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What is God’s will for my life?
I can 100 percent guarantee you that this is God’s will for your life, that you walk by the Spirit and in the Spirit, not in the flesh. This is how we reign in this life!
There is no question this is God’s will for all believers, yet very few realize this, and even fewer pursue it. Once we learn to walk by the Spirit and in the Spirit, not in the flesh, the rest of what God wants you to do will become clear. If we put the cart before the horse and in the flesh do things we think might be His will for us, we risk performing dead works leading to burn out and quite possibly abandonment of the faith. Dead works are where we try and get right or keep our right standing with God through works, trying someway to earn our way, to pay for our sins, when our sins are fully paid for and we are fully right with God by the blood of Jesus.
The question is, what does it mean to walk by the Spirit and in the Spirit, not in the flesh, and how do we do it. These are two different things.
Walking by the Spirit is walking by the Spirit of all of God’s laws in all we do. The Spirit of all of God’s laws is “Love” which is the sole thing, the only way, without an iota of doubt, to fulfill God’s desire of why He wrote the letter of the law in the first place. The letter of the law is of the flesh. The Spirit of the law is of the Spirit.
Walking in the Spirit is seeing ourselves as God sees us, in Christ. Not in our flesh that was crucified and died on the cross with Christ as God sees us. By faith, we must agree with God to walk in the Spirit. We must see ourselves risen with Christ in the Spirit and agree with who we are in Christ. We are called to recognize ourselves and others in the Spirit and no longer in the flesh.
A person can walk by the Spirit, Love, and not be walking in the Spirit, seeing themselves as God sees us. Even many non-believers will tell you it is all about walking in love. Just because a person appears to be walking in love, does not mean they are trusting Jesus for salvation. A believer can also be walking by the Spirit, walking by love but not walking in the Spirit seeing themselves as God sees us. But a person who is walking in the Spirit, trusting Jesus and seeing themselves as God sees us, will by necessity be walking by the Spirit too.
1) The first thing we need to do to walk in the Spirit is to see ourselves as God sees us, in the Spirit and no longer in the dead flesh we see in the mirror.
I accept that in Christ I am:
Greatly loved by God - Ephesians 2:4 - Forgiven of all my sins - Ephesians 1:7
Free from the law of sin and death - Romans 8:2 - Righteous - Rom 5:19
Complete - Colossians 2:10 NASB - Justified - 1 Corinthians 6:11
Sanctified - Hebrews 10:10 NASB - Holy and without blame - Ephesians 1:4
Perfected - Hebrews 10:14 NASB
2) You need to agree to believe God’s word over your fleshly senses. The foundation for walking in the Spirit and no longer in the flesh is to believe God’s word and do things God’s way even if it does not make sense to the flesh because it will not. God’s ways are not man’s ways. If you want to walk in the Spirit, you must do things God’s way. Right believing is what leads to right living.
God’s way is to believe things by faith and see them as He sees them, even if it does not agree with our fleshly senses. This especially applies to how the Bible states God sees a born-again believer. We must agree by faith with God as to who we are in Christ, not what we see in the mirror.
3) You need to believe that once you believe, place your faith in Christ you are born-again and saved, period. Doubting this absolute truth will keep you from walking in the Spirit.
When Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born-again, Nicodemus asked: Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” John 3:4 NASB
Then Jesus clearly told him how to be born-again: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 NASB
Anyone who believes is saved, just like the thousands who believed and were saved in Acts the very moment they believed. But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. Acts 4:4 NASB
4) You need to renew your mind solely with the message of the New Covenant that Jesus shed His blood for. To walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, you must first learn to correctly divide the word and believe the word that applies to you as a born-again believer. Correctly dividing the word is to understand that while you can learn from the entire Bible, not all of the Bible applies to you today. There are two major covenants in the Bible. The Old Covenant of law given by Moses and the New Covenant of grace and truth brought by Jesus. The fact that Jesus shed His blood to bring the New should tell us something. It should be where our major focus is in our studies. Believers are not under the Old Covenant letter of the law or a mixture of the Old and New Covenant, period. We are solely under the New Covenant Jesus died for.
And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 22:20 NASB
If we mix the Old with the New, there will be confusion and the power of the New will be spoiled. In the following verse, the old wineskins would be a Jew who is under the Old Covenant of law. If they are not born-again, a new wineskin, the New Covenant message of grace and truth will be lost on them.
"No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins." Mark 2:22 NASB
Once you are firmly established in the truth of the New Covenant and who you are in Christ, the Old Covenant will make sense, and you can be used for learning and to boost your faith as you see how the Old led to the New. One of the worst things you can do right now on this journey to walk in the Spirit is to read a daily Bible that mixes the Old with the New like they are one. They were never intended to be mixed, and the power of the New is lost if you do this.
