How to Break Free When Willpower Isn't Enough

You have tried to stop. You made the promise, joined the group, gritted your teeth, and the thing you hate still has its hand on your shoulder. Galatians 5 offers a different path to freedom, and that path does not run through willpower. It runs through walking with the Spirit of God, one step at a time.

Paul's picture is intimacy. We are hand in hand, walking along with the Spirit of God. And when we are walking hand in hand with the Spirit of God, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The word Paul chooses for "walk" matters. The Greek peripateō carries the idea of walking literally one foot in front of the other. That concept of one foot in front of the other means I am being led one day, one step, one inch at a time by the Spirit of God. Not one dramatic breakthrough. One step, then the next one.

Why Willpower Never Gets It Done

Here is the reality we walk in. Many times we want to walk with the Spirit of God and still do what we want. That is a danger, a danger that comes for all of us as long as we are in this body.

But it does not have to be that way. We can escape it. We can flee it. We can break free from it. Not through willpower, which will never get it done. Not through promises. Not through accountability groups. There is nothing wrong with any of those things. But the only way you are going to be able to stop gratifying the desires of the flesh is to walk with the Spirit.

Inviting the Spirit into your life means living in His power. Say it this way: Spirit-filled living empowers my life in the right direction.

The Warning Paul Drives Into the Ground

In Galatians 5:17, Paul drives a stake into the ground with a warning sign on it. "The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

So, you can walk with the Spirit, but you do not have to. And if you do not walk with the Spirit, here is what it is going to look like.

Paul keeps going. "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalry, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like this. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

In John 10:10, Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. What you just read is steal, kill, and destroy lived out.

Three Ways the Flesh Wrecks a Life

Paul groups that list into three units. There are the sensual sins: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, drunkenness, and orgies. There are the superstitious sins: idolatry and witchcraft. And there are the social sins: hatred, enmity, heresy, strife, anger, dissensions, and divisions.

All of them might have different expressions and different ways of doing their damage, but all of them will destroy us.

Those of us who have walked with the Lord know these things will lead us to destruction. We know to avoid them. We know. But I want to call you out on this, and call myself out too, because we live in an age, in a time, when people are told that these things are not so bad, that they are just misunderstood.

Has God Given Up on Me?

We also live in an age that says if you have been involved in any of these, God has no use for you. Let me pause and talk about that for a minute.

Let us say you are caught up in sexual immorality right now. Let us say you are caught up in drunkenness. Let us say you are caught up in witchcraft. The good news for you today is that Jesus still loves you and longs for you to call on His name today. The gospel is meant to transform you.

Embrace this much. Jesus did not die for the people who have it all together. He died for the people who do not.

I will not ask you to raise your hand if you have it all together, because the truth is, none of us should. Every one of us has work to do. There are still things yet to be transformed in our lives. What has hold of you may not be expressly stated on any of these lists. But there is a solution, and it is common to all of them.

The Crucified Life

The solution is the crucified life. Write a note to yourself to go back and read Galatians 2:20 right at this point. "I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

That, friends, is the crucified life. It means laying down my life for the cause of Christ. It means walking away from the brokenness of my previous choices in order that I might find fullness. It means acknowledging that there are some things that will steal, kill, and destroy me, and other things that will transform me.

I can choose the things that harm me. It is within my reach. But it is not a great idea. Those things will harm me. They will wreck my life and they will leave me broken, a shell of who I was meant to be.

Is It Too Late for Me?

You might say you are 99 years old and that is too late for you. As long as you can hear these words, it is not too late for you.

You can choose the crucified life right now. And when you do, and I hope you will, then you can expect Spirit-filled living revealed.

Where to Go From Here

Breaking free is not a project you complete by trying harder. It is a walk you take, one foot in front of the other, hand in hand with the Spirit of God. Willpower will not get it done. Promises will not get it done. Walking with the Spirit will.

So, start today. Read Galatians 5:16-21 and Galatians 2:20 slowly. Name the thing you have been trying to beat on your own. Then hand it to Christ, who loved you and gave Himself for you, and take the next single step with Him.