Choosing Spirit Over Flesh

So for the last week or so I've been gnawing on this bone, Spirit v flesh. I'm struggling lately [and honestly, often] with some very human tendencies. Eating, worrying and procrastinating.

Lets take the eating piece for a minute. I consistently swing between a disciplined diet and all out sugar/fat binging. I've wanted to break this cycle for some time now and I've tried various books and methods. Last week I picked up this book: http://www.theendofovereatingbook.com/ . It fascinatingly depicts the effects of sugar, salt and fat on the brain's chemistry and how the food industry manipulates these ingredients to get us to eat more. I won't lie, that I was eating a Toblerone bar, while I thumbed through it's pages. The book has wonderful insight on why we have such a difficult time "just being disciplined".

Somewhere during my reading and musing over what the book explained about the mental decisions we make, I was struck with the phrase "Spirit over flesh". It had come up a few weeks earlier with my counselor friend who was reminding me that I have a choice to make when faced with worry. So today I got around to googleing "Spirit over flesh". I stumbled upon a really helpful recording. I can't endorse the church/pastor themselves but I thought the content was sound, simple and so applicable to us all. What a great reminder.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/why-and-how-we-walk-according-to-the-spirit

For those of you who don't have the time to listen-through, here are a few nuggets:

• If we are called to love eachother as we love ourselves, that can feel like such a heavy burden, but that is where the Spirit comes in
• If the Spirit leads, the law [standards we are held to] will be like the train tracks and Spirit will be the locomotive
• Without the Spirit, the law becomes like a ladder that we climb alone under great burden
• What is it to walk in the spirit? 
• You are led by God, he is the action and we are the followers
• He is the locomotive, we just need to stay hooked up to him
• You will not carry out the desires of the flesh, but fight them
• Being connected to the vine, where and why we will bear fruit; we must WANT to be abiding
• Why is it important?
• So that we can be victorious
• So that we can bear fruit
• Flesh = anything that we try to satisfy ourselves with apart from God; we want to abide in God instead for true satisfaction
• We can't expect to be perfect at this or anything that we do to follow Christ
• We are never going to perfect our desires in this life, but if we allow the Spirit to truly live in us, then you will hate the evil desires in you and FIGHT them, instead of being complacent with them
• How to walk in the Spirit
• Keep your heart happy in the Lord, resting on his promises
• Have Faith!
• Wait in the Spirit trusting God's promises for you - they are all over His word!
• Meditate on the promises of the Lord
• Be content with what you have

I hope this gives you some peace, it has done so for me today.

Love,
Kat