why this is important
“Walking in the Spirit” is a Biblical phrase that describes how we are to live in relationship with God in order to enjoy His abundant life and bring Him glory.
Unfortunately, “Walking in the Spirit” is often misunderstood and used as spiritual verbiage that isn’t very helpful when it comes to living life the way God intended.
“I messed up on that one – I really just need to walk in the Spirit and let Him lead me.
Sometimes being led by the Spirit is understood to mean that He gives us certain leanings or feelings in order to guide us. The Holy Spirit has been credited with leading people to do all kinds of things.
“I think the Spirit is leading me to divorce. I mean, God wants us to be happy and I’m just not happy.”
“The song on the radio was ‘Sweet Home Alabama. I was on the phone with my sister – who lives in Alabama. We’ve been thinking about moving – clearly God wants us to move to Alabama!
“The song on the radio was ‘Sweet Home Alabama. I was on the phone with my sister – who lives in Alabama. We’ve been thinking about moving – clearly God wants us to move to Alabama!
In the Christian life there are two common ditches that we can fall into. Both bring about consequences, pain, and unnecessary struggle. God’s intention is that we “Walk in the Spirit” and avoid these ditches. This section will identify those ditches, their consequences, and how to walk in the Spirit.
license
“License” means a permit from an authority to own or use something, or do a particular thing. When it comes to the Christian life it basically means that since Jesus paid for all of our sin, we can do what we want – it’s paid for!
“It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”
8 Steps to Living by License
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“No one will miss it”
“I’m actually helping the family because we’ll have more money.” “It’s not gossip, it’s venting.” |
This leads to a downward spiral:
Unmet Expectation
Disappointment
Discouragement
Depression
Despair
Unmet Expectation
Disappointment
Discouragement
Depression
Despair
our make up
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It’s important to understand our make-up as spiritual beings. Before we put our trust in Christ our identity was an enemy of God – lost and estranged from Him. The only nature we had was the sin nature – this is the desire within us to live life according to our desires: “My will be done.”
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When we put our trust in Christ, our new identity is a child of God – holy and accepted. We are given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and He gives us a new nature – this is the desire within us to live according to God’s ways: “Thy will be done.”
When we believe in Christ, the sin nature is “made inoperative,” meaning that we now have the ability to say no to its desires and follow after our new nature. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the old sin nature is no longer present within us. We can still choose to follow its impulses – and the more we do, the stronger the desire for sin becomes. Conversely, the more we deny the sin nature and follow our new nature, the stronger it becomes and the more we grow to become like Jesus. |
results of license
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process it
In what ways have we lived by license?
What was the result?
What was the result?