The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-12-31

| tuetu ltdt sIH6 Jn1HS That must De over
| come first is the natural man and the
desires of the flesh.
THE Conflict is the duty OF
! an army when at war to discover
the enemy, and when discovered to en-
gage the foe IN battle To refuse to
give battle is traitoroAs and invites dis
aster. It means that the foe will die
tate terms and bring the cowardly army
| into subsection. The Soul must give
battle to the forces which would cur
| tail its liberties and bring it into subs
| lection. 1t need not know defeat. It
may have glorious victory in Christ
Jesus if it will fight in His name and
with His strength. How strong the
| will Of the flesh and the desires ct the
flesh are can only be realized as one
struggles against them, and seeks to
overcome them. The Christian who
knows no struggle in his inner life, who
makes no fight against the flesh. with
its appetites and lusts, is living On a
very low plane. The Soul is being
ruled by Self. God demands differ
ent attitude and condition from His
children. we must fight, if we would
reign" Conflict is the order Of life
for the Christian He cannot escape it.
From the moment that he accepts Jesus
Christ as Saviour from sin, he must
fight against sin in its manifold forms
within and without Paul in our text
is not preaching a doctrine of aseeti-
cism. He does not mean to imply that
every JOY and pleasure which can be
experienced il this life are sinful. He
does not mean that the Christian is to
be gloomy, and to froWn upon every
good thing in life. He does not mean
this, for there is no good thing which
God would withhold from His children,
but he does mean that Self should not
rule, that a higher desire and purpose
should rule the life than the mere feshly
desires and appetites. 1t must no
longer be what ! want. but what
God wants for me. This brings the
strife. Here is where the conflict be-
gins. 1t is the flesh warning against this
Spirit. and the Spirit against the flesh.
THE Victory and Reward.-The secret
L OF victory is revealed in the open
ING words of our text. The declara-
fion that the flesh iasteth against the
Spirit. and the Spirit against the flesh,
is preceded by the wise admonition to
walk il the Spirit" followed by the
blessed assurance that if We do, we
shall not fulfill the lust Of the flesh
The Soul is to look to the Spirit for
leadership, instead of Self. One of the
wise general who knows how to lead
his army so as to avoid all the am
buscades and pitfalls Of the enemy,
and to select the vantage ground from
which to give battle The Spirit viii
lead unerringIy. He knows the pit
falls. the dangers which Turk on every
hand, and it is only as the Christian
seeks to walk in the Spirit that he can
hone to escape disaster and deseat. The
victory is more than half won when
we are marching obediently by the side
of our Saviour. When we 60 our own
way. when temptation leads us into the
byways OF sinful desire, then are we
almost sure to fail before the enemy.
We become an easy prey to the desires
Of the flesh Self has his wy. and
the Soul is brought into subsection
But ours may be victory, If we will
walk IN the Spirit" if We through
the Spirit will mortify the deeds OF the
body And the reward is worth the
conflict The seven-fold reward may
be ours as promised in the second ane
third chapters OF Revelation, ending in
the grand climax: He that oyereom-
eth / will give to him to sit down with
Me in MY throne. as I also oFereame.
and sat down with My Father in His
Throne"