How to Walk by the Spirit Again
A medical doctor approached me with dandy excitement at the conclusion of our training conference. He was overflowing with joy and excitement.
"Since I have learned how to exist filled with the Holy Spirit and walk in His power, the Christian life has get a great adventure for me!" he exclaimed. "Now, I desire to experience this same hazard with Christ."
Would you like to know how to enjoy what this man and millions of other Christians have experienced? You also can know the adventure of a full, abundant, purposeful and fruitful life in Christ!
If you take been living in spiritual defeat — powerless and fruitless, wondering if there is whatever validity to the Christian life — in that location is hope for you! What greater promise could Christ offer to the Christian than the assurance that he can walk daily in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and experience an arable and fruitful life of purpose and run a risk? Here is His promise:
I tell you the truth, anyone who has religion in Me volition do what I take been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
And I will exercise whatever y'all ask in My name, and then that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
You may enquire Me for anything in My name, and I volition do information technology. (John 14:12-15, New International Version 1984)
Certain basic spiritual truths, when understood and experienced past faith, bring revolutionary spiritual benefits. These proven principles tin help you lot to be more consistent in your walk with God and be more effective in your witness for our dear Savior.
The Christian life, properly understood, is non complex nor difficult. As a matter of fact, the Christian life is very simple. Information technology is so uncomplicated that we stumble over the very simplicity of it, and yet it is and then difficult that no ane can live it! This paradox occurs because the Christian life is a supernatural life. The only one who tin help us alive this arable life is the Lord Jesus Christ who empowers us with His Holy Spirit.
The Secret Is Something Called "Spiritual Breathing"
One of the almost important truths of Scripture, the understanding and application of which has enriched my life as has no other truth, is a concept which I like to call "spiritual breathing." This concept has been shared with millions — with revolutionary results — through our literature and various training conferences and seminars.
Every bit y'all walk in the Spirit past faith, practicing spiritual breathing, yous need never again alive in spiritual defeat. Spiritual breathing, like physical breathing, is a process of exhaling the impure and inhaling the pure, an practice in faith that enables you to experience God's love and forgiveness and walk in the Spirit as a way of life.
The moment you lot invited Christ into your life as Savior and Lord, you experienced a spiritual nascency. You became a child of God and you were filled with the Holy Spirit. God forgave your sins — past, present and future — making you righteous, holy and acceptable in His sight because of Christ'southward sacrifice for y'all on the cross. Yous were given the power to alive a holy life and to be a fruitful witness for God.
But the boilerplate Christian does not understand this concept of spiritual animate every bit an practice of faith and, as a effect, lives on a spiritual roller coaster. Believers go from 1 emotional feel to another, living about of their lives as worldly Christians, controlling their own lives — frustrated and fruitless.
If this is your feel, spiritual breathing will enable you to go off this emotional roller coaster and savour the Christian life that the Lord Jesus promised to you when He said, "I have come that they may have life and have information technology to the full" (John 10:10, NIV 1984). Equally an exercise in faith, spiritual breathing will make information technology possible for you to continue to experience God's love and forgiveness and the power and control of the Holy Spirit equally a way of life.
If y'all sin by committing a deliberate act of defiance, exhale spiritually. Breathe by confession. God's Give-and-take promises in John 1:9, "If nosotros confess our sins, He is faithful and only and volition forgive u.s. our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (NIV 1984). In the Greek, the original linguistic communication of the New Attestation, the word "confess" ("homologeo") ways to "agree with" or to "say along with." Such agreement involves at least three considerations.
First, you acknowledge that your sin or sins — which should be named to God specifically — are wrong and are therefore grievous to Him.
2nd, y'all acknowledge that God has already forgiven yous through Christ's death on the cross for your sins.
Third, y'all repent, which means that you alter your attitude toward your sin. The power of the Holy Spirit will enable you to change both your attitude and carry. Instead of doing what your old sinful nature — your mankind — wants to practice, y'all tin do what God wants you to practice.
Now inhale by appropriating the fullness of God's Spirit by faith. Trust Him to control and empower you co-ordinate to His command to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18, NIV 1984), which actually ways to be constantly and continually controlled and empowered with the Holy Spirit.
