Summary: Are we living by the Holy Spirit's power, or are we living by the control of the flesh?

We all have sinful desires (flesh), but in order to follow the Holy Spirit, we must deal with these issues. We cannot ignore them. The spontaneous works of the Holy Spirit is fruit. We cannot get them unless we allow Christ to work in us through the Holy Spirit.

In verses 16-18:

Paul depicts the powers at work inside us, the Holy Spirit, and the evil tendencies. The Holy Spirit is of course stronger, yet we are frail. If we are left to our own knowledge, we will settle on inappropriate decisions. If we attempt to stroll in the Spirit by our own human exertion, we will come up short. The best approach to freedom from our human wants is through the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

Being driven by the Holy Spirit includes the longing to hear, the willingness to comply with God's Word, and the capacity to observe between your emotions and God's promptings. At the point when we live every day guided by the Holy Spirit, that is when the expressions of Christ will be in our hearts and minds. The love for Christ will appear in our activities and the intensity of Christ will assist with controlling ourselves from common wants (Colossians 3:3-8; Ephesians 4:23-24).

• Romans 6:12, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

• Romans 8:9, But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

In verses 19-21:

We have regular wants, and we cannot overlook them. With the goal for us to follow the Holy Spirit's direction, we should manage them unequivocally (Galatians 5:24). These wants incorporate clear sins, for example, black magic and extramarital perversion, and more subtle ones, for example, desire, outrage, and jealousy. The individuals who disregard such sins or decline to manage them uncover that they have not gotten the gift of faith that prompts a changed life.

Works of the flesh:

• Adultery

• Fornication

• Uncleanness (morally/spiritually impure)

• Lasciviousness (lewd, lustful)

• Idolatry

• Witchcraft (irresistible influence)

• Hatred

• Variance (disagreement, discord)

• Emulations

• Wrath (strong anger)

• Strife

• Seditions (resistance to authority)

• Heresies

• Envying’s

• Murders

• Drunkenness

• Reveling (wild partying)

• Romans 13:12-13, The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

• 1 Corinthians 6:9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

• Ephesians 5:5, For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

In verses 22-23:

The fruit of the Spirit is the unconstrained work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Spirit creates these characteristics which are found in Christ. They are the side-effects of Christ's controlling our lives. We cannot get them by attempting to acquire them. For the fruit of the Spirit to develop in us, we should get our lives together with Christ. We should know Him, love Him, and endeavor to resemble Him. The outcome will be that we will satisfy the expected purpose behind the Law, cherishing God, and man.

Since God sent the Law, He likewise sent the Spirit. The consequences of a Spirit filled life are in concordance with the plan of God's Law. An individual who is wealthy in the fruit of the Spirit satisfies the Law obviously better than an individual who watches the customs yet has little love in his heart. Which of these characteristics do we want the Spirit to create in us?

Fruit of the Spirit:

• Love

• Joy

• Peace

• Longsuffering (patience)

• Gentleness (mildness of manner)

• Goodness

• Faith

• Meekness (enduring without resentment)

• Temperance (self-control)

• James 3:17, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

• John 15:4-5, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

In verses 24-26:

To acknowledge Christ as our Savior, we must abandon our wrongdoings and readily nail them to the cross. That does not imply that we will never observe those wants again, because Christians, despite everything, still could sin. Be that as it may, we have been liberated from the power of sin and we no longer need to surrender to it. We should day by day submit our corrupt wants to God's control and consistently draw on the Holy Spirit's capacity to defeat them (Galatians 2:20; 6:14).

God is keen on all parts of our lives, not simply the spiritual aspect. As we live by the Holy Spirit's capacity, we must present each part of our lives to God, that includes the emotional, social, professional, physical, and intellectual parts of our lives. The Holy Spirit is the wellspring of our new life, so we ought to stroll with Him.

We need a specific measure of endorsement from others. The individuals who make a special effort to make sure about distinctions or to win ubiquity with others show that they are not following the Holy Spirit. People who seek God for endorsement will not have to look for it from others. As children of God, we have His Holy Spirit as the assurance of His endorsement (Galatians 5:16; Philippians 2:3).

• Romans 6:6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

• Romans 6:13, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

• Romans 8:5, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

We should set ourselves vigorously to mortify the deeds and desires of the flesh, and to stroll in our new life. Not being covetous of vain-greatness, or unduly wanting for the regard and adulation of men, not inciting or begrudging each other, yet looking to deliver all the more plentifully the good fruits of the Spirit, which are, through Jesus Christ, to the acclaim and wonder of God.