How to Walk by the Spirit Again
A medical doctor approached me with dandy excitement at the conclusion of our training conference. He was alluvion with joy and excitement.
"Since I have learned how to be filled with the Holy Spirit and walk in His power, the Christian life has get a smashing adventure for me!" he exclaimed. "At present, I desire to feel this same adventure with Christ."
Would you like to know how to enjoy what this man and millions of other Christians have experienced? You as well tin know the adventure of a total, abundant, purposeful and fruitful life in Christ!
If you have been living in spiritual defeat — powerless and fruitless, wondering if at that place is any validity to the Christian life — there is hope for yous! What greater promise could Christ offering to the Christian than the assurance that he tin walk daily in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and feel an abundant and fruitful life of purpose and adventure? Here is His promise:
I tell you lot the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
And I will do any you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I volition do it. (John 14:12-15, New International Version 1984)
Certain basic spiritual truths, when understood and experienced by faith, bring revolutionary spiritual benefits. These proven principles tin help you to be more consistent in your walk with God and be more than effective in your witness for our dear Savior.
The Christian life, properly understood, is not complex nor difficult. Equally a thing of fact, the Christian life is very elementary. Information technology is and then simple that nosotros stumble over the very simplicity of it, and yet it is so difficult that no 1 can alive it! This paradox occurs considering the Christian life is a supernatural life. The only one who tin can aid united states live this abundant life is the Lord Jesus Christ who empowers usa with His Holy Spirit.
The Secret Is Something Called "Spiritual Breathing"
One of the most of import truths of Scripture, the agreement and awarding of which has enriched my life every bit has no other truth, is a concept which I like to telephone call "spiritual breathing." This concept has been shared with millions — with revolutionary results — through our literature and various training conferences and seminars.
Equally you walk in the Spirit by faith, practicing spiritual animate, yous need never once again live in spiritual defeat. Spiritual breathing, like physical breathing, is a process of exhaling the impure and inhaling the pure, an exercise in organized religion that enables you to feel God'southward beloved and forgiveness and walk in the Spirit as a way of life.
The moment you invited Christ into your life as Savior and Lord, you experienced a spiritual nascence. You became a child of God and you lot were filled with the Holy Spirit. God forgave your sins — past, present and future — making you righteous, holy and acceptable in His sight considering of Christ's sacrifice for yous on the cross. You were given the power to live a holy life and to exist a fruitful witness for God.
But the average Christian does not understand this concept of spiritual breathing as an exercise of faith and, as a event, lives on a spiritual roller coaster. Believers get from one emotional experience to some other, living most of their lives every bit worldly Christians, controlling their own lives — frustrated and fruitless.
If this is your experience, spiritual animate will enable you to become off this emotional roller coaster and relish the Christian life that the Lord Jesus promised to you when He said, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the total" (John x:ten, NIV 1984). As an do in faith, spiritual breathing will make it possible for y'all to continue to experience God'southward love and forgiveness and the ability and control of the Holy Spirit as a way of life.
If yous sin by committing a deliberate act of disobedience, breathe spiritually. Exhale by confession. God's Word promises in John ane:9, "If nosotros confess our sins, He is faithful and only and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (NIV 1984). In the Greek, the original language of the New Attestation, the discussion "confess" ("homologeo") means to "agree with" or to "say along with." Such agreement involves at least 3 considerations.
Start, y'all acknowledge that your sin or sins — which should be named to God specifically — are incorrect and are therefore grievous to Him.
Second, you acknowledge that God has already forgiven y'all through Christ's death on the cross for your sins.
Third, yous apologize, which means that you change your attitude toward your sin. The power of the Holy Spirit will enable you to change both your mental attitude and carry. Instead of doing what your one-time sinful nature — your flesh — wants to practice, y'all can do what God wants you lot to do.
Now inhale by appropriating the fullness of God's Spirit past religion. Trust Him to control and empower you co-ordinate to His command to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:xviii, NIV 1984), which actually means to exist constantly and continually controlled and empowered with the Holy Spirit.
Co-ordinate to His promise (1 John five:xiv-15), God hears you and grants your request because you lot pray according to His volition. I encourage you to continue to merits his dearest, forgiveness and power by faith and continue to take fellowship with Him moment by moment.
