Chpt. 16 – Spirit v Flesh

Once we’re born again, the rest of the Christian life is learning to walk in the spirit. It’s letting what God has done through the new birth dominate you more than the physical, emotional realm. That’s really how simple the Christian life is!

Let who we are in Christ dominate instead. Perceive our spirit by faith in God’s Word! Jesus’ words are spirit and life (Jn. 6:63). And when we look into God’s Word, we’re looking into a spiritual mirror (Jms. 1:23-25). The only way to really know what is true about who we are in the spirit is by believing God’s Word. Shift from walking by sight (sense knowledge) to walking by faith (revelation knowledge) (2 Cor. 5:7). Start basing our thoughts, actions, and identity on who we are in Christ!

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV) “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

How do we walk in the Spirit? The Greek word “PERIPATEO,” translated “walk” here, means “to tread all around, i.e. walk at large…figuratively, to live, deport oneself, follow” (Strong’s Concordance). Paul was speaking of living by, conducting our actions according to, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

To walk by the spirit means being mindful of spiritual things – what God has said and is now saying, what God has done and is now doing. It is walking by faith (2 Cor. 5:7) as opposed to walking in the flesh. It’s trusting the Lord to lead and guide us (Pro. 3:5). Leaning on the Holy Spirit is how we learn to handle the responsibility of freedom and overcome our fear of failure. Fix your eyes on the Lord and we will never put a foot wrong.

We also walk by the spirit through living by, conducting our actions according to, and following the leading of the Word of God as quickened to us by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God agree perfectly because the Holy Spirit is the one who inspired the written Word of God (2 Pet. 1:21).
The Spirit is truth (1 John 5:6), and God’s Word is truth (John17:17). The Word of God is spirit and life (John 6:63). Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one (1 John 5:7), and Jesus was the Word of God made flesh (John 1:1-3 and 14).

When people walk according to the spirit of God’s Word, they are walking in the Spirit. Those who walk contrary to God’s Word are not in the Spirit.

“Contrary” means they’re “opposed enemies, adversaries.” This conflict between spirit and flesh is our true spiritual warfare! Each and every day of our life, the battle lies in whether we’ll be dominated by our flesh or our spirit. This is key because the Lord operates in the spirit realm, primarily through His Word.

The first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22). Galatians 5:13 tells us that the way to overcome the flesh is through love. Then Galatians 5:14 reveals that love keeps (fulfills) the Law. So, putting all of this together, we can say that being led of the Spirit is being led by love (not lust).

Not “Sinful Nature”

Romans 8:12-13 (NKJV) “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Since the Spirit is the life-giving part of us as described in the previous verse, then we should give priority to walking “after” the Spirit and not “after” the flesh. The flesh profits nothing. The words of Jesus are Spirit and they are life (John 6:63).

Romans 6:23 (NKJV) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Newness of Life

God now deals with us based on His grace! Not on our performance!

Romans 6:2 (NKJV) “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Our spirit is the part of us that’s dead to sin.

Romans 6:4 (NKJV) “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Manifesting newness of life is something that should happen. But it depends on how we renew our mind.

Romans 6:5-6 (NKJV) “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

Walking in resurrection life depends upon us “know this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth, we should not serve sin.” (Rom. 6:6)

“Old man” refers to the spirit we had prior to salvation. It’s our spirit realm that was dead (Eph. 2:1). Our old man no longer exists! It’s been crucified! It died! It’s been buried with Christ! Our old man died, and our new man is now who we are in the spirit!

Spooked!

God gives us a brand-new spirit and we become a new creation. That spirit is so united with Christ that there is actually no difference between your born-again spirit and the Spirit of Christ, which was sent into our heart! We literally became one with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). Our born-again spirit is identical to Jesus. The two of us have become one, making a brand new person! Then our spirit was sealed, surrounded, and encased by the Holy Spirit!

Romans 6:6 explains what we need to know to be free! Know and recognize that our old man was crucified with Him! Then, the body of sin has to be destroyed!

One Nature, Two Minds

When we were born again, our old sin nature left behind a body. The effects of our old man are still being felt through our physical body and unrenewed mind. Our natural mind was programmed to act like the child of the devil before receiving the Lord (Eph. 2:1-2) But NOW our heavenly Father has adopted us into His family and given us a brand-new, righteous nature. That’s why it’s critical that we renew our mind in God’s Word!

We only have one nature now! The NEW one!! But we do have two different minds — the unrenewed mind (flesh) and the mind of Christ (spirit). The key is to reprogram our physical mind to agree with our spiritual mind. Our spirit is ALWAYS for God, ALWAYS thinks on who we are in Christ, ALWAYS considers what we have in the Lord, and ALWAYS believes what we can do in Him! As we renew our natural mind to think like our spirit, we’ll experience the life and power of God within us!

Simple, But Not Easy

If we tapped into the spirit realm as a brand-new believer, only listened to who we are in Christ, and let the Holy Spirit instruct us without any negative outside influence, we would naturally start radiating and manifesting the life of God in our thoughts and actions! We will manifest the life of God from our spirit as we renew our mind in God’s Word! If we don’t renew our physical mind with God’s Word, our natural mind will go into auto pilot and take over. That why we must get into God’s Word and mix it with faith. Then we will be led by our spirit.

John 8:35-36 (NKJV) “And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Our heavenly Father will never cast us out of His family (Jn. 10:29). God will NEVER abandon us (Heb. 13:5), never forget us (Isa. 49:15). As an heir of God, our future is secure and blessed (Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7). Jesus has TRULY set us FREE!

Spirit = Spirit

What’s true of the Holy Spirit is also true of our born-again spirit because they are one! (1 Cor. 6:17) Walk in the spirit and we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

As we renew our mind, we will begin to see who we are in Christ manifest. Awesome!

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