According to His hope (1 John five:14-fifteen), God hears you lot and grants your request because you lot pray according to His will. I encourage y'all to continue to claim his love, forgiveness and power past faith and proceed to take fellowship with Him moment by moment.
Yous tin get off your spiritual roller coaster, cease to exist a worldly or lecherous Christian, and go a Spirit-filled believer by practicing spiritual breathing. If yous are breathing and inhaling by appropriating the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith — you are a Spirit-filled Christian.
Y'all go a worldly Christian over again when you develop (over fourth dimension) an attitude of unbelief — when yous set your eye against assertive the promises of i John 1:9 and ane Corinthians 10:xiii (NIV 1984):
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will non let you lot be tempted beyond what you tin bear. But when you lot are tempted, He will also provide a style out and then that you can stand up up nether it.
You do non become carnal merely by committing one sin — or a dozen or a hundred sins — provided that you lot sincerely go along to breathe spiritually. You will become worldly only when y'all develop an attitude of unbelief and decline to breathe spiritually.
You can know correct at present that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Through the practice of spiritual breathing, you can go through life assured of His fullness. Only go along brusk accounts with God. Practice not let sins accrue.
If you endeavour to live the Christian life by your own fleshly effort, it becomes complex, difficult, and even incommunicable to alive. But when yous invite the Lord Jesus to direct your life, when you lot know the reality of having been crucified with Christ and raised with Him by faith as a style of life, when you walk in the low-cal as God is in the low-cal in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus simply lives His arable life within yous in all of His resurrection ability.
I am not suggesting that the Christian who walks in the fullness of the Spirit will have no difficulties. Problems of poor wellness, loss of loved ones, financial needs and other such experiences are common to all people. However, many of our misfortunes are self-imposed because of our ain worldly, selfish actions. The spiritual person is spared about of these self-imposed hardships. Only when the problems practice come, the spiritual person can face them with a calm, confident mental attitude past being aware of God's resources, which are bachelor to deal with adversity.
This is non only a matter of positive thinking. We are instructed to cast our cares upon the Lord Jesus because He cares for u.s.a.. 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 slap-up for u.s.a. when He is carrying 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 alive, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, Living Bible)
There is a throne, a control center — the intersection of ane'south intellect, volition and emotion — in every life. And either self or Christ is on that throne. Let me illustrate.
I like to plan as far in accelerate every bit possible, peculiarly for primal events. Simply occasionally I become so busy with the many details of our worldwide ministry that an important detail slips through.
With a key conference but a couple of weeks away, I had just realized the need for a ready of printed materials that would exist a tremendous benefit to the conferees.
As I shared the urgency with the department director responsible for this need, he responded, "Bill, we're total up already. Two weeks just isn't enough time."
I became impatient. Could my associate not see that we are in a war for souls, that we must seize opportunities when they arise and not limit our efforts to 8-to-5 workdays? I made my point clear to him.
"Just if we had more notice ... " he protested, "There just is no fashion we can squeeze in such a huge job with then petty time. In that location'south the writing, then the design and typesetting and artwork, then the printing."
Information technology seemed obvious that he did non share my brunt for the upcoming event. I pressed my point. "Wait, this is an important international briefing," I said firmly, my vocalisation ascent, "and this is no fourth dimension for 'business as usual.' Please detect a manner to finish this project in fourth dimension for the conference, even if you lot take to work around the clock."
I could tell my colleague was frustrated. Just, I reasoned, we need those printed materials. Whatever information technology takes, we need them.
Within a few moments afterwards our conversation, I sensed the confidence of the Holy Spirit. Yes, even in our well-intended service to the Lord, we tin 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 doubt — 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 virtually ordered him to become the project done and shown lilliputian appreciation for the many late evenings his team was already devoting to their work. I had reacted impatiently rather than in a spirit of dearest, agreement and teamwork.
At this point I had a choice to make.
