What does it mean to Walk by the Spirit?
Is it possible to be walking by another spirit?
Hmmmmm. Would you consider that you walk by another spirit other than the Holy Spirit?
Galatians 5:16 & 25 (King James Version)
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
The key is learning to walk in the Spirit and that is only done when you live in the Spirit. Can't do either without the other. You can't walk in the Spirit if you are not living in the Spirit and you cannot live in the Spirit without walking in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV) "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;"
I simply love this verse. Why? Because it tells me that I am already filled with His Spirit. And I can live in or by the Holy Spirit and thus can exercise that reality by walking in the Spirit. And if I choose to walk in the Spirit, I will not do the things that are considered sinful. How in the world is that possible? Well, that is the key...not in the world but of the Spirit. If we choose to abide in the things of the world then we simply cannot walk in the Spirit, because have chosen to not be led by the Spirit.
What helps us is the knowledge that the Spirit lives within us and that we can draw on that wonderous experience of being redeemed not only to experience a Heavenly bliss in the future but spiritual intervention that gives us the power to live victorious lives.
Read Chapter five of Galatians and pay close attention to verses 19-24. The answer is right there. Which will you walk in?
3 comments:
This is some good stuff. Tough to swallow at times, the concept that we are not our own. I've thought about that a lot lately as I've been faced with decisions and then just evaluating how I'm living in general. I am not my own. So I should live as directed by God. But how does that direction present itself? Do I ignore my own passions and desires to give up myself, or do I recognize that God has placed them there for a reason and that my life can glorify His by becoming more of who He made me? And if I am intent on becoming more of who He made me, yet I know He made me in His image, am I all the while striving to become more like Him? Living and walking in His spirit?
Sarah, good thoughts. I think that the key is finding out if our passions, etc are of God. There are good and great things to attach one's self to and still not be of God's directive for you or I. The key is being intuned with God through living a life that is in Him and not about Him...
I love that. "In Him and not about Him." Yes, I totally agree. And that is probably why it's hard to decipher which gifts/interests are from Him. But yes. Love the way you said that.
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