.  I know this curse of which I speak.  The more I continued in my sin, the farther I was from God.  The farther I became from God, the more I had to rely on my strength to keep from sinning.  The more I relied on my strength, the weaker I became.   

If you are troubled with habitual sin, and you are serious about not allowing sin to remain in your life, you must first turn toward God.  Because chances are that if you are practicing sin (habitual sin), you are not saved and you are still a “son of disobedience”.  “Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.  He who practices sin is of the devil…whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God.  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are made obvious:  whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 John 3:7-9).  So let us get that established.  This may not be true of everyone, but the chances are quite high.  At this stage, you must first get saved.  If you doubt that, there are a lot more scriptures where that came from if you are willing to face who you really are according to His truth.  But, once you come to grips with that cold hard fact, you can begin to see the problem of habitual sin from a whole different perspective. 

I can say that because looking back I can see so clearly that I was not saved, though I called myself a Christian.  There was no change of heart toward my sin.  There was no change in the way I lived my life in regards to my sin.  There was no change in the way I acted toward my sin.  In other words, there was no clear conversion, and I did not become repulsed at the sin that I once loved.  

Now after you have become a true “born again” believer, you are a babe in Christ.  You must avoid situations that present opportunity to be tempted in areas you know yourself to be weak in.  Next, if temptation has already occurred, you must not allow your thoughts to dwell on the temptation.  We must cast “down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…(2 Cor. 10:5).”  As I have heard it said, “You can’t stop the bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from making a nest in your hair”.

If you knowingly place yourself in compromising positions, that is just pure foolishness.  But we are not always given the luxury of choosing our circumstances.  It is during these times that we must not allow ourselves to dwell on, or allow our thoughts to remain on a temptation once it has been presented to us.  If we do, it will be extremely difficult to stop the process.  Remember, you are still a baby in Christ, and babies need special attention.  Plan to have a trusted brother or sister call you at a time you know the temptation will be most intense.  

For example, if your weakness is food, you must not allow yourself the luxury of going where you know there will be delectable delights presented to you.  This is your weakness, and Satan will not miss the opportunity to capitalize on it.  But if you find that you have no choice in the matter, prepare yourself by having someone check up on you. 

We are members of the body of Christ.  We must stand together as members of one body.  If a hand touches a flame, a message is sent to the brain, which in turn causes the arm to retract the hand from danger.  The hand alone would sizzle and fry on the flame until there is nothing left but charred remains.  Together we stand to help each other avoid danger. 

Whether your weakness would lead to gluttony, adultery, or covetousness, if you allow yourself to remain in thought on a temptation, you are minding the things of the flesh, and “the mind set on the flesh is death…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:6-8).”  The mind set on fulfilling the desires of the flesh will then be “carried away by [its] own desires and enticed, then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin…(James 1:14-15).” 

The longer you allow yourself to give mind to a temptation, the more likely you will be to carry it out to conception.  This would seem obvious, but I am talking about seconds, even fractions of a second.  Satan sees the eye that lingers on the plate of delicacies, or on the television screen when a provocative scene presents itself.  The flesh is always selfish, and all sin gratifies the selfish flesh, no matter the sin, whether it be overeating, smoking, drinking, sexual sin or stealing a paper clip. 

If one thought is allowed to build on another, the mind can quickly lose control and the tempted loses sight of spiritual things and focuses on self-gratification.  Any past vows to discontinue habitual sin quickly becomes overshadowed by the possibility of gratification, comfort, or satisfaction.  As the desire to fulfill the needs or wants of the selfish flesh intensifies, your behavior will become reckless.  At this point there is almost no turning back.  The mind has been allowed to dwell on the desires of the flesh and it is now primed and ready for action.  “Desire has conceived” and the body is set in motion.  Now one begins to rationalize his behavior and makes plans for the carrying out of his sin.

Your hand reaches for the extra helping, or you purchase the magazine, or click on the invitation to visit that questionable web site.

