This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:24
Greetings to each of you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Again, it has been quiet some time from my last post. Usually, I write these posts on Sunday evenings. But, I had attended a Bible Study from April to October this year and hence I was not able to write these posts regularly. But, now that Bible Study was over and if God wills I will be writing more frequently from now on. Time flies by and it looked like we started the year 2018 and now we are in December 2018 and we are looking forward to enter 2019. May God's presence be with us all.
As I completed my last post of bearing fruits which is the ultimate goal in Christian life, I mentioned that I will be covering up the opposition to this new life in Christ Jesus. The opposition force is satan. The world around us and the flesh in which we live strongly inclined to satan and always try to drag back to our old lives. While I wanted to cover that, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I have to write one more post before that which is walking in the Spirit. To understand this, we are going to revisit what we had seen in the New Creation posts as a short recap.
Let's understand MAN. A man is tripartite being who is one together as body, soul and spirit. Gen 2:7, 1 Thess 5:23. This is exactly reflecting the triune God who is one God but exists as Father, Son and the Spirit. When Adam disobeyed God's commands, the spirit died immediately, the soul was separated from God and the body was as it is. But, there was something called flesh, which is the selfish nature that entered the man through his body. That's what exactly happened when Eve gave in to the devil when she was attracted to the forbidden fruit, she just yielded to temptation and satisfied her bodily needs and gave importance what her self/flesh needed than obeying what God expected. Now, 'I' (Mine) took precedence over 'Him' (God) and in the life of Jesus we saw that it is complete opposite. In his life everything was God (Him) rather than his own wishes. That's exactly revealed at the garden of Gethsemane when the flesh in the Jesus tried to direct him away from the cross, He prayed three times to Father for an alternative solution which He very clearly knew was against the will of God. But, He overcame the flesh and His self nature when He surrendered saying, "Not my will Father, but yours be fulfilled."
Apostle Paul later wrote that when Jesus was resurrected back from dead, "He hath quickened us from dead". Ephesians 2:1. Paul was writing about the revival of our Spirit which was dead when Adam transgressed. Now, the spirit is made alive in us through the Spirit of God, our soul is now connected back to God's soul and renewed every day by the Word of God and Spirit (2 Cor 4:16), but the poor body was still in the fallen condition. It was not redeemed yet and it will be redeemed only during our resurrection or during transfiguration. Romans 8:23 So, we need to understand that man was also created as a spiritual being but as Adam was fallen all the human beings were born in fallen state. Psalms 51:5 But, those who accepted Jesus are revived in the Spirit are considered alive in the Spirit and this is New Creation in summary.
Now, as you see, the real problem is the flesh which still works in us. We have the soul and spirit contained in the body which was pulled towards the flesh. James 1:14. So, there is a real trouble and there is a constant battle. This is a very tough battle and even the great saint like Paul too not an exclusion to this. He details this battle in Romans 7. Please read the entire chapter of Romans 7 and understand the works of the flesh, its lusts and how Paul struggled to overcome it. How to overcome the flesh is the most important study and Romans 8 deal with this in detail and hence that's why I said in one of my earliest chapters that Romans 8 is the most important chapter in the entire Bible (whereas John 3:16 is the most important verse and Isaiah is the most important book in my opinion).
So, what is the solution to for this struggle? The actual solution detailed in Romans 8 for this problem is about walking in the Holy Spirit. Most of the old testament saints who were under the old covenant never received the Holy Spirit in the same way as that of the ones in the New testament. Some of the OT heroes who were mentioned in Hebrews 11 were identified by God directly and anointed for a specific purpose. They received the power of the Holy Spirit to achieve specific tasks. For example, Moses have the spirit of God to release Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Joshua received the anointing of the Spirit of Wisdom to lead Israelites into the promised land, Samson has the Spirit of Strength, Samuel has the Spirit of Prophecy, David received the divine anointing of a King/Prophet/Priest. All of them were hand picked by God and anointed for a specific purpose to bring change to the nation of Israel. But, after Jesus Christ, the Son of God died on cross, shed His blood as a ransom for many and established the New Covenant, the most important blessing under the New covenant is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside every man who truly accepted Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:14. The promised Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers on Pentecost and it continues till to this day.
