“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (Romans 8:6, NLT).

This baggage, I know, sometimes contains that which comforted you in the darkest times of your life. It had you feeling so alive while you thought you were so empty and dead inside; alcohol, drugs, premarital sex, gambling, partying, toxic relationships, pride, etc. It’s hard to think about leaving this baggage behind, especially when you don’t know what will give you the “comfort and relief” you’re used to. But I can tell you, from personal experience—because that is the only way I can relate this—it is hard, and basically impossible, to carry that baggage and try to carry God in our hearts too.

Life along death road has nothing good for us; its only purpose is flesh pleasing. Let’s be real— we only find ourselves caught up there because we want to feel good, right? Especially during hard times and struggles. Pleasing the flesh and letting it control us leads to death. Often, the things we want are not always unhealthy, spiritually speaking. Though we need comfort, love, and happiness, we have been giving them to ourselves in all the wrong ways. The way of life means that we are walking with the Spirt in control of us.

We have to continuously strengthen our spirits, just like an athlete would train and strengthen his or her body for competitions. There is a competition within us—two natures competing for control—so we must ensure the correct one wins, the one that leads to life. We can strengthen our spirits by:

• Studying His Word;
• Praying and worshipping;
• Watching and listening to Godly content;
• Joining groups or forming a community that is focused on God and strengthening your relationship with Him; and
• Attending church.

Paul tells us, in Ephesians 6, that we are faced with a spiritual battle, not a physical battle, and therefore we have to be armed with spiritual weapons and shielded by spiritual armour.

Ephesians 6:14-18 outlines “The Whole Armor of God” and this is how we dress and fight in this spiritual war. Our armour is made up of:

• The Belt of Truth
• The Breastplate of Righteousness
• The Shoes of The Gospel of Peace
• The Shield of Faith
• The Helmet of Salvation
• The Sword of the Spirit- God’s Word.

“When the enemy attacks:

“You will never get out of debt” Or,
“This situation will never change” Or,
“It will only get worse”

Put your shield of faith up, block and stop those negative, ungodly thoughts immediately! Then you start swinging your sword of God’s mighty word at the devil and say:

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to the cross and crucified them there” (Galatians 5:24, NLT).

The journey as a Christian is tough. We all have weak moments, but we must strive to keep strong, keep trying and keep fighting. When you don’t know what to do and you feel so lost, and your flesh is pulling you and old cravings are acting up, remember your armour and use it. Remember to engage in activities that help strengthen the spirit, and allow the Spirit to take control.