WALKING BY THE SPIRIT

Galatians 5:16-18
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (WEB)

There is a battle that is raging in each one of our lives every day. It is the battle between the flesh (our old nature) and the Spirit of God (our new nature). There are many things that have shaped our old nature as we have grown up... Life experiences, parents, the world system, and of course ourselves. The enemy of our souls has his grip in this part of our lives as well. Any chance he gets, this is where he will launch his attack.

The new nature on the other hand, comes from God. The Bible says that we are born from above, seated in heavenly places, a new creation, hid in Christ with God, a child of God and a joint-heir with Jesus. When we believed in Jesus, His Holy Spirit took up residence in our hearts and we were born again into His kingdom.

The truth is that this is who we are now. This is our real identity for all of eternity. Growing in our relationship with our Heavenly Father is all about discovering who the 'new us' is and rejecting the 'old us'. Since our old mindsets are ingrained in our thinking, it is easy for us to default to our old life which the Bible calls our flesh. Sometimes it is easier to just believe what we have been told or what we experienced, rather than to believe that we are now holy, loved, forgiven, free, transformed, empowered children of God.

My prayer today is that we would all have a deeper revelation of our true identity in Christ. My hope is that we would all have the grace of God today to simply yield to the Spirit's leading and follow wherever He goes. When we simply sink into our new identity, we will truly discover who we were created to be. In this place of rest and peace, the law has no power over us... Our past has no power over us. The world system has no power over us. We are simply God's kids, holy and dearly loved.

Ephesians 5:1-2
1 Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance. (WEB)