The key to having an intimate and close walk with God is to first give our lives to Christ. After that, it essential for us to understand the person and work of the Holy Spirit; He is our helper, counsellor and companion. He dwells in us and yearns to have fellowship with us. When we are conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will not feel alone any longer; God will be very real to us. When we walk in the flesh we shall manifest the works of the flesh as listed in Galatians 5:19-21. Practising or making a habitual lifestyle of the works of the flesh has disastrous consequences. However when we walk in the Spirit we shall bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These qualities are of eternal value. [Galatians 5:22-25] We who are in Christ have crucified the flesh together with its passions and desires; we have turned our back to the works of the flesh. If we are in Christ, we must live in the Spirit. And if we live in the Spirit, then we must walk in the Spirit; follow the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit, we will not need external rules and regulations to walk upright; it will come naturally. The desires of our sinful nature are contrary to the desires of our spirit. Therefore we are being constantly torn between fulfilling the desires of our sinful nature and following the leading of the Holy Spirit; the godly things that our spirit desires to do. But when we walk or live by the Spirit, we shall not gratify the desires of the flesh; we shall not satisfy the cravings of our sinful nature. [Gal 5:16-18] When we get born-again, our spirit is reborn; we become a new creation in Christ. But the desires of our flesh do not suddenly disappear or cease to exit. Therefore, though our spirit desires to be led by the Holy Spirit, our flesh tries to draw us in the opposite direction. A carnal Christian follows the desires of the flesh; a spiritual Christian follows the desires of the spirit, the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have not just been adopted and accepted by God, He has placed in us the desire and the yearning to be with Him. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we have an inexplicable internal longing for God. This makes us reach out to God for companionship and relationship as a child reaches out to his loving father. Through the Holy Spirit, God has placed in us the desire for a fatherly relationship with Him. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law; He has bought us out of the curse of the law, by becoming our substitute and legal bearer of the curse of the law, through His death on the cross. As a result, the blessing of Abraham; salvation from sin and bondage, adoption and acceptance into the family of God, and the promise of the Holy Spirit are available to us through faith in Christ. [Galatians 3:13-14] We who are in Christ have been crucified with Christ; we ourselves no longer live but Christ lives in us. This means the life we now live in the body [physical], we live through faith in Christ. We have the potential to live as Christ lived by allowing Him to live through us. Because we could not live up to the righteous expectations of God on our own, based on our own works, Christ died for us. [Galatians 2:20-21] As Christians we have been called to liberty, but we are strongly exhorted not to see or use this liberty as an opportunity to gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead we are to love our neighbours as ourselves, and serve one another in love. Families, churches and ministries are often not destroyed by outsiders, they are destroyed from within. If we turn on each other we will destroy ourselves. [Galatians 5:13-15] We have been crucified with Christ and are now alive in Christ. Therefore we do not live our lives through self-effort, but through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Instead of trying to please God in our own strength, through dos and don’ts, we must yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit; let the nature and life of Christ which is in you flow out. In Christ we have received the seed of the Christ-like life. In Christ we have liberty, but this liberty comes with responsibility; being free from legalism does not give us the license to practise lawlessness. We have been ushered into a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life. Even though we have been liberated from the law, God has written His law in our heart and we are constantly being prompted in our heart to do what is right. We are governed by a greater law from the inside. Christ has given us liberty and set us free to walk in the Spirit. Therefore we must stand firm and not allow ourselves to be entangled and burdened by the law. When we try to get saved and justified by our own works through the law, we alienate ourselves from Christ. In Christ we have fulfilled the just and righteous requirements of the law. We are the righteous of God through faith in Christ. [Galatians 5:1,4,5] The Scriptures declare that we all are prisoners of sin; it clearly exposes our sinful nature by clearly showing us right from wrong, so that we might receive the promise of salvation through faith in Christ. The purpose of the law is to be our guardian and tutor until faith in Christ is revealed. The law in itself does not save; it is to bring us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith. [Galatians 3:22-24] The purpose of the law is to reveal our sinful nature and our inability to save ourselves. The law enables us to compare ourselves morally and spiritually against the perfect standard of God. Through the law, our imperfections and inadequacies are exposed and revealed to us. Thus the law drives us to God to find salvation and justification through faith in Christ. The law drives us to the grace of God in Christ. When we try to live up to the just requirements of God through the law, we will struggle, get frustrated and utterly fail. God does not expect us to change our nature before we come to Him, because we do not have the power to do so. We must first recognise and accept our inadequacies including our sinful nature, and then come humbly to Christ. Then God will change us and grant us the grace to live to please Him. God sent Jesus to redeem us from under the law, so that He could adopt and fully accept us as His children. Because we are children of God, He has placed the Spirit of His Son in our heart. As a result of this we have a fatherly relationship with God. We are no longer servants under the law or slaves to sin but children of God. Therefore we have an inheritance in God; we are heirs of God in Christ. [Galatians 4:5-7] Because of his sound judgement and insight, a man of divine wisdom and knowledge exhibits the following qualities: he does not fall for the deceptive and apparently inviting ways of the evil one, he keeps himself from the man who speaks and practices evil, and he does not associate with those who wilfully choose to leave the path of uprightness to walk in the way of darkness. Wisdom keeps us on the path of godliness. A man full of divine wisdom enjoys acquiring sound knowledge because it is pleasant and dear to his heart. As a result of his wisdom and knowledge, he exercises godly discretion and understanding. Therefore he is preserved and protected from the enticing ways of evil. Wisdom considers all the spiritual and physical facts and looks at the overall picture, as well as all implications before it acts. [Proverbs 2:10-13] https://facebook/jesuschristislorduk
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 21:20:48 +0000
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