WALKING IN THE
SPIRIT
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth. (John 4:24 AV)
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16 AV)
How do we in a practical way “walk in the
Spirit”? Notice first that in the Gal. text LUST is singular just as SIN is
singular as relates to our natural fallen condition. Receiving the Gospel of
Christ delivers us from SIN, the source of all SINS. Just as there are many
acts of SIN (called SINS), there are many LUSTS of the flesh from the root
(LUST). If we can control LUST, then LUSTS will be controlled. The Gal. text
tells us what to do, ‘walk in the Spirit’ but how to perform this must be
explained.
We as Christians are ambassadors for Christ
in this world. An ambassador is a representative of the King, however only with
the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost can anyone have the power and desire to
walk as the King commands.
Now the king must have an authority beyond the ambassador, he must have
an army to represent his power. Our king as Christians is Jesus Christ, King of
Kings, and His army is composed of His Saints. That’s well and good, but we are
nothing but flesh and bones, no match for the enemy. How can we engage Satan in
the flesh? We can’t; he is spirit. So, we must engage him in spirit, God’s
Spirit of Holiness. Then we must be Spirit baptized, having received the power
which comes after that spiritual baptism, But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth. (Acts 1:8 AV). Now we are empowered, but we are still
dealing with this flesh; how can our flesh be protected? God gives us the
answer, Put on the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
(Ephesians 6:11 AV).
As we review all the elements of our armor,
we see that we are protected from head to foot so that the enemy cannot reach
our flesh. We also see that we have a sword, the WORD OF GOD, to use against
the lies of the enemy. We wear the girdle of TRUTH, so that we are walking in
the truth, as the word tells us, that we can worship Him through His mighty
Word. We are wearing His righteousness, not ours, so that there is no fault in
us, neither any sins that are not made right by His righteousness. We are also saved by Him, and our head that
Satan would happily remove if he could is shielded by that helmet of salvation.
The shield of faith God gives us deflects the accusations that we are liars, or
yet worse, a sinful representative of our Lord, in whose armor we stand. Above
all we must be shod, for without those shoes we are hobbled spiritually; if we
do not go with the Gospel of Christ there is no need for the armor or the
sword.
Now we are ready to worship Him in Spirit
and in truth. Now we can walk in the Spirit, so as not to fulfill the lusts of
the flesh, Halleluiah, Glory to the Lamb that was slain!!!
The Way, Truth, and
Life Ministries, 3/22/01
www.wtlministry.org