> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://amemamem.com.br/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Burning Desires - URL: https://amemamem.com.br/en/burning-desires/ - Published: 2026-08-11T16:09:36.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-09T01:05:18.000Z - Description: We are trying to overcome the flesh by using the flesh itself. - Author: Airton Humber - Tags: #en, #de-desejos-ardentes ### When our strength cannot overcome the flesh Perhaps one of the most frustrating experiences in life is sincerely wanting to stop doing something, and discovering that we cannot. We promise that it will be the last time. We fail. We repent. We feel guilt. We make new promises. We create stricter rules. And, some time later, we fail again. Failure. Repentance. Condemnation. Guilt. Promise. Effort. New failure. This cycle can appear very clearly in addictions and compulsions, although their causes are complex and may also require medical and psychological care. But, to some extent, a similar struggle exists within all of us. The Bible speaks of inner forces that we can recognize as **desires of the flesh**. John speaks of **“the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of life”**. [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Jo%C3%A3o+2%3A16&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Perhaps we can call all of this, in very simple language: burning desires. They are desires that seem bigger than we are. And the Bible brings news that is unsettling at first: **our strength is not enough to overcome them.** ## When effort does not work Paul speaks of religious practices that seem extremely wise. Rules. Prohibitions. Severity toward one's own body. Asceticism. All of this can give the impression of discipline and spirituality. But he makes a surprising statement: **these things have no value at all against sensuality, in restraining the impulses of the flesh.** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossenses+2%3A23&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) This is very serious. Because our natural reaction to a desire we consider wrong is usually to increase control: “This time I will make it.” “I will discipline myself.” “I will create rules.” “I will resist.” “I will be stronger.” But Paul seems to be saying: **this does not solve the problem.** It can produce an appearance of wisdom. It can produce religious behavior. It can even restrain certain actions outwardly for some time. But it cannot resolve the strength of the desires of the flesh. And perhaps there is a very simple reason: We are trying to overcome the flesh by using the flesh itself. ## A struggle that is not ours? In Galatians, Paul describes the conflict in a way different from what we normally imagine: **“The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G%C3%A1latas+5%3A17&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Notice who is fighting. Paul does not say: **you against your flesh.** He says: **the flesh against the Spirit;** **the Spirit against the flesh.** And he adds: **so that you do not do what you want** This changes everything. Perhaps we have spent years trying to take on a fight we cannot win. And, every time we lose, the guilt comes: “I should have been stronger.” “I should have resisted.” “God must be disappointed in me.” “Now I will try even harder.” And the cycle starts again. But Paul presents another way: **walk by the Spirit.** It is not the flesh becoming strong enough to defeat the flesh. It is the Spirit opposing the flesh. ## This began very early The story of Eden already presents something similar. The woman sees that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining understanding. Desire. Eyes. And the ancient seduction: **“You will be like God.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G%C3%AAnesis+3%3A5-6&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Centuries later, John speaks of the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of life. The language is not identical, and we do not need to force a word-for-word equivalence. But the similarity is hard to ignore. The human problem does not seem to be simply a lack of information about right and wrong. Adam and Eve had a perfectly clear rule. And the rule was not enough to overcome desire. Perhaps that is precisely why God's solution is not simply to hand us **more rules**. ## The rest Jesus makes an invitation: **“Come to me.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mateus+11%3A28&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) And he adds: **“and I will give you rest.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mateus+11%3A28&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) In John 15 he uses another word: **“Remain in me.”** The branch does not receive an order to manufacture grapes. It remains in the vine. **“No branch can bear fruit by itself, \[…\] Neither can you bear fruit, unless you remain in me.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jo%C3%A3o+15%3A4-5&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) And he concludes: **“apart from me you can do nothing.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jo%C3%A3o+15%3A5&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Perhaps there is an immense freedom here. I do not need to produce by my own strength what only the life of God can produce in me. The author of Hebrews even uses an apparently contradictory expression: **“Let us make every effort to enter that rest…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebreus+4%3A11&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Perhaps one of our greatest efforts is precisely this: **to stop trusting in our own strength.** ## Present yourselves and be transformed Paul writes: **“Offer your bodies.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romanos+12%3A1&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) And right after: **“be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romanos+12%3A2&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) The word translated as “be transformed” is linked to the idea of **metamorphosis**. And there is a precious nuance: it can also be understood as emphasizing the action received: **“be transformed.”