Being Spirit Filled



"This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)


"Walking in the Spirit is the only way to live the Christian life." That phrase is ingrained permanently in my memory. When I was a teenager at a Christian camp, my counselor had my cabin of girls practically chanting this phrase all week as we learned about the Holy Spirit in our daily devotions. (Okay, maybe not chanting like monks or anything, but we did say it quite a bit!) I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah, that's a good thought, but what does walking in the Spirit look like in my normal daily life?"

I was stumped. And I was waiting for a magical formula that would mysteriously show me what I should do in order to live this way. If I could do XYZ then, shazam! I would be walking in the Spirit! Little did I know that it's no magical formula I need to complete, but rather it's making daily choices that bring me close to God as I abide in Him.

Maybe you have been stumped on how to daily walk in the Spirit, maybe you are an old pro at it, or maybe it's something you've never really thought of. In any case, we all need a reminder on this subject because as I learned long ago, walking in the Spirit is the only way to live the Christian life!

Let's start by looking at the flip side of walking in the Spirit, which is walking in the flesh. When we walk in the flesh, we are living in a way that pleases self. This is living in a way where we give in to whatever cravings come or by satisfying whatever desires we have.

The Bible gives us a list of sins that come from walking in the flesh: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness [unbridled sensuality], idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance [disputing], emulations [jealousy], wrath, strife, seditions [revolt, division], heresies, envyings, murders, drunkeness, revellings [rioting], and such like..." (Galatians 5:19b-21a)

When we walk in the flesh, we are capable of falling into all the sins listed above. We are capable of becoming the worst version of ourselves. Satan tries to convince us that walking in the flesh is going to fulfill us, but it actually leads us to a life that is barren without Christ. Just think back to the last time you responded to a person or a situation in the flesh. You may have had immediate satisfaction, but I can bet it didn't last and you regretted it soon after. Am I right?

Instead of making us happy when we try to fulfill our flesh, it leaves us:

Empty
Worried
Fearful
Depressed
Anxious
Angry
Frustrated
Self-loathing
Full of despair
Void of hope
Doubtful
Trapped

When I experience life with these feelings, I know I am walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit. This list is opposite of what I should be feeling as a child of God. He doesn't want us living in the pit that our flesh can create. Instead, He wants to pull us from that miry clay and put our feet on a firm foundation and establish our path. (Psalm 40:2)

Have you seen areas of your life where any of these emotions feel like they are holding on and strangling the joy out of you? Living life with the flesh as our master will always lead to a deathlike grip on our hearts. Only when we admit to God we need help in overcoming whatever situation or mindset that has us feeling this way, can we get to a path where restoration is possible. And that pathway starts with walking in the Spirit.

Now that we know what the opposite of walking in the Spirit looks like, we can better see how to effectively live as God wants us to.

To walk in the Spirit, we must daily make the right choices of reading our Bible, praying, and seeking to please God in what we think, say, and do. When we walk in the Spirit, God enables us to be the best version of ourselves. Only then are we capable of being all He wants us to be and do all He wants us to do.

As we walk in the Spirit, we will be sensitive to our spiritual needs and also to the needs of those around us. Let the Holy Spirit do His work in you, and be willing to follow wherever He leads. The Holy Spirit's job is to help change us into the image of Christ and make us a reflection of Him.

Remember how earlier we came to the conclusion that walking in the flesh doesn't bring fulfillment? Well, the reverse of that is true for walking the Spirit! Walking in the Spirit fulfills us like nothing in this world can.

When we are walking in the Spirit, we are:

Capable of loving the unlovely, able to be patient and kind to others even when we normally wouldn't feel like it, able to say no to sin, faithful in our thought lives, able to experience lasting joy even in the midst of hard circumstances or long waits, able to be at peace with whatever comes our way, able to trust God even when trusting becomes hard, and so much more!

The apostle Paul gave us a list of things that should be a part of our life if we are walking the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." (Galatians 5:22-23a)

When I am experiencing life with the lasting fruits listed above, then I know that I am walking in the Spirit and not the flesh. God has set the example for how we should live through His Son, who exemplified all the fruits of the Spirit. We need to daily strive to be like Christ in all our thoughts and actions. Every day (every moment), we need to lay aside our flesh and walk in the Spirit as we renew our minds through God's Word.

Because walking in the Spirit is the only way to live the Christian life!


~ Tiffany ~

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