You tin become off your spiritual roller coaster, end to be a worldly or lecherous Christian, and get a Spirit-filled believer by practicing spiritual breathing. If you are breathing and inhaling by appropriating the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith — you are a Spirit-filled Christian.
You lot get a worldly Christian again when you lot develop (over time) an attitude of unbelief — when you set your heart confronting believing the promises of i John 1:ix and one Corinthians 10:thirteen (NIV 1984):
No temptation has seized you except what is common to human being. And God is faithful; He will not permit you be tempted beyond what you can carry. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a fashion out and then that yous can stand up under information technology.
You lot do not become carnal only by committing i sin — or a dozen or a hundred sins — provided that y'all sincerely continue to breathe spiritually. You volition become worldly only when yous develop an attitude of unbelief and reject to breathe spiritually.
You tin know right now that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Through the practise of spiritual animate, you can go through life bodacious of His fullness. Simply keep short accounts with God. Practise not let sins accumulate.
If you endeavour to live the Christian life by your own fleshly effort, it becomes circuitous, difficult, and even impossible to alive. But when you invite the Lord Jesus to directly your life, when y'all know the reality of having been crucified with Christ and raised with Him by faith as a way of life, when you walk in the light as God is in the light in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus but lives His abundant life within you lot in all of His resurrection ability.
I am not suggesting that the Christian who walks in the fullness of the Spirit will accept no difficulties. Bug of poor health, loss of loved ones, financial needs and other such experiences are common to all people. However, many of our misfortunes are self-imposed considering of our own worldly, selfish actions. The spiritual person is spared most of these self-imposed hardships. But when the problems do come, the spiritual person tin face them with a calm, confident attitude by being aware of God's resource, which are available to bargain with adversity.
This is not simply a thing of positive thinking. Nosotros are instructed to bandage our cares upon the Lord Jesus because He cares for us. The spiritual person knows the trustworthiness of God from experience. The Lord becomes the problem-solver, and the trials and burdens of this world are no longer too great for u.s. when He is conveying the load.
This was at the heart of the apostle Paul's moment-by-moment experience:
I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the existent life I now have inside this body is a event of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:xx, Living Bible)
In that location is a throne, a control center — the intersection of i's intellect, will and emotion — in every life. And either self or Christ is on that throne. Let me illustrate.
I like to plan equally far in advance as possible, especially for key events. Just occasionally I get so decorated with the many details of our worldwide ministry that an important particular slips through.
With a central conference merely a couple of weeks away, I had just realized the need for a set of printed materials that would be a tremendous benefit to the conferees.
Equally I shared the urgency with the section director responsible for this need, he responded, "Beak, nosotros're full up already. Two weeks just isn't enough time."
I became impatient. Could my associate not see that nosotros are in a war for souls, that we must seize opportunities when they arise and non limit our efforts to 8-to-v workdays? I fabricated my signal clear to him.
"Merely if we had more notice ... " he protested, "In that location simply is no way we can squeeze in such a huge job with and so little time. In that location's the writing, and then the blueprint and typesetting and artwork, then the printing."
It seemed obvious that he did non share my brunt for the upcoming event. I pressed my point. "Look, this is an important international conference," I said firmly, my voice rising, "and this is no time for 'business as usual.' Please notice a mode to cease this projection in fourth dimension for the conference, fifty-fifty if you accept to piece of work around the clock."
I could tell my colleague was frustrated. But, I reasoned, we need those printed materials. Whatever it takes, we need them.
Within a few moments after our conversation, I sensed the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Yes, even in our well-intended service to the Lord, we can stumble — and in the name of godliness I had offended a dear brother in Christ. I had failed to give him and his staff the do good of the dubiousness — failed to take into account the tough workload they already were facing each day. Instead of request him to think through the possibilities with me and helping him rearrange his priorities to accommodate the new task, I had near ordered him to get the project washed and shown fiddling appreciation for the many tardily evenings his team was already devoting to their work. I had reacted impatiently rather than in a spirit of love, understanding and teamwork.
At this point I had a choice to make.
On the one paw, I could let it go. After all, does the head of a big organisation not take the correct to ramrod projects through when necessary? Did the terminate (the strategic international conference) not justify the ways (getting the job done no matter what information technology takes)? And did my associate'southward hesitant attitude non warrant a stern talking-to about the urgency of the hour?