5) To walk in the Spirit, we also need to walk by the Spirit of the law and not the letter of the law.
A person is walking in one of two places, either by the letter of the law or by the Spirit of the law. In the Old Covenant, they walked by the letter of the law. In the New Covenant, we are called to walk exclusively by the Spirit of the law. Love is the only thing that fulfills God’s desire for the Law.
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom 13:8-10 NAS
who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:6 NASB
If we try and walk by the letter of the law, we fall from grace and have been severed from Christ.
You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. Gal 5:4 NASB
5) You need to see your flesh as crucified with Christ, dead, and not to be relied upon one bit. Most believers connotate flesh with acts of sin and try to use the flesh by turning to God’s law to perfect themselves with attempts to stop their acts of sin. But walking in the Spirit is not about forcing ourselves to stop sinning by our willpower, in other words by the flesh. This is about not relying one bit on the flesh. If we try to perfect ourselves and stop sin with the flesh, we are walking in the flesh, and the end result is of no value against the flesh. This is clearly stated in God’s word.
If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. Col 2:20-23 NASB
Turning to the letter of the law is an act of the flesh to try and perfect ourselves by commands is not the answer to perfect ourselves or how to walk in the Spirit.
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Gal 3:1-5 NASB
We are to consider our flesh crucified in Christ once we trust Him for salvation. Dead flesh is dead. It cannot do anything to perfect us or help us. We are to walk in faith, and when the Bible states your flesh has been crucified in Christ, we are to believe it. See your flesh as dead as God wants you to. It cannot help you in your walk with Christ. It is of no value in this battle. Apart from Christ, you are helpless and unable to produce any good fruit, do anything of value just as the Bible states. See yourself on that cross with Jesus, following Him into the death of the flesh and now walking by the Spirit in faith.
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Gal 2:20 NASB
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Dead flesh is dead to everything, including God’s law. This is God’s desire for you, to be free.
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. Rom 7:4 NASB
“For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Gal 2:19-21 NASB
Our death to the letter of the law is key to believe and understand if you want to walk in the Spirit. The law still exists but does not apply to the righteous, those who have faith in Jesus.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Rom 10:4 NASB
Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law, and we must believe this to walk in the Spirit. If we still think we are under the letter of the law, we place ourselves back under the curse in our minds and lives and will never be able to walk in the Spirit.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE "—Gal 3:13 NASB
6)You need to believe that you are dead to your inherited Sin nature’s dominion. When Jesus died, He died to Sin also. We died with Christ and are to believe by faith that we are dead to Sin too. Sin here is not our acts of sin. Sin here is a noun, and it is our inherited Sin nature from Adam that drove us to commit acts of sin (verb). In the New Testament, the word Sin is a noun over 170 times and a verb only 45 times roughly. It is obvious that our inherited Sin nature is the real problem. When we are born-again under Jesus, we inherit eternal life instead of the death we would inherit under Adam.
Our inherited Sin is not gone completely, our Spirits our born-again in Christ but our fallen nature still dwells in our flesh, that is why the flesh will eventually die.
The Bible clearly states that God’s own law was what gave Sin the power to kill us. Our inherited Sin nature drove us to sin, and sin leads to death. This was Satan’s devious plan to destroy God’s creation. On his own, Satan does not hold the power of life and death. He had to deceive Adam and Eve into breaking God’s command, knowing that their fallen Sin nature that leads to death would be passed on to all humanity. The good news is that since we are now under grace, Sin has no power to kill us.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 1 Cor 15:56 NASB
The specific reason we are free from our inherited Sin natures dominion is that we are dead to the law that empowered it to kill us. Both of these verses are talking about Sin, the noun, our inherited Sin nature.
…for apart from the Law Sin is dead. Rom 7:8b
For Sin shall not be master over you (have dominion), for you are not under law but under grace. Rom 6:14 NASB
Satan is the accuser of the brethren, but when you are crucified with Christ your flesh is dead, every time he drags your dead flesh into the courtroom and tries to convict it for law-breaking, the Judge throws out the case. He then points out that Jesus paid for your sins while your flesh was still alive and under the law and now since the accused is dead, you have been released from the law.
Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Rom 7:1-6 NASB
No charges will stick to a dead person. This is why the judge is not counting your sins.
"FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE." Heb 8:12 NASB
Since our flesh is dead with Christ, we are no longer under our old nature inherited from Adam. We are free from that ugly taskmaster that was leading us to death. We are to believe this by faith that we are dead to Sin (a noun meaning our inherited Sin nature), even though that inherited Sin nature still dwells in our flesh that will someday physically die. Sin in the following verses is again the noun, our inherited Sin nature.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to Sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to Sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Rom 6:3-11 NASB
This does not mean we should now expect never to sin again. We have been driven by our inherited Sin nature since birth to commit acts of sin. Our actions have become a part of us and bred into our flesh. This does not change overnight. It takes time as we renew our minds and walk by the Spirit, in the Spirit, ignoring the Sin nature that still dwells in our flesh. Learning to walk by the Spirit, in the Spirit is how we are transformed more and more into the image of Christ. We need not worry that God is angry about our sins because where sin abounds, God’s grace super abounds.
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, Rom 5:20 NASB
God’s grace has got you covered, and God is not counting your sins, Christian. He sees them all paid for by the blood of Christ. Jesus sacrifice was much more powerful than all the sin in the world.
We reign in life by receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17 NASB
7) You need to understand like Paul, nothing good dwells in the flesh. That is why God wants you to consider it dead by faith in Christ. This is also why our flesh must actually die. Our flesh will never be perfected and will sin until the day it dies.
If we refuse to see this truth and believe it by faith, we remain in bondage, walking in the flesh. I am not saying those Christians who walk in the flesh are not saved. They are saved once they trust in Jesus, but they will always struggle and never walk in His real freedom in this life.
For we know that the Law is Spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to Sin (the noun is our inherited Sin nature). For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but Sin (noun) which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but Sin (noun) which dwells in me. Rom 7:14-20 NASB
Paul goes on to tells us in Romans 8 how the Spirit of Life has set us free from the law and the battle he was in with the law of sin and death and how crucial it is for a believer to walk in the Spirit.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Rom 8:1-11 NASB
8) Walking in the Spirit only happens when we believe and apply the portion of God’s word that pertains to us all out. We have gone over some crucial first steps to walking in the Spirit, by the Spirit. From this point, we need to focus on His righteousness and who we are in Christ.
Believe you have His righteousness. We have His righteousness when we accept Jesus as our Savior. We are completely forgiven and placed under grace where Sin cannot kill us. But Satan does everything he can to make us think otherwise. You must have your mind renewed to His righteousness that is yours this very moment. You must be established in it in your mind and thoughts. Study it intently.
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matt 6:33 NASB
Being established in His righteousness in our minds and thoughts is our protection and the power of the gospel.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. Isa 54:17 KJV
Believe how much God loves you. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. John 17:23 NLT – Jesus speaking
Believe who you are in Christ. If we have trusted in Jesus, our Spirit is holy, sanctified, righteous and perfected by the blood of Christ right now according to God’s word.
We believe all of this by faith and choose to walk in the Spirit, by the Spirit and not the flesh. This transition takes time and persistence in renewing the mind to the truth. Satan will try and stop you and bring fear about letting go of the law completely. He will contend that you will sin with abandon, but this is a lie. The only way you will ever walk by the Spirit is to let go of the letter of the law. In the Spirit you are relying 100% on Jesus finished work on the cross. Below are some additional lessons that follow what we have reviewed. They are for further study to help you gain all the freedom Christ has for you, to walk in the Spirit, by the Spirit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Gal 5:16-18 NASB
Start with this one: How to Walk by The Spirit
a) I Am a New Creation IN CHRIST – Over 90 verses that you need to know, who you are in Christ.
b) I Am Holy, I Am Sanctified, I Am Perfected – This is more on your identity in Christ.
c) I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST – You are completely right with God in Christ.
d) A Christians Sins are NOT Counted Against Them – God is not counting your sins.
e) God Forgets Our Sins For His Own Sake – God has forgotten your sins and sees you righteous in Jesus.
f) God Said a Believer Can Never be Considered Unholy - God sees you as holy in Christ, even in failure.
g) Believers are Never Called Sinners in the New Testament – You are righteous in Christ.
h) God SWORE I Will NOT be Angry With or Rebuke Believers – God is not angry with you.
i) Jesus Never Called a Believer a Hypocrite – Believers are never called hypocrites.
j) There is No Condemnation for You Christian – No condemnation ever.
k) How to Defeat Satan on the Battlefield for Your Mind – Believe the truth and be free.
l) How to Walk in Jesus Peace No Matter What – Just believe.
The New Covenant oozes with the truth of God’s love for us. As you study it, you will grow immensely in the love of Christ. This is what leads us to being filled up with the fullness of God.
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Eph 3:19 NASB
Many more New Covenant studies HERE.
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