We have learnt yesterday that the Holy Spirit supports us so we can do what the Lord wants us to do. In order for us to be where God wants us to be and to work along with our ever so willing agent, the Holy Spirit, we need to walk in the Spirit.
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never fulfil the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do (Galatians 5:16, 17).”
Living by the Spirit is a choice and a sacrifice, but once you’ve experienced it, you won’t want anything else. It also requires a measure of discipline. The flesh wants to enjoy itself – a little more sleep early in the morning when the Spirit needs time to talk with you about His plans for you for the day. The flesh doesn’t want to be unpopular and persecuted. It wants to have fun and do what it likes in terms of entertainment and self gratification. The Spirit needs us to be disciplined like soldiers and ready to obey the Commanding Officer, taking whatever opposition God’s enemies will bring.
I guess one can be a Christian living in the flesh – just being saved – but the rewards are so much greater if one walks by the Spirit. Walking in the flesh requires of us to rely on the earthly things, those we can see. We are led by circumstances and our carnal desires. Walking in the Spirit requires of us to seek to know and understand the Lord - an exciting adventure.
“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-11).”
These things God reveals to anybody who is really interested. Those who listen will receive it. Isn’t it amazing that the Almighty living God wants us to know Him? He wants us to understand how He thinks, what He intends to do, what His plans are for our lives today and for that of others and even those on the other side of the earth. We are soldiers who need to receive commands from the commanding officer as to what to do or how to pray.
Why do you think Jesus prayed through the night? He needed to hear from God what He should do that day and how He should do it. Remember He said He can do nothing without His Father (John 5:19)? Because He was one with God, He made a real difference in His world.
If we live by the Spirit and not by our own ideas, we will please the Lord. He will reveal Himself to us and guide us to make a difference in our world above what our hearts can imagine.
“But the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17).”
Lord, please show me how to walk in the Spirit?
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