A Word from Sanmi Dawodu

If you're searching for how to overcome the flesh, you're not alone. Every sincere believer feels the pull of what Paul called "the deeds of the body" — and the Bible gives a clear, Spirit-empowered pathway to genuine, lasting victory.

We open Week Three — Victory Over Temptation — at the battlefield that every believer knows intimately: the war of the flesh. This is not a distant, theological conflict. It is the most immediate, most personal, most daily war of the Christian life — the tension Paul describes with brutal honesty in Romans 7: 'For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.' Every believer who has ever resolved to do better and failed within hours of the resolution knows exactly what Paul is describing.

Week Two gave us fire, renewal, infilling, and new beginnings. Now the battle begins in earnest — because renewal without the ability to sustain it under pressure is incomplete. The flesh did not retire because we experienced revival. The world did not become less seductive because we received fresh fire. The enemy did not relent because we prayed with greater depth. The renewed believer entering Week Three must be equipped not only to be filled but to fight — and to win.

What Is "the Flesh" in the Bible? (The Biblical Definition)

The Greek word sarx — translated "flesh" — does not simply mean the physical body. It refers to the whole human personality organised around self rather than God: every appetite, impulse, and instinct that operates independently of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:5-8 describes the mind of the flesh as "death" — not because it is incurably evil, but because it is cut off from the Source of life.

Week 3 begins where Week 2's renewal pointed: toward victory. After cleansing (Week 1) and renewal (Week 2), the Spirit-filled believer now faces the ongoing battle against the flesh. See Day 11: How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit Daily for the resource that powers this victory. Continue daily through the 40 Days of Prayer series.

The Biblical Definition of the Flesh: More Than the Physical Body

The word 'flesh' — 'sarx' in Greek — is one of the most theologically rich and contextually variable words in the New Testament. In some contexts it refers simply to the physical body (John 1:14 — 'the Word became flesh'). But in Paul's letters, particularly Romans and Galatians, 'flesh' describes something far more sinister: the entire complex of fallen human nature — the self-centred, God-independent orientation of the unredeemed self that persists in the believer even after regeneration.

The flesh is not the body itself — physical matter is not inherently evil. The flesh is the body's appetites and drives functioning independently of God, governed by self rather than Spirit. It is what remains of the old nature — the spiritual residue of life before Christ — that has been crucified positionally (Galatians 2:20) but must be mortified practically on a daily basis. Romans 6:6 declares: 'knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him.' Yet Romans 8:13 commands the ongoing mortification of the flesh's deeds. Both are true simultaneously — the legal verdict and the daily reality.

The 15 Works of the Flesh: Naming What Needs to Die

Galatians 5:19-21 provides Paul's catalogue of the flesh's output — and it is comprehensive enough to expose every category of human sinfulness. He lists seventeen specific 'works of the flesh': adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, and revelries.

Notice that this list is not only a catalogue of obviously carnal sins. It includes relational sins (hatred, contentions, dissensions) and religious sins (idolatry, heresies, selfish ambitions) alongside the more obviously physical ones. The flesh operates in every dimension of human life — not just in the bedroom or the bar, but in the boardroom, the prayer meeting, the theological debate, and the church leadership team. The flesh is always recognizable by one consistent marker: it produces death, division, and distance from God.

⚔️ The Flesh vs. the Spirit: Galatians 5:17 states the fundamental conflict: 'For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.' These two forces are not compatible, not negotiable, and not capable of peaceful coexistence. There is no compromise position. The Spirit and the flesh are at permanent, irreconcilable war.

Mortification: The Daily Death That Produces Life

Romans 8:13 gives us the only effective strategy against the flesh: 'if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.' The word 'put to death' — 'thanatoō' — is a present active verb: continuously, actively putting to death. Not a single dramatic act of surrender at an altar (though that may be where it begins) but a daily, moment-by-moment, Spirit-powered execution of the flesh's impulses before they take hold.

John Owen — the great Puritan theologian of sin and mortification — wrote one of the most important sentences in all of Christian literature: 'Be killing sin or it will be killing you.' Sin does not stand still. Untreated, unmortified flesh grows stronger, not weaker. Every time a sinful impulse is indulged rather than mortified, the flesh grows a little stronger in that area. Every time it is resisted by the Spirit's power, it grows a little weaker. The believer who does not mortify the flesh daily will find themselves increasingly enslaved to it over time.

Walking in the Spirit: The Positive Side of the Battle

Galatians 5:16 gives us the positive dimension of the same truth: 'Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.' Note the logic: it does not say 'resist the flesh and then you will walk in the Spirit.' It says walk in the Spirit, and as a consequence, the flesh will not be fulfilled. The primary strategy against the flesh is not direct combat with sin but the active, conscious, deliberate filling of the life with the Holy Spirit.

This is the principle of displacement. A bucket full of water cannot also be full of sand. A life genuinely full of the Spirit — in prayer, in the Word, in worship, in community, in obedience — leaves little room for the flesh to operate. The greatest protection against fleshly sin is not a longer list of rules but a deeper life in the Spirit. This is why the disciplines of Week Two — fire, hunger, revival, infilling, sensitivity, prayer — are not separate from the battle of Week Three. They are its most powerful weapons.

Make No Provision: Cutting Off the Flesh's Supply Lines

Romans 13:14 adds a crucial tactical dimension: 'make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.' The word 'provision' — 'pronoia' — means forethought, premeditation, advance planning. Do not think ahead of time about how to satisfy the flesh. Do not create the conditions under which the flesh can operate. Do not put yourself in the environment, with the people, in front of the screen, or in the circumstance where the flesh has historically won.

Joseph's response to Potiphar's wife is the biblical model: 'he fled and got outside' (Genesis 39:12). He did not engage the temptation, debate it, or negotiate with it. He ran. Flee from the provision. Remove from your life the specific sources of supply that your particular flesh-pattern depends on. Every believer knows exactly what their flesh needs to be activated — and every believer can make deliberate choices to deny it that supply.

What Replaces the Works of the Flesh: The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 describes the natural output of a Spirit-governed life: 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.' Notice that Paul calls it 'fruit' — singular. Not 'fruits.' The nine qualities listed are not nine separate fruits but nine dimensions of one integrated fruit — the character of Christ formed in the believer through the ministry of the Spirit.

Also notice that self-control — 'egkrateia' in Greek, literally the mastery of oneself — is the final dimension of the Spirit's fruit. Self-control is not generated by willpower. It is produced by the Spirit. The believer who tries to develop self-control through discipline alone will exhaust themselves and ultimately fail. The believer who is filled with the Spirit receives self-control as a byproduct of that filling. Victory over the flesh is not achieved by becoming stronger — it is achieved by becoming more fully surrendered to the One who is infinitely stronger.

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Altar Call: How to Put to Death the Deeds of the Body

Day 15 of Week 3 calls you forward — not into intellectual agreement with what you have read, but into actual surrender. Overcoming The Flesh is not a topic to study; it is an invitation to receive.

The flesh has been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). You are not fighting for victory — you are fighting from it. Tomorrow in Day 16: Power Over Lust, we take the battle into the most contested territory of all.

Receive what God has been speaking to you today. Pray the prayer below from your heart.

A Prayer for Overcoming The Flesh