“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. . . . For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.   

“I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”                  Romans 7:15, 22-23

“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”                                                                                             James 4:7-8

“Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.”                                                     Psalm 86:11

What is the answer to this universal human problem of a heart that is divided between heaven and earth?  Between the kingdoms of God and the Prince of This World?

1.  Feed the new creation, and starve the old.  “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”       Ephesians 4:22-24     “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”    Romans 13:14

2.  Walk according to the Spirit.  “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son . . . .  Do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”        Romans 8:2-4

3.  Let Christ live through you.  “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, butChrist lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”    Galatians 2:20

4.  Set your mind on the things above.  “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”                          Colossians 3:1-3