The Holy Spirit is called a helper who assist us to focus our thoughts and mind in heavenly things instead of focusing on the flesh and that's why Paul writes in Galatians 5:24 to walk in the Spirit so that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to overcome the flesh on our own. On the other hand, even if we have the Holy Spirit, we will surely be tempted and still it is certainly possible to sin. But, it is up to us to choose whether to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh. So, it is the soul that decides which path we have to take. We might fall at times to temptation but a Christian who is matured in his new life knows how to walk in Spirit and not to fall for lust. He knows how to carefully avoid temptation. Because, he constantly endeavors to please God in his thoughts, speech and action. All these things are not possible without the Holy Spirit and that's how the new covenant Christians are made perfect by the Holy Spirit and that is the greatest blessing.
So, here is the crux of this article. Every believer who is a new creation in Christ lives inside the physical body which is prone to temptation because the lusts of the flesh will be at work until our death or our bodily transfiguration. But, the Spirit of the new creation is actually in connection with God's Holy Spirit which will actually call the believer to please God. This is a great struggle. Who will win ? It is up to the believer, his will to support either the Holy Spirit or the flesh. If the believer chose to support the Spirit of God, then He will not fulfill his lust and please God. If his will support flesh, then Holy Spirit will be grieved. He will caution us, speak to us, warn us and even help us to overcome the flesh but if we keep disobeying, He will leave. So, it is up to us. That's why it is written, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Romans 8:13. Without walking in the Spirit, obviously we cannot bear spiritual fruits and hence we will not be able to fulfill our call and there will not be any purpose driven new creation life. But, if we walk in the Spirit, then we will be taught and lead by the Chief Shepherd, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This chapter turned out to be a big one but this cannot be shortened because this is the most essential one. To walk in the Spirit of God because we are the Children of the one true Holy God and it is written For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14
Need to cover plenty more with respect to walking in the Spirit but I will try to make it part of a different series. I suggest all the readers to read and meditate on Romans 8 and Galatians 3-5 and understand about this important revelation of the Spirit.
I will get more into the fight and struggle we have against the new creation from next chapter on wards and going forward I hope to write article more often. Please continue to pray for me, that God give more revelations through His Word so that I can help many to see the true light of gospel. All glory, honor and praise to you Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Greetings to each of you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Again, it has been quiet some time from my last post. Usually, I write these posts on Sunday evenings. But, I had attended a Bible Study from April to October this year and hence I was not able to write these posts regularly. But, now that Bible Study was over and if God wills I will be writing more frequently from now on. Time flies by and it looked like we started the year 2018 and now we are in December 2018 and we are looking forward to enter 2019. May God's presence be with us all.
As I completed my last post of bearing fruits which is the ultimate goal in Christian life, I mentioned that I will be covering up the opposition to this new life in Christ Jesus. The opposition force is satan. The world around us and the flesh in which we live strongly inclined to satan and always try to drag back to our old lives. While I wanted to cover that, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I have to write one more post before that which is walking in the Spirit. To understand this, we are going to revisit what we had seen in the New Creation posts as a short recap.
Let's understand MAN. A man is tripartite being who is one together as body, soul and spirit. Gen 2:7, 1 Thess 5:23. This is exactly reflecting the triune God who is one God but exists as Father, Son and the Spirit. When Adam disobeyed God's commands, the spirit died immediately, the soul was separated from God and the body was as it is. But, there was something called flesh, which is the selfish nature that entered the man through his body. That's what exactly happened when Eve gave in to the devil when she was attracted to the forbidden fruit, she just yielded to temptation and satisfied her bodily needs and gave importance what her self/flesh needed than obeying what God expected. Now, 'I' (Mine) took precedence over 'Him' (God) and in the life of Jesus we saw that it is complete opposite. In his life everything was God (Him) rather than his own wishes. That's exactly revealed at the garden of Gethsemane when the flesh in the Jesus tried to direct him away from the cross, He prayed three times to Father for an alternative solution which He very clearly knew was against the will of God. But, He overcame the flesh and His self nature when He surrendered saying, "Not my will Father, but yours be fulfilled."