And finally, when sin has been committed, spiritual death follows.  This death is a slow eroding or decaying of our character, until we are eventually completely given over to a sinful lifestyle.  Each time I would fall, or knowingly commit a sin, there would be a variety of emotions that followed: Anger, guilt, a feeling of hopelessness or helplessness, despair, condemnation and eventually, the familiar vows never to do it again.  I can recall a heightened awareness of the possibility that I would experience the full wrath of God after succumbing once again to habitual sin.  An intense feeling of dread of punishment and the distinct fear that this time God had had it with me would flood my mind.  Fearing that He was ready to take me out, I would pray for forgiveness in desperation.  This of course was a false repentance driven by the dread of punishment rather than a deep remorse over the despicableness of my sin. 

So during the next period of weakness, the opportunity would be presented and I would begin to justify myself once again and be carried away by my own desires and enticed to sin.  It was a curse, a never-ending cycle that I could not break free from.  Sin reigned in my mortal body and I would obey it in its lusts, so I would present the members of my body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.  Sin was master over me.  I presented myself as a slave to obey my flesh.  I was a slave to the one whom I obeyed.  (From Rom. 6:12-16).

One tell tale sign that I have learned, that a temptation has gotten past our first defenses, is that we begin trying not to sin.  At first this may seem odd to you.  Why wouldn’t we be trying not to sin?  But the very act of trying not to sin, not only causes us to focus on the flesh in self-effort, but is an evidence that the flesh has already been our focus.  If we turn our focus on feeding the Spirit at this critical point, our focus will turn away from the flesh along with our efforts of trying not to sin.  Our trying not to sin is our first hint that we have been tempted to sin.  The machinery is already in motion.  If we continue to try not to sin our focus remains on the flesh, and we will fail.  Victory comes through Christ, so our focus must be on Him and His kingdom.  Feed the Spirit.

Before one becomes a believer and follower of Christ, his entire life is lived for the flesh.  This is the natural man.  The desires of the flesh drive everything that he does; so much so that his very life is lived in opposition to God.  By the time one comes to Christ, the desires of the flesh have ruled his life for many years, in my case, decades.  My flesh was quite accustomed to having its way.  Therefore, a transforming of the mind and a conforming to the image of the Son is a process that the Spirit takes us through to maturity if we allow it.  Ideally, as the believer matures, he will be given a whole new value system.  His desires will be redirected from the flesh or the world, to spiritual things or the kingdom.  Our desires become Christ centered.  “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).  God’s desires become our desires.  

Confession, repentance, surrender of our selfish will and then feeding and nurturing the Spirit are necessary components for spiritual growth and maturity.  Once we have confessed and repented from our sin and toward God, we must sacrifice our selfish will and surrender to his will.  Then it is essential that we feed His Spirit within us and starve our flesh.   We feed the Spirit by keeping our focus on God and His kingdom and purposes.  The diligent study of Scripture, fasting, frequent daily prayer, worship and praise, church attendance, Bible studies and the practice of righteousness are all food for the Spirit.

When we first become a believer, the flesh is a force to be reckoned with.  The flesh is a muscle bound brute who must be starved, weakened and brought under subjection.  The Spirit is a newborn babe that must be nourished and exercised.  We must feed the Spirit and starve the flesh in order to grow spiritually. 

Ultimately we have a series of choices to make daily.  Every moment we must decide which one we will feed.  God never takes our will from us.  He does not create spiritual robots that cannot sin.  We retain the ability to choose to do right or to do wrong, to deny the flesh or to deny the Spirit: to take a heaping plateful of your favorite meal, or to “innocently” flirt with the new secretary.  If the flesh is stronger than the Spirit, then we will fail miserably as a Christian and not be able to resist temptations when they come our way, and be assured that they will come. 

