By Marni Montanez
Galatians 5:16 New King James Version
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Walking in the Spirit is a lifelong challenge. It requires continual denial of self and a desire to be closer to God. That desire must supersede anything else in our lives and must measure above and beyond all that we pursue.
There is an internal struggle within us between our spirit and flesh and it takes discipline and determination to break through.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
The bible has many references on how to achieve victory over our flesh. These instructions involve dying to self which is our carnal nature. In the Greek our carnal nature refers to our flesh or earthly and material things. Our walk in Christ is a daily participation in turning toward everything the flesh denies; forgiveness, restraint of fleshly desires, and fellowship with God. New and carnal Christians find this difficult because of immaturity.
God grows us up in the struggles we go through. Many Christians today allow their emotions to dictate their decisions. When they feel good their faith is strong and they move ahead in obedience, but when they are feeling down and discouraged, they waver in doubt. It is unwise to make decisions based on emotions. Our decisions must come from a place of faith and obedience. Emotions are not wrong in and of themselves. God created them. But if we base our decisions upon feelings we are lacking in wisdom and sound judgment.
All our decisions must be based on the wisdom of God; whether from the bible or from hearing the Holy Spirit. We need to hear God’s voice in His word and in our spirit.
God wants to communicate His heart to us and if we are not listening we will eventually move into territory that is forbidden.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Our ability to keep our minds on things above draws us closer to God. Our thoughts can also move us away from Him. That’s why it’s important to take our thoughts captive to God.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We must fill our thought life with God’s word. It is a truth that will shape and mature us. We need to know what God says to and about us and lean on this understanding in order to walk steady and balanced. Our flesh or carnal nature dies daily and we must let it die. The Lord gives us the tools we need to be successful in our spirit life. Be guided by the Holy Spirit not by your flesh.
Challenge: Keep focused on God...wait and listen and allow God to reveal Himself to you.
God bless,
Marni
Go on to: Galatians 5:17 Spirit and Flesh
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The
purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate,
and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through
Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord
require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your
God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or
crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the
standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for
the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not
Christian.