If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
—Galatians 5:25 (NKJV)
Are you tired of feeling condemned—that you are not good enough? Each born-again Christian is made new by the Spirit of the living God. Living in the Spirit refers to the immediate new birth that takes place in our spirit when we believe by faith in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). But that doesn’t mean that we automatically walk in the truth of the new person that we have become. Walking in the Spirit refers to how a believer needs to conduct his life. So if we are new in Christ and live in the Spirit, Paul says that we should also walk in the Spirit.
Living in the Spirit is the new person we are in Christ, and it is an unchanging position. Walking in the Spirit is the result of knowing who we are in Christ, and it is conditional upon our minds being renewed and also upon our openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. To know the new person that Christ has made us we need to be renewed in our minds by His truth (Romans 12:2). Then we will know and experience what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:3).
Nothing that we do earns us acceptance by God. It is only by His mercy that we find ourselves holy and acceptable to Him (Romans 12:1). We have been reborn by His Grace and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). Because of God’s great love, there is no condemnation for us who are reborn in Christ.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:1,5, NKJV).
When we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us the new person that we are in Christ, we learn the truths and promises of who we are in Him. When we start to believe, our perception changes from that of our flesh to that of His Spirit. And we walk according to the Spirit because we have set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul said (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV).
Even when we can’t see with our physical eyes the truth of who we are in Christ, we walk by faith and not by sight. God has made us new (2 Corinthians 5:17). We don’t always feel new. God says we are His (Isaiah 43:1). We don’t always feel that assurance. God says we are blameless, holy, and acceptable to Him (Ephesians 1:4). Our flesh tells us differently. When we fail or sin, it condemns us and tells us that we have to earn His love. We can’t go by our feelings. Our flesh determines our feelings. The Spirit yields the truth of what can’t be seen. And the flesh will come against God’s truth every time.
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,” Paul said (Romans 8:6, NKJV).
Walking in the Spirit (in the truth of who you are in Christ) is your choice. The things of the flesh—being ruled by our emotions instead of God’s truth—are death. The things of the Spirit—which come from a mind that has been renewed by the Spirit—are life and peace.
Enough is enough. Draw a line in the sand, and determine that your flesh will not determine your feelings. Be renewed by God’s truth in your mind, and put on the truth of who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:23-24). Make that truth your own. Take possession of it.
You walk in the Spirit by faith and not by sight.
© 2022 Lynn Lacher
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