Walk by the Spirit
Yesterday I wrote about Paul praying for “fullness,” and I want to come back to that. When you read the book of Acts, the Spirit of God comes into people, and everything changes. The church booms, the miracles continue throughout the book, and the people of God lived spirit filled lives. As I look at the general condition of the church in America, I must ask, “what happened?”!
God has not ceased to operate like He did at Pentecost or throughout the book of Acts, but we have ceased to operate like the Church did throughout the book! Throughout the Bible, God mightily uses men and women, but unfortunately, in each case, they were among the few. I’d suggest something this morning…the problem is not with the Spirit of God, the problem is not with the Word of God, and it is not with the Church of God, if we are not operating in the fullness of God, the problem is with us.
In Galatians 5:1 we find the words, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” In verse 13 he says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
How do we walk in that freedom? How do we walk in the fullness of the Spirit? How do we experience the supernatural life God intends for us? Paul tells us with four verbs…I want to walk through each one this week and challenge you to pray for God to move accordingly.
The first verb is “walk.” “But I saw, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Verse 16 is stunning…walk by the Spirit and you won’t sin. The freedom of verses 1 and 13 deal with the radical break from sin as dominion, but as you know we’ve yet to experience a radical break from sin as presence. But in this world, where sin is rampant, we must learn to walk in the Spirit. That’s the whole Christian life in a nutshell…walk! Walk in the Spirit!!
The word simply means “to walk about.” As you walk about your life…walk in the Spirit. Every single moment of every single day you and I have a choice…walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit.
Will you pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you walk in Him today? Will you take whatever measures you must take throughout the next 24 hours to continually evaluate your current situation…flesh or Spirit? Walk in the Spirit and you won’t gratify the desires of the flesh.
God has not ceased to operate like He did at Pentecost or throughout the book of Acts, but we have ceased to operate like the Church did throughout the book! Throughout the Bible, God mightily uses men and women, but unfortunately, in each case, they were among the few. I’d suggest something this morning…the problem is not with the Spirit of God, the problem is not with the Word of God, and it is not with the Church of God, if we are not operating in the fullness of God, the problem is with us.
In Galatians 5:1 we find the words, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” In verse 13 he says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
How do we walk in that freedom? How do we walk in the fullness of the Spirit? How do we experience the supernatural life God intends for us? Paul tells us with four verbs…I want to walk through each one this week and challenge you to pray for God to move accordingly.
The first verb is “walk.” “But I saw, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Verse 16 is stunning…walk by the Spirit and you won’t sin. The freedom of verses 1 and 13 deal with the radical break from sin as dominion, but as you know we’ve yet to experience a radical break from sin as presence. But in this world, where sin is rampant, we must learn to walk in the Spirit. That’s the whole Christian life in a nutshell…walk! Walk in the Spirit!!
The word simply means “to walk about.” As you walk about your life…walk in the Spirit. Every single moment of every single day you and I have a choice…walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit.
Will you pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you walk in Him today? Will you take whatever measures you must take throughout the next 24 hours to continually evaluate your current situation…flesh or Spirit? Walk in the Spirit and you won’t gratify the desires of the flesh.
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