In a recent episode of Taylor Welch’s The Deep End, Welch laid out a striking claim: every believer is governed by one of two operating systems — the flesh or the Spirit. “There’s only two operating systems,” he says. “One leads to death and one leads to life… You’re either run by the flesh, or you’re run by the Spirit. You’re never run by both.”
The Flesh: Fear, Survival and Self-Limiting Identity
Welch describes the flesh not merely as sinful behavior but as a framework of survival. Human nature leads us to calculate life in terms of fear and self-preservation. As Welch observes, “The flesh will kick you to the past every single time because the flesh determines possibility based on experience.”
Two primal fears fuel this operating system: “We fear as a human species two things, and those two things rule us all. The first is physical death. The second is being alone.”
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These fears are not always conscious, but they govern decisions, relationships and even spiritual obedience. The flesh system is obsessed with image, validation and avoiding exposure. Under its influence, believers often self-limit, self-sabotage or shrink back to avoid the pain of being seen.
Welch warns this is how many Christians get stuck in cycles of ceilinged potential, noting that self-sabotage “is typically when it’s like self-betrayal… rooted in self-limiting beliefs.” In other words, the believer becomes their own Pharaoh long before Egypt ever shows up.
The Spirit: Alignment, Obedience and New Identity
By contrast, the Spirit’s operating system consults heaven rather than history. It isn’t transactional or moralistic but relational and revelatory.
Romans 8:5 becomes the framework: those who live according to the Spirit set their mind on the things of the Spirit. This is instinct, not merely intellect. Welch confesses that no one escapes this by willpower alone: “If there was one person who I would put all my money on to negotiate this… it would have been me, but I was not able to do it.” The instincts must be retrained by the Spirit, not by self-effort.
The Middle Ground Where Many Believers Break
Most Christians live in what the hosts call “the middle” — the space between old identity and new assignment. It is a zone marked by grief, exposure and internal war. “You’re not quite out of the old identity… and you’re not sustained or formidable in the new season,” he observes. Without grieving the old season, believers never surrender it; without surrender, they never graduate into calling.
The Outcome: Jesus as the Operating System Himself
The solution is not to try harder but to switch systems entirely. Scripture, identity and obedience reprogram the believer from heaven downward. As Welch summarizes: “It is not the devil angel on your left shoulder… It’s operating systems.”
Ultimately, we can either believe what God says about us and the plans and purposes He has for our lives, or we can be stuck in the past.
The choice is ours. How will you choose?
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the upcoming book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment.
