How can we live the Christian life with so much evil, pain, sorrow, temptations, and desires which surround us and fill us each day? We see tragedies occurring as we watch the news. We struggle with ever increasing costs with less to pay it with. Our time is pressed so that the demands of our day seem overwhelming. We are bombarded by constant inflow of information from TV, Internet, phones, people, email, and text messages. How do we stand fast in our faith and our liberty in Christ without succumbing to our flesh? How do we avoid being drawn into the crowd? How do we avoid being swept under by sorrow, depression, and a sense of doom? How do we win against our own sin filled nature without getting caught up in self pride and legalism like the Pharisees?
Galatians 5: 5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage…13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another…16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law….
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The following story may help you understand the importance of filling your life with those things that feed the Holy Spirit.
This story seems to have begun in 1978 when a early form of it was written by the Evangelical Christian Minister Billy Graham in his book, “The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life.” This version of the story can be found in Chapter 7: The Christian’s Inner Struggle on Page 92 and it is as follows:
“AN ESKIMO FISHERMAN came to town every Saturday afternoon. He always brought his two dogs with him. One was white and the other was black. He had taught them to fight on command. Every Saturday afternoon in the town square the people would gather and these two dogs would fight and the fisherman would take bets. On one Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday, the white dog would win – but the fisherman always won! His friends began to ask him how he did it. He said, “I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger.”
Billy Graham continues by explaining the story. I will now provide a few excerpts to show the connection between this story and the later versions as well of how it’s grounded in Christianity. “This story about the two dogs is apt because it tells us something about the inner warfare that comes into the life of a person who is born again. We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery. Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed.”
So, I encourage you to study on the word of God morning and evening. Probably that means the TV needs to be turned off a little sooner. Listen to Christian music and sermons when in the car. You can place Christian ringtones on your phone and text messages as little reminders through the day. Whenever you feel the world pressing in around you, pray. The world is every day becoming more complex and I urge you to live in the Spirit by starving the flesh and feeding the Spirit.