“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 would.” Galatians 5:17
The “lust of the flesh” in Galatians 5:16 refers specifically to the lust to bite and devour others (v. 15). These lusts are desires to strike out at someone by speaking in a way that would cut and hurt. They are feelings of being extremely unhappy with others. These desires manifest themselves in all of us from time to time. Paul says that the way to deal with them is to walk by the Spirit. Notice, however, that in walking by the Spirit he says that you shall not fulfill or carry out the lust of the flesh. We usually understand this to mean that you will not have the lust of the flesh; that is, you will not feel any negative reactions within your being. In other words, we think that if we are really walking by the Spirit, we will not be bothered by the slightest problem.
Many of us have the concept that to be in the Spirit means to experience a total absence of anything contrary within us. According to our thought, to be in the Spirit is to soar like a bird, without any opposing factor. Thus, if we still have contrary feelings and reactions while contacting the Lord, we conclude that our fellowship with Him must be defective. We reason that if we had really touched the Lord or were really in our spirit, we would not have any ugly thoughts or feelings. This kind of thinking ends in accusation and discouragement, and frustrates us from the full enjoyment of the Lord.
Contrary to what we think, Paul says that to walk by the Spirit means that we do not carry out or fulfill the lust of the flesh. This implies that we may feel the lust of the flesh while we are in the process of following the Lord. The key point is not that we do not have the lust of the flesh, but rather that we would not fulfill it. Therefore, the basic need in our experience of Christ is to remain continually in the realm of the Spirit so that we automatically deprive the flesh of its power over us and consequently do not carry out its lusts.