If the Spirit is stronger than the flesh, we will be able to easily resist the temptations of the evil one and continuously make righteous choices.  This is the practice of righteousness spoken of by John in 1 John 3:7-9.  The flesh will grow by our avoidance of anything spiritual and by turning our attention to the world and all that it offers us.  The Spirit will grow by our avoidance of anything of this world and turning our attention to God.  It’s a balancing exercise.  Weekly church attendance is not enough.  If we daily feed the flesh more than we feed the Spirit, the only outcome can be a weak flesh minded Christian.  This one will not be able to stand when the master tempter comes-a-calling and dangles in front of him what the he knows our flesh desires.  Again, if this doesn’t work for you, I would begin to seriously question whether there is a

Spirit in you to feed.  “For it is the will of God, your sanctification (holiness); that is that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel (body) in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God…for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification (holiness).  Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thes. 4:3-8).

Paul, in 1 Thes. 4 exhorts us to “excel more and more” in this sanctification.  Holiness or fleshliness grows and excels more and more through what our daily habits will be.  We feed the flesh through our choice of music; by our choice of what we will read; by our choice of the movies we watch; by our choice of how we pass our idle time; by our choice of the company we keep; and by our choice of how we spend our money.  Whatever we practice daily will determine what we will feed.  If we practice the fulfilling of the desires of the flesh, we will reap a strengthened flesh.  If we practice godliness or righteousness, we will reap a strengthened Spirit.  What our daily habits are will determine what we establish in our hearts.  If we establish godly habits, we will reap godly minds.  If we establish worldly habits, we will reap carnal minds. 

In order to strengthen the Spirit and weaken the flesh, we must reestablish our daily habits.  This is the growing in sanctification that Paul speaks of.  It is a continual and increasing growth away from the world and toward holiness.  We must discontinue worldly habits to weaken the flesh and establish new spiritual habits to strengthen the Spirit.  Any worldly habit that we retain is a potential stumbling block.  Paul, in his discourse to the Corinthians said “all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.  All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1 Cor. 6:12).”  And Jesus said “if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you (Matt. 5:30).”  All things are lawful for us, but if it causes you to stumble, or gives opportunity to sin in an area we know ourselves to be weak in, cut it out of your life, “for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell (Matt. 5:30).”

While my weakness was sex, I continued to listen to secular rock music and watch secular movies, both of which are highly charged with sexuality and packed to capacity with sexual innuendoes.  Simultaneously, I insisted that Christian music was lame and Christian movies inferior in quality.  Though these things may not have caused me to sin directly, they built up my flesh so that it could not be denied when temptation would come my way.  So in reality, you could say that sex (my flesh) was my strength.  I was stronger in the flesh than I was spiritually.  So when I sinned, I was not “falling” into sin, I was rising up to what I made my strength.  With that perspective, It was quite natural and easy to sin because I had made flesh my strength.

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? (1 Cor. 6:15).”  “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness?  And what harmony has Christ with Satan?  Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God…Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).” 

What will it be?  Will we allow the world to affect us with all its pleasures and promises of fulfillment, or will we affect the world around us for Christ?  What will be our purpose in life, the greedy fulfillment of our selfish desires, or the jealous pursuit of God’s purposes?  Will we be gluttonous pleasure seekers, or soldiers for Christ?  We must put off the world and put on the mind of Christ.

There are certain laws of physics that we learned about in college, such as the law of gravity and the law of thermo-dynamics, among several others.  These are laws of the physical universe put in place by God that cannot be broken.  They are so reliable that all of science is dependent on the fact that they always work.  There are also spiritual laws put in place for the spiritual universe that are just as reliable.  The Scriptures speak of there being two spiritual laws: the law of God and the law of sin and death. 

We know what the law of God is, and that the Spirit will cause us to walk in it if we are strong in the Spirit.  But what is this law of sin and death?  Romans 7:22-23 says that this law is in our members, which is our flesh.  “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”  When we are in the flesh, we are in Satan’s dominion and therefore under the law of sin, which is in our members.  We have made flesh our strength and come under the curse of the law of sin.  That is why Romans 8:6 says “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”  Like the laws of physics, this spiritual law cannot be broken.  “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord”  (Jeremiah 17:5).  As long as we are focusing on the things of this world or things of the flesh, we are under the law of sin.  If we dwell there any length of time, this law dictates the inevitable outcome: we will sin.  There is no way around it, because the flesh is Satan’s domain.  What goes up must come down, and the mind focused on fulfilling the desires of the flesh will sin.