On the 1 manus, I could let it go. After all, does the head of a big system not take the right to ramrod projects through when necessary? Did the cease (the strategic international conference) not justify the means (getting the job done no matter what it takes)? And did my acquaintance'south hesitant attitude not warrant a stern talking-to nearly the urgency of the hr?
By all human standards, I probably could have justified letting the incident get. But deep inside I would have been restless and uncomfortable as the Holy Spirit continued to point out the sin to me, and God would non accept blessed my efforts on His behalf as long equally this sin remained unconfessed. On tiptop of that, several of my dear co-workers would have continued to injure as a consequence of my calloused attitude.
On the other manus, I could bargain with the problem by taking scriptural activity to clear the slate. The unrest in my conscience 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 simply choice I could make that would please my Lord. I confessed my sin to Him and appropriated His forgiveness.
Then came the toughest part.
I drove downwardly to the part circuitous where my acquaintance and his squad were located and asked their forgiveness. Nosotros cried and laughed and prayed together, sensing a fresh outpouring of God's love in our midst. Then we talked through our common needs and establish a way — as teammates — to rearrange priorities and accomplish the task — on fourth dimension!
That is what the Christian life is all well-nigh — just keeping Christ on the throne. You lot practise this when you sympathize how to walk in the command and power of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit came for the express purpose of glorifying Christ by enabling the believer to alive a holy life and to be a fruitful witness for our love Savior.
Equally I have said previously, to be sure yous are filled with the Holy Spirit, you need to recollect two of import words: command and promise. The command is institute in Ephesians v:18:
Exist filled ... with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him. (TLB)
And the promise is found in i John v:14-15:
We are sure of this, that He will mind to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will. And if nosotros actually know He is listening ... then we can exist sure that He will answer united states. (TLB)
On the authorization of God's control you lot know that you lot are praying according to His will when you ask Him to fill you lot — to control and empower y'all. Therefore, you can await him to fill and empower yous on the basis of His command and hope provided that yous genuinely desire to exist filled and trust him to fill up you.
Remember that the Holy Spirit already dwells within you if you are a laic. You do not have to inquire Him to come into your life; He is already indwelling you. Your body was a temple of God from the moment you became a Christian. So you simply say to Him, "I give up my life to You lot, and by organized religion I claim Your fullness and power."
And so continue to breathe spiritually, exhaling whenever the Holy Spirit reveals sin that you demand to confess and inhaling as you continue walking in the fullness and command of the Spirit by religion. Some Christians breathe spiritually faster and more than often than others.
Feelings are Not Reliable
Do not depend upon feelings. Tied as they are to your ever-changing circumstances, feelings are unreliable in evaluating your relationship with God. The unchanging promises of God's Discussion, not your feelings, are your authorization. The Christian is to live by faith, trusting in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. A train is a adept illustration of the relationship between fact, organized religion and feeling.
Let united states of america telephone call the railroad train engine "fact" — the fact of God's promises plant in His Word. The fuel machine nosotros will call "religion" — your trust in God and His Discussion. The caboose we will call "feelings."
As fuel flows into the engine, the train runs. It would be futile and, of grade, ridiculous to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, you, as a Christian, should non depend upon feelings or emotion to live a Spirit-filled life. Rather, God wants you to simply place your faith in his trustworthiness and the promises of His Word.
Feelings are similar the caboose – they are important but are designed to follow a life of 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 be loved by My Male parent, and I too will honey him and show Myself to him" (John fourteen:21, NIV 1984). So, you can wait to accept a valid emotional relationship with our Lord when you trust and obey Him. But you lot should never depend on feelings or seek after an emotional experience. The very act of looking for an emotional experience is a denial of the concept of religion, and whatever is not of faith is sin.
To summarize then, you can know that you are filled with the Holy Spirit by trusting in God — His command and promise — and you can go through life with that balls.
© 1999 Bill Bright, © 2009 Vivid Media Foundation and Campus Crusade for Christ International. All rights reserved. Adapted from Bill Bright How Yous Can Walk in the Spirit, Transferable Concept 4 (Peachtree Urban center, GA: Cru).
Source: https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/transferable-concepts/walk-in-the-spirit.html
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