** In another letter, Paul uses the same verb and makes this even clearer: **“we are being transformed into his very image, with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor%C3%ADntios+3%3A18&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) I present myself. I remain. And I am transformed. I do not manufacture the transformation. ## The radiance of glory Here we come to something wonderful. The Bible says that the Son is: **“the radiance of glory and the exact expression of his Being…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebreus+1%3A3&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) The radiance makes perceptible the light we could not see. Christ makes the invisible God known. That is why Jesus can say: **“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jo%C3%A3o+14%3A9&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) And Paul reveals something extraordinary: **“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor%C3%ADntios+5%3A18&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) **“God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor%C3%ADntios+5%3A19&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) **“Therefore, we are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor%C3%ADntios+5%3A20&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) See the movement: **God was in Christ.** And now: **God acts through us.** How is this possible? Perhaps here is the treasure that remained hidden for generations. ## Christ in us Paul speaks of a mystery that was hidden for ages and generations and has now been revealed. And he sums up this mystery in very few words: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossenses+1%3A26-27&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Christ in Jesus. And now: **Christ being formed in us.** **“My children, again I am suffering the pains of childbirth for you, until Christ is formed in you.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G%C3%A1latas+4%3A19&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) It is not simply learning to imitate Jesus outwardly. It is transformation. It is metamorphosis. It is the Spirit accomplishing in us what our strength could never produce. ## The fruit This perhaps explains a very beautiful choice in Paul's words. He speaks of the: **works of the flesh.** But, when he comes to the Spirit, he does not speak of the “works of the Spirit.” He says: **“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G%C3%A1latas+5%3A22-23&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) Fruit. The branch does not manufacture fruit. The branch remains. Life produces. And Jesus says: **“My Father is glorified by your bearing much fruit…”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jo%C3%A3o+15%3A8&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) The Father is the gardener. Christ is the vine. We are the branches. The Spirit produces life in us. And the fruit appears. ## There is no more condemnation Perhaps now we can finally break that cycle: failure → repentance → condemnation → guilt → effort → new failure. Because Paul announces: **“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romanos+8%3A1&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) We do not need condemnation to produce transformation. We do not need guilt to produce holiness. We do not need to become stronger than our burning desires. We need to recognize our inability and stop trying to do what belongs to the Spirit. **The Spirit fights against the flesh.** Our part? To present ourselves. To remain. To walk by the Spirit. Not to quench the Spirit. And to rest. Because, in the end, Paul offers us perhaps the simplest explanation of all: **“It is God who works in you both to will and to do.”** [↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Filipenses+2%3A13&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) **Everything comes from God.** And then we begin to understand the mystery: **Christ in us.** Not only Christ before us. Not only Christ as someone we try to imitate. **Christ being formed in us.** The radiance of God's glory beginning to appear in children who are being transformed into the same image. Not by the strength of the flesh. **By the Spirit.** And, for this reason, we can finally rest from that endless attempt to transform ourselves. Christ in us, the hope of glory. **Hallelujah!** --- ## To keep reflecting [📖 Colossians 2:20–23 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossenses+2%3A20-23&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Galatians 5:16–25 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G%C3%A1latas+5%3A16-25&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 1 John 2:15–17 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Jo%C3%A3o+2%3A15-17&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 John 15:1–8 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jo%C3%A3o+15%3A1-8&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Matthew 11:28–30 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mateus+11%3A28-30&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Hebrews 4:9–11 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebreus+4%3A9-11&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Romans 12:1–2 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romanos+12%3A1-2&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 2 Corinthians 3:17–18 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor%C3%ADntios+3%3A17-18&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 2 Corinthians 5:18–20 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Cor%C3%ADntios+5%3A18-20&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Galatians 4:19 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G%C3%A1latas+4%3A19&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Colossians 1:26–27 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossenses+1%3A26-27&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Romans 8:1–14 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romanos+8%3A1-14&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [📖 Philippians 2:13 ↗](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Filipenses+2%3A13&version=NVI-PT&ref=amemamem.com.br) [Back to the top](#topo-desejos-ardentes)