If you don’t understand the conflict between Satan and God, you won’t correctly interpret human history. If you don’t understand the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, you won’t correctly interact with God and His agenda in history.
We can’t walk in the flesh and Spirit at the same time! One always excludes the other. (Amos 3:3,Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:4)
The “flesh” is human intellect, will, and emotion acting independently of God.
The flesh can also be expressed in the way we pursue good things!
The flesh isn’t first and foremost about evil intent; it’s about control!
The flesh is impatient! It interprets God’s delays as denials, and then takes matters into its own hands.
The flesh “fills in blanks” rather than consulting God.
The flesh substitutes its wisdom for God’s wisdom.
The flesh bases its decisions on inferior sources.
The flesh bases its actions on what it can see in the moment, rather than what God has said about the future.
The flesh struggles to see the sovereignty of God.
The flesh may trust God’s promise but doubt His process. When it does, it exchanges its “perhaps” for God’s promise.
The flesh embraces presumption. It assumes God will bless its plans.
While the flesh can’t ultimately stop Gods provision, it will always complicate it.