Every temptation we entertain, and any willful act of sin brings you more into alignment with Satan and his purposes, and opens you up to greater influence by him.  You give him the legal right to have an influence in your life when you spend more time in the flesh than in the Spirit.  Therefore “Do not give the devil opportunity (Eph 4:27).”  If you believe that he is real, it would profit you to stay out of his territory.  The flesh is his domain.  Whenever we are doing anything that is of the world, we are on Satan’s turf.  When you fraternize with the enemy you will get burned, and sooner or later if you spend enough time in Satan’s playground, you will be branded a traitor by God and given over to Satan’s full influence as I was.  If you have made alliances with the enemy, how will you stand in battle against him?  Double agents can be trusted by no one!

Let us look at a few more Scriptures that clearly illustrate what I mean.  “Everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him (1 Jn. 2:29b).”  The practice of righteousness feeds the Spirit, and is an evidence that He is an influence in your life.  John says that it is a proof that you are born of Him.  Likewise, if you practice unrighteousness, or habitual sin says John, you are of the devil.  Don’t kill the messenger; I didn’t say it.  Read it for yourself; “The one who practices sin is of the devil…By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.  Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 Jn. 3:8 & 10).  The proof is in the pudding.  I’ve seen some modern Christian teachers go through all kinds of spiritual acrobatics to get around these troublesome verses, but they still say what they say.  That was me.  The ironic part of it is that I knew these verses, but didn’t see that they were talking about me.  I was blinded by the deceitfulness of sin.

I have put the entire Bible on my ipod.  I listen to scripture all night long as I’m sleeping.  I dream scripture.  I listen to scripture while I’m working and will speak scripture as I’m listening to it.  This has become my daily habit.  As a result of this habit, the Spirit, who is strong and well nourished, speaks Scripture to me throughout the day in daily application of His Word in my life.

Your daily habits and routines reveal who you are spiritually.  “It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 Jn. 3:2b-3).”  If it is your hope to be like Him when you meet Him face to face, you will purify yourself by starving the flesh and feeding the Spirit.  Then and only then, when you are revealed at the judgment, you will be like Him.  “Whoever abides in Him does not sin (he purifies himself).  Whoever sins (or allows himself to) has neither seen Him nor known Him (1 Jn. 3:6).”  His heart has departed from the Lord. “He who practices righteousness is righteous…he who practices sin is of the devil (1 Jn. 3:7b-8a).” 

“Whoever has been born of God does not practice sin, for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God (1 Jn, 3:9).”  “Cannot” in this verse does not mean that it is impossible for the born again to sin, as some teach.  But it does mean that the born again do not willfully practice sin.  For the born again to knowingly practice sin is a type of spiritual infanticide or abortion.  They are exposing the members of their bodies, which are members uncleanness.  “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?  (1 Cor. 6:15).” 

To expose your members to sin simply means to allow ourselves to focus on the things of the flesh.  To expose means to show yourself, or open yourself up to temptation.  You are showing yourself, or opening yourself up to sin when your focus is on the world or the flesh.  The spiritual law of sin and death will then kick in and you will sin because the law of sin is in your flesh (Rom. 7:23).  You have made flesh your strength and come under the curse.  When the law of sin, which is in your members is enacted, sin reigns in our members.  We become that one’s slave whom we obey: the flesh and the law of sin.  “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.  And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God…Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:12-13, 16).

And again, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God guards himself (practices righteousness, or feeds the Spirit), and the wicked one does not touch him (because his focus is not on the flesh; he is sanctified) (1 Jn. 5:18).”  “Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:7-8a).”  How can you draw near to God if you are continually drawing near to the things of the world?  The only way to resist the devil is to draw away from the things of this world and the desires of the flesh.  And if you fill your minds and your life with spiritual things, the devil will flee from you; he cannot touch you because the Spirit is strong within you.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8).”