Walking According to the Spirit is not Optional
Anyone who is born again has been given a new faculty whereby he/she may know God, hear His voice from within, be led and empowered by Him, and it is essential this, your spirit, be catered to.
This made-alive spirit, united as one with Jesus Christ’s Spirit, is who God addresses when He gives commands, instructions, comforts, and all communications from the Bible. God is dealing with us as new creatures, and to cultivate this reality from Day One of coming to Christ is God’s will, and there is no life outside of it.
Eph 2:1-6 – And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
God distinguishes this “new man” from the “old man” who also is along for the ride, and stands to encumber our existence. The good news is He has said we have all power to dwell in the new man, speak and act from the new man, think from the new man made alive, as the old man is crucified (Rom 6) and need not rise his ugly head out of the grave in which God buried Him.
This is walking according to the spirit. Do you know this as a living experience? Consistently?
It is a command to all who name the name of Christ to walk in the Spirit; it’s not something we get to later.
Gal 5:16,17 – I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
God’s commands are to bring life, and that more abundant. They are not optional. While we have grace, it serves no one to “sin that grace may abound,” and life depends upon you ensuring you know what the Word of God says so as to accept no lower standard.
Earmarks of the spirit are a sensitivity, discernment, ears to hear truth, and of course all the fruit of the Spirit which are not a comprehensive list.
Gal 5:22-25 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Upon being baptized with the Holy Spirit – assuming they even are – people are awakened spiritually to the existence of a spiritual realm, and that we are spiritual beings in bodies of flesh. This is God’s estimate of things, and there is no other way. While we have a mind, the mind is there to augment the spirit.
The sad thing is so very many in Western civilization have been taught a form of “Christianity” that does not see them enter God’s rest (Heb 4), or experience the baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit.
The crazy thing is some people may think that all is fine, that the life they live is the Christian life, but it may be a sub-level and they are oblivious.
An emphasis on head knowledge is too often the case, and the deception can be so insidious as people may content themselves that because they learn things from the Bible they think they are doing spiritual things, but their experience may be partly or entirely of the flesh, not spirit.
All Bible knowledge, preaching, teaching, and learning are to simply train the person, but central in all is the new spirit which is united with God. A Christian is to know God with his/her spirit, not with mind apart from the spirit.
Sound teaching is to ensure one is not in error or following deception, and to enable the whole person to follow God, but the central operating system is to be the spirit.
It is your depths God is dealing with. Do you have a heart for that? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
From the day we are born again, God says our full inheritance is granted, but so many remain as babes, or carnal (1 Cor 3). An over-weighted emphasis of training the brain makes for head strong Christians who may be lulled into thinking that because they comprehend truths, even deep spiritual ones, that they now possess them.
At best, some do only in theory, but you only really know what you can apply.
The fruit of what you truly are and know is evident, and if they are not in line with what the Bible says, you need to go to God and ask where you’re missing it. Know He is there waiting for you, and He is willing and able to deliver you, and give you the answer.
The “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” was understood from the beginning to mean the mission is conformity to Christ – individually and corporately. In this, people would be transformed from the inside out, and God would get great glory from the testimony of “living epistles” who transcend the earthly bounds of a sin nature.
Understand this is God’s will for you, His true Spirit always reinforces His unchanging will, and if it is really the Spirit guiding you, He won’t contradict it.
Do you want all of God? He wants all of you. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for His sheep, it is written, and He is ever ready to make you spiritual for to this you are called.
Nothing else is full Christianity. Everyone ought to major on it, and it ought to be taught and sought and we test by fruit. What manner of spirit are you of? That is the test.
Believe God. He is almighty. He is right there.
