I was recently reminded by God of something first hand. How to walk in the Spirit instead of doing the Adam struggle, walking in the flesh.

I have been staying with a close friend for a while, in very tight quarters, trying to help him out. When I step into the flesh, I can get frustrated with him. Then I can have moments of grumbling and complaining in my head about things he does. Satan also tosses in all kinds of suspicion and off the wall stuff about his motives. If Satan can tempt me to think along those lines, that slope gets slippery quick and I start moving faster and faster in the wrong direction. This negative line of thinking feeds the flesh and the flesh will take over a Christians life when given any opportunity.

It had been about a day and I could see it happening. Flirting with negative and suspicious thoughts in my head about my friend had a tremendous amount to do with it. I even got short with my best friend, my dog, which I very seldom do. Sadly, at that moment, my little loving dog did not even look like my best friend. Following the negative and suspicious thoughts led me more and more into the flesh where I found myself doing the Adam struggle, exactly what Satan wanted. My flesh loves being the center of attention and the more time I allow my flesh to rule, the further I dive into the flesh. Everything looks different in the flesh, not in a good way. The works of the flesh include selfishness, frustration, impatience, worry, fear, doubt, pride, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions and more. If I see any of these surfacing in my day, I know I have veered off into the flesh and need to correct my thinking. There is no selfless love in the flesh.

Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant letter of the law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross.