Because He is our Guide, we should walk with Spirit. This daily devotional looks at how we walk to be victorious over our sinful nature.
Nuggets
- Walking by the Spirit focuses us on God.
- The flesh and the Spirit battle for control of us.
- We strive to have daily and ultimate victory over our sin.
Devotions in the Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives series
We know that walk is the term used to describe how we live our lives, specifically our habitual state of mind, behavior, and manners. We also know that walking with God means we are humble, reverent, teachable servants of God.
Paul advised us that we are to walk with the Spirit. We do this so that the He can lead us to display the fruits of godly character.
Let’s step through what Paul said.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
We have looked at this passage of verses a couple of times – and in depth.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
What Does It Mean to Walk by the Spirit?
“But I say, walk by the Spirit …” (Gal. 5: 16 ESV)
Walking by the Spirit focuses us on God.
I know. The definition we use for walk may be a little generic.
Venn gave us an expanded definition. He wrote, “To walk in the Spirit, therefore, is to acknowledge with the heart our own weakness and inability to serve God; to expect victory over sin only by the gracious operation of His Spirit.”
Resource
Think about that. Walking with the Spirit focuses on God and has nothing to do with us because we are weak and unable to serve God.
Victory over sin comes through the workings of the Holy Spirit. We are not victorious without Him.
Our walk has to comprise of our efforts to do God’s Will of following His laws and commandments. It is our duty to consistently follow His Will.
This is talking about direction.
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Oh, yes. It is hard. We have to resist falling into a worldview perspective and compromising God’s laws and commandments.
Our motive for walking in the Spirit should be obedience.
When we become new creations at conversion, we get God’s saving grace in our hearts. To be obedient, we need to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He was sent as our Guide and Teacher.
Glossary
Once we become new creations, we can begin to renew and grow. We do this, too, through the Holy Spirit’s leadership.
Venn described the Holy Spirit in more detail. He wrote, “… the Spirit of God is always represented in the New Testament as the Author of all holiness in the hearts of Christians; whence the Christian dispensation is eminently styled “the ministration of the Spirit.”
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That is what we are working toward – godliness. As we grow in godliness, we grow toward perfection.
The Spirit v. the Flesh
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5: 16 ESV)
The flesh and the Spirit battle for control of us.
Galatians 5: 16 could be used by worldview people to argue that Christianity is not what it says it is. They want to believe that, when we have experienced conversion and regeneration, we no longer sin.
Conversion is the product of repentance, when we turn away from our sins and return to God, that secures salvation.
- Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
Glossary
Reality is, once we accept Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer and are forgiven of our sins, we still sin. We are still in our fleshly nature.
That means we have a struggle going on within us. It is up to us to make choices that follow the Holy Spirit’s guiding.
We are going to sin. “For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body” (Jas. 3: 2 ESV).
What we are striving for is the perfection. But we know the only way we will gain perfection is when God calls us home.
Victory Over the Flesh
“… and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5: 16 ESV)
We strive to have daily and ultimate victory over our sin.
Let’s look at the “… and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5: 16 ESV) part of the verse. This verse not only shows us that we will still sin after conversion, but it also shows us that we have victory over sin when we walk in the Spirit.
When we are gratifying the desires of the flesh – sinning – we aren’t thinking about good and evil. Desires of the flesh are the opposite of walking in the Spirit.
Becoming disciples mean we don’t want to deliberately sin. Remember, direction.
We can only follow God’s Will when we have mortified our sins. We can only do this under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, we can’t kill all sin.
We find victory in walking in the Spirit when we make God the priority in our lives. God must rule.
Making the Connections
Wouldn’t it have been best if God would have simply forbidden what was sinful? Well, in a way He did just that. He tells us not to follow sinful desires.
But God is loving in that He knows more is needed. He knows that we cannot accomplish a sinless life on our own.
Carpenter addressed this. He wrote, “If man is to be saved from evil thoughts, habits, passions, he must be given definite and positive duties to fulfil.”
Resource
This is talking total salvation. But it is talking total commitment, also.
Let’s look at it this way. Think of the respect with which we are treated. We disobeyed God, yet He doesn’t force His Will upon us.
God allows us to choose to come back to Him. The thing is that self-restraint isn’t going to cut it.
The choice needs to be to submit to God so that He can change our character. Our ability to resist sin’s temptation must come from within from our voluntary obedience to Him.
The good thing is that our walk in the Spirit has a starting point. Hambleton said that each of us has our own starting point – the place where we are at upon conversion.
Resource
God meets us where we are at. That is the starting point because God does not leave us there. He changes us until we become more like Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Follow God’s laws and commandments.
- Don’t compromise with the worldview.
- Seek God.
- Fear the Lord
- Grow in grace and knowledge to prepare for temptations.
- Know ourselves.
- Develop a good conscience.
- Guard our hearts.
- Don’t put ourselves into sinful situations.
- Commit to being sinless.
- Daily live life to imitate God.
Resource
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Glossary
Father God. We want to walk with the Spirit. When we do that, we live in Your Will and grow closer to You. We become like You – perfect. We long for the day when we will see You face to face so that we can be made perfect. Amen.
What do you think?
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