Apostle Paul later wrote that when Jesus was resurrected back from dead, "He hath quickened us from dead". Ephesians 2:1. Paul was writing about the revival of our Spirit which was dead when Adam transgressed. Now, the spirit is made alive in us through the Spirit of God, our soul is now connected back to God's soul and renewed every day by the Word of God and Spirit (2 Cor 4:16), but the poor body was still in the fallen condition. It was not redeemed yet and it will be redeemed only during our resurrection or during transfiguration. Romans 8:23 So, we need to understand that man was also created as a spiritual being but as Adam was fallen all the human beings were born in fallen state. Psalms 51:5 But, those who accepted Jesus are revived in the Spirit are considered alive in the Spirit and this is New Creation in summary.
Now, as you see, the real problem is the flesh which still works in us. We have the soul and spirit contained in the body which was pulled towards the flesh. James 1:14. So, there is a real trouble and there is a constant battle. This is a very tough battle and even the great saint like Paul too not an exclusion to this. He details this battle in Romans 7. Please read the entire chapter of Romans 7 and understand the works of the flesh, its lusts and how Paul struggled to overcome it. How to overcome the flesh is the most important study and Romans 8 deal with this in detail and hence that's why I said in one of my earliest chapters that Romans 8 is the most important chapter in the entire Bible (whereas John 3:16 is the most important verse and Isaiah is the most important book in my opinion).
So, what is the solution to for this struggle? The actual solution detailed in Romans 8 for this problem is about walking in the Holy Spirit. Most of the old testament saints who were under the old covenant never received the Holy Spirit in the same way as that of the ones in the New testament. Some of the OT heroes who were mentioned in Hebrews 11 were identified by God directly and anointed for a specific purpose. They received the power of the Holy Spirit to achieve specific tasks. For example, Moses have the spirit of God to release Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Joshua received the anointing of the Spirit of Wisdom to lead Israelites into the promised land, Samson has the Spirit of Strength, Samuel has the Spirit of Prophecy, David received the divine anointing of a King/Prophet/Priest. All of them were hand picked by God and anointed for a specific purpose to bring change to the nation of Israel. But, after Jesus Christ, the Son of God died on cross, shed His blood as a ransom for many and established the New Covenant, the most important blessing under the New covenant is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside every man who truly accepted Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:14. The promised Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers on Pentecost and it continues till to this day.
The Holy Spirit is called a helper who assist us to focus our thoughts and mind in heavenly things instead of focusing on the flesh and that's why Paul writes in Galatians 5:24 to walk in the Spirit so that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to overcome the flesh on our own. On the other hand, even if we have the Holy Spirit, we will surely be tempted and still it is certainly possible to sin. But, it is up to us to choose whether to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh. So, it is the soul that decides which path we have to take. We might fall at times to temptation but a Christian who is matured in his new life knows how to walk in Spirit and not to fall for lust. He knows how to carefully avoid temptation. Because, he constantly endeavors to please God in his thoughts, speech and action. All these things are not possible without the Holy Spirit and that's how the new covenant Christians are made perfect by the Holy Spirit and that is the greatest blessing.
So, here is the crux of this article. Every believer who is a new creation in Christ lives inside the physical body which is prone to temptation because the lusts of the flesh will be at work until our death or our bodily transfiguration. But, the Spirit of the new creation is actually in connection with God's Holy Spirit which will actually call the believer to please God. This is a great struggle. Who will win ? It is up to the believer, his will to support either the Holy Spirit or the flesh. If the believer chose to support the Spirit of God, then He will not fulfill his lust and please God. If his will support flesh, then Holy Spirit will be grieved. He will caution us, speak to us, warn us and even help us to overcome the flesh but if we keep disobeying, He will leave. So, it is up to us. That's why it is written, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Romans 8:13. Without walking in the Spirit, obviously we cannot bear spiritual fruits and hence we will not be able to fulfill our call and there will not be any purpose driven new creation life. But, if we walk in the Spirit, then we will be taught and lead by the Chief Shepherd, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This chapter turned out to be a big one but this cannot be shortened because this is the most essential one. To walk in the Spirit of God because we are the Children of the one true Holy God and it is written For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14
Need to cover plenty more with respect to walking in the Spirit but I will try to make it part of a different series. I suggest all the readers to read and meditate on Romans 8 and Galatians 3-5 and understand about this important revelation of the Spirit.
I will get more into the fight and struggle we have against the new creation from next chapter on wards and going forward I hope to write article more often. Please continue to pray for me, that God give more revelations through His Word so that I can help many to see the true light of gospel. All glory, honor and praise to you Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
