Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (17) 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.”
We have seen that we overcome sin in the flesh by exercising the fruit of the spirit called self-control. In order for us to exercise the fruit of self-control however, we must walk in the spirit. We saw earlier that our spirits cannot sin. And so it is self-evident that if we walk in the spirit that we will walk free from sin. In the same manner if believers walk in the flesh then they will walk in sin, for the flesh can only sin. At all times believers are either walking in the spirit or they are walking in the flesh. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul instructs the believer to walk in the spirit so that they do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Again, the Holy Spirit would not instruct us to do something that we cannot do. It is therefore entirely possible for believers to walk in the spirit.
Romans 8:5-14 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (8) So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (10) And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) 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. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
And so the key is to learn how to walk in the spirit. We walk in the spirit by setting our minds on the things of the spirit. This truth is revealed to us in the passage of scripture quoted above, for what we think about influences our behaviour. And so if we think about the things of the flesh then we will act accordingly. Nevertheless if we think about the things of the spirit then we will walk in the things of the spirit, i.e. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In this same passage of scripture the Holy Spirit reveals to us that for the believer who chooses to walk in the spirit, He Himself helps that believer put to death the deeds of the body by His power that resides in us. And so we see that as the saints, by faith put into practice the truths we have discussed in this section they will find themselves no longer losing their tempers. They will find themselves walking in peace when all around them are walking in stress, for God by His power within them will transform them into the very character of His Son, for God has predestined each one of us to be conformed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). In February 2015 the Lord gave me a strange prophetic dream about this very fact. I was looking down on a couple snorkelling underwater. The water was clear and the sea looked great. But I recall thinking that although the sea looked great, that the environment that they were in was actually toxic to the divers because they were not designed to live in that environment. As I watched them, the female slowly started to grow weaker and I saw her sinking to the bottom. I saw her breath escaping as she sank. I then found myself going down to get her, picking her up and carrying her to the shore. I had to perform CPR on her in order to revive her. Just then her partner appeared. I was struck by how big he was. He looked like a bodybuilder in a Mr Universe contest. I said to him that his partner had nearly died and that I had to perform CPR on her in order to save her life. He did not seem at all concerned that his partner had nearly died, but he was impressed to see that she had revived. I then knew that he was not good for her and that if she stayed with him that he would eventually kill her. I told him that he would have to leave. He told me that he was too strong for anyone to make him leave. Completely unconcerned with regard for his size, I found myself bringing him into complete submission and removing him. The interpretation of the dream is clear. If we walk in the flesh, our flesh will become stronger and our spirits will become weaker. If we continue on that path, the end result will be that our spirits will die. However, for the believer who repents from walking in their flesh, the Holy Spirit within us enables us to overcome our flesh, and bring it into subjection once again.
Michael E.B. Maher
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