Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
This verse starts by advising
us to live our lives in and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The
second half of the verse tells us the advantage of a life guided by the Spirit.
The promise from God is that when led by His Holy Spirit, we will not attempt
to satisfy our fleshly desires.
Many people genuinely want to
live for God but want to do it on their own terms. Some believe that they have
the power in and of themselves to follow the will of God. It is somewhat like
driving your automobile without the power under the hood, the engine. The
foundational aspect of being a Christian is becoming like Christ. Our spiritual
walk after salvation and receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit should be
to be more like Christ Jesus. We are to live our lives as an example of Christ
to the lost souls of the World. Luke wrote that those fully trained and wholly
surrendered to Christ Jesus will be like their master or teacher (Luke 6:40).
In other words, if we surrender entirely to the Holy Spirit of God, He will
lead us in the direction of becoming more and more like Christ every day of our
lives here on this earth. Likewise, the Apostle Paul wrote that Christ Jesus is
the one that we proclaim to the World, teaching all about Jesus so that all
will be fully mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).
There is a difference between
being indwelled by the Holy Spirit and walking by the Spirit. Every person that
accepts Jesus as their savior and places their faith and trust in Him for
salvation has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. However, the Holy Spirit does
not have every saved person. Not all saved Christians have surrendered totally
and entirely to Christ Jesus. Some falsely believe there are degrees of
surrender to Christ; we are either surrendered totally to Christ or not
surrendered. Our measure of spirituality is not gauged by how much we pray,
witness to others, or service in our Church; our dependence on God measures it.
We must all understand that we will never be free of evil desires from our
flesh in this life. However, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have
the freedom to accept the right and shun the wrong.
The most successful way to
keep water and moisture from building up in our car’s fuel tank is to keep the
tank full of gas. In much the same manner, we must allow ourselves to be
completely filled with the Holy Spirit to avert the evil thoughts Satan will
aim at our hearts.
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