I say then: Walk in
the Spirit,
and you shall not
fulfill
the lust of the
flesh.
For the flesh lusts
against the Spirit,
and the Spirit
against the flesh;
and these are
contrary to one another,
so that you do not do
the things that you wish.
Galatians 5:16 -- 17
Paul in writing to the Galatians needed to speak to them in
regards to what it means to be free, or to have liberty, in Christ. What he wrote to the Galatians has meaning
for us today for as never before has the Church of Jesus Christ been under an
attack to remove the liberty in Christ and to preach a gospel of works. Our salvation is simply a free gift from God
our Father through His Only Begotten Son Christ and by no other means that
salvation comes to any man. When we are
not walking in the Spirit, and this means to be denying ourselves and picking
up our cross which is to obey the commandments of God, then we are subject to
fall prey to our own lusts and sin. If
we do not stay focused on Jesus Christ, and this we do by means of prayer, and
devotional readings, and most importantly to be reading daily the Bible. How often have we heard preachers and
teachers say you believe this or believe that, and the spiritually minded man
will never come to you with such demand.
I will not do that either for the only demand that I would ever give to
anyone, and this is not from me alone, rather it is from Jesus Christ, that you
square your life with the standards of Jesus.
Yes I say read the Bible, and yes I say to pray, and while that is
important is not the most important thing, for we are to believe the One Whom
the Bible reveals: "You search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they
which testify of Me. But you are not
willing to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5: 39 -- 40). This liberty is that we are called to
present this liberty as a liberty of conscience, not a liberty of view. How do I know that I have liberty of Jesus
Christ and I am free in that liberty, it is this liberty of realizing the dominance
of Jesus Christ in your life and if this is true of you then others will be brought
into that same liberty. How can I do
this? First and always keep your
life measured by the standards of Jesus Christ. When I speak that which Jesus Christ required of us, and that, is
to deny ourselves and follow him it is that we are to bow our neck to His yoke
alone. We must be careful, and that is
what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians told that we would test all things and
hold fast to that which is good and to see that we are never bound by some yoke
from others that is not the gospel or place a yoke on others that is not placed
on Jesus Christ. Have you noticed this:
Time, it takes for a long time often to get us out of our own way of thinking
and I've been guilty of this very thing myself, and that is unless everyone
sees as I do they must be wrong. I'm
not talking about false teaching, or heresy, those things that are against the
gospel that people are preaching and teaching.
I will always be against that for that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ and is
leading people into a bondage and making them think that they have liberty and
freedom when in fact that it is not the case for they must work, they must
continually to work, if they are to be saved to remain saved. There is only one liberty, and it is the
liberty of Jesus at work in our conscious enabling us to do that which is
right. It is easy to get impatient and
when this occurs in fact, think back how God dealt with you, how He with His
patience and gentleness held you in His hands.
Do not ever allow the truth of God to be watered down, let it have
way with you and never apologized for it.
You are one of God's disciples and you are required to go and disciple
others, we're not there to convert them to our opinions, rather, we are to
teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ and nothing else. One of the things I recommend often is that
we read the works of early church fathers for it is a often times more than
just enlightening, it bolsters up our faith.
Augustine wrote in his book: The
Confessions, Book V, Section 4; Paragraph 1: "O Lord God of truth, if a man is to please you, surely it is not enough
that he should know facts like these?
Even if he knows them all, he is not happy unless he knows you; but the
man who knows you is happy, even if he knows none of these things. And the man who knows you, and knows these
things as well, is none that happier for his knowledge of them; he is happy
only because he knows you, and then only if he has knowledge of you and honors you
and gives you think since God and does not become fantastic in his
notions." (Italics mine). Paul continues to
give us an admonition that we should listen closely to: "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
law. Now the works of the flesh are
evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murderers, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;
which I also told you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that
those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God"
(Galatians 5: 18 -- 21). How clear
can be told to us? After listing
several things which are against God and in contradiction to His inspired word,
Paul adds that there are more things that he has not listed, but in any case,
those who are practicing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Does this mean you have lost your
salvation? No! We as Christians do not practice such things! If we find ourselves caught up in a sin then
we are to fall on our knees before our Holy God and ask for repentance. And the up-and-coming verses were going to
understand how as Christians we are to handle such situations. Our God has not left us destitute, His love
for His children is greater than our sin and this is meant to say that God will
forgive the repentance if our repentance is real and true and this shown when
we do not fall back into sin.
See, O LORD, that I
am in distress;
my soul is troubled;
my heart is
overturned within me,
for I have been very rebellious.
Lamentations
1: 20a
Walk in the Spirit
of God
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