Past all man standards, I probably could take justified letting the incident go. But deep inside I would have been restless and uncomfortable as the Holy Spirit continued to signal out the sin to me, and God would not take blest my efforts on His behalf every bit long equally this sin remained unconfessed. On acme of that, several of my dear co-workers would accept continued to hurt every bit a consequence of my calloused attitude.
On the other hand, I could deal with the trouble by taking scriptural action to clear the slate. The unrest in my censor was the Holy Spirit cross-examining me every bit I tried to rationalize my behavior. What I had thought was forceful leadership He was identifying as the sins of impatience and unjustifiable anger.
I knew that taking scriptural action was the only choice I could brand that would please my Lord. I confessed my sin to Him and appropriated His forgiveness.
So came the toughest part.
I drove down to the office complex where my associate and his team were located and asked their forgiveness. We cried and laughed and prayed together, sensing a fresh outpouring of God's honey in our midst. Then we talked through our mutual needs and institute a manner — as teammates — to rearrange priorities and accomplish the chore — on time!
That is what the Christian life is all most — just keeping Christ on the throne. Yous practise this when you empathize how to walk in the command and power of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit came for the express purpose of glorifying Christ past enabling the laic to live a holy life and to be a fruitful witness for our dear Savior.
Every bit I have said previously, to be certain you are filled with the Holy Spirit, y'all need to call back two important words: command and promise. The control is plant in Ephesians 5:18:
Be filled ... with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him. (TLB)
And the hope is establish in 1 John five:14-15:
We are sure of this, that He volition listen to the states whenever we enquire Him for anything in line with His will. And if we really know He is listening ... then we tin can exist sure that He will respond us. (TLB)
On the authority of God's command you know that y'all are praying according to His will when you enquire Him to fill you — to control and empower you. Therefore, you tin can expect him to fill up and empower y'all on the basis of His command and promise provided that you genuinely desire to be filled and trust him to fill you.
Think that the Holy Spirit already dwells within you if you are a believer. Y'all do non have to ask Him to come into your life; He is already indwelling you. Your body was a temple of God from the moment you lot became a Christian. And then you simply say to Him, "I surrender my life to You, and by religion I claim Your fullness and power."
Then continue to breathe spiritually, exhaling whenever the Holy Spirit reveals sin that you need to confess and inhaling as you keep walking in the fullness and control of the Spirit past faith. Some Christians exhale spiritually faster and more often than others.
Feelings are Non Reliable
Do not depend upon feelings. Tied as they are to your ever-irresolute circumstances, feelings are unreliable in evaluating your relationship with God. The unchanging promises of God's Word, not your feelings, are your authority. The Christian is to live by religion, trusting in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. A train is a practiced analogy of the relationship between fact, religion and feeling.
Permit us call the train engine "fact" — the fact of God'south promises found in His Word. The fuel automobile we will call "faith" — your trust in God and His Word. The caboose we will call "feelings."
As fuel flows into the engine, the train runs. It would be futile and, of course, ridiculous to attempt to pull the railroad train past the caboose. In the same way, y'all, as a Christian, should non depend upon feelings or emotion to live a Spirit-filled life. Rather, God wants yous to simply identify your organized religion in his trustworthiness and the promises of His Discussion.
Feelings are like the caboose – they are important but are designed to follow a life of organized religion and obedience. Jesus promised all who obey Him, "Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will exist loved by My Male parent, and I as well will dearest him and evidence Myself to him" (John fourteen:21, NIV 1984). So, y'all can expect to accept a valid emotional human relationship with our Lord when you lot trust and obey Him. But y'all should never depend on feelings or seek after an emotional experience. The very act of looking for an emotional experience is a deprival of the concept of religion, and whatever is non of faith is sin.
To summarize and so, yous can know that y'all are filled with the Holy Spirit by trusting in God — His control and hope — and you can go through life with that assurance.
© 1999 Pecker Bright, © 2009 Bright Media Foundation and Campus Crusade for Christ International. All rights reserved. Adapted from Bill Bright How You Tin can Walk in the Spirit, Transferable Concept 4 (Peachtree City, GA: Cru).
Source: https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/transferable-concepts/walk-in-the-spirit.html
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