Thursday, May 17, 2012
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you
will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Galatians 5:16
Walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and
controlled and guided by the Spirit]; (Amplified)
Walking is used in both the Old and New Testaments to represent a person’s way of life, manner of conduct, or lifestyle. For example in Genesis 17:1- Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,“I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”
Psalms 1:1 - How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
1 John 1:7 - but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Walking is a metaphor for our conduct, behavior or lifestyle and conveys several pictures. (1) Walking indicates you are going somewhere and indicates a destination. For the follower of Christ we are moving toward the will of God and the glory of God. (2) Walking implies dependence because when you walk you place all of your weight on one leg allowing you to place the other leg forward. In the same way, when you walk by the Spirit, you must put all of your weight (so to speak) on Him, relying on and depending on His power (not your own) to take the next step in your spiritual walk. Depending on your legs means you are trusting them to hold you, and walking by the Spirit means you are trusting Him, believing He can hold you up spiritually. God wants us to understand that we cannot walk this supernatural walk in our power and in fact He never said we could. On the other hand, He delights to hear us declare our dependence on the Holy Spirit's power. Pastor Tony Evans gives us the following picture of walking in dependence on the Spirit writing that...
If we’re going to fight the good fight, it requires that we
walk by the Spirit of God. I think a lot of people get confused about this
verse. What does this look like? What does it mean? I looked at several different comments on
this verse and several different translations.
It was very enlightening and quite practical. Here are some that were helpful
to me:
Let
your walk and conversation be dominated by the Spirit (Barclay)
Let
the Spirit direct your lives (Good News Bible)
Let
your steps be guided by the Spirit (Montgomery)
Live
by following the Spirit (NCV)
Be
guided by the Spirit (New Jerusalem Bible)
Live
according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. (NLT)
Live
your whole life in the Spirit (Philips)
Let
the Spirit direct your lives (TEV)
Obey
only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to
do (TLB)
Walking is used in both the Old and New Testaments to represent a person’s way of life, manner of conduct, or lifestyle. For example in Genesis 17:1- Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,“I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”
Psalms 1:1 - How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
1 John 1:7 - but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Walking is a metaphor for our conduct, behavior or lifestyle and conveys several pictures. (1) Walking indicates you are going somewhere and indicates a destination. For the follower of Christ we are moving toward the will of God and the glory of God. (2) Walking implies dependence because when you walk you place all of your weight on one leg allowing you to place the other leg forward. In the same way, when you walk by the Spirit, you must put all of your weight (so to speak) on Him, relying on and depending on His power (not your own) to take the next step in your spiritual walk. Depending on your legs means you are trusting them to hold you, and walking by the Spirit means you are trusting Him, believing He can hold you up spiritually. God wants us to understand that we cannot walk this supernatural walk in our power and in fact He never said we could. On the other hand, He delights to hear us declare our dependence on the Holy Spirit's power. Pastor Tony Evans gives us the following picture of walking in dependence on the Spirit writing that...
When you start saying, “Holy
Spirit, I can’t love that person
in my flesh, but You can give me the ability to love him. So I am going to depend on You to give me the love I
don’t have in my own strength.” How about this one? “Holy Spirit, I don’t have
patience. But You do. So rather than trying to work up the patience I don’t
have, I am going to rest in Your
ability to express Your patience through me.” See the difference
this makes? You can take that same prayer and fill in your particular need,
whether you need to control your temper, your passions, or whatever. Then when
God does through you what you could never do on your own, guess what? He gets
all the glory and all the praise. But you don’t get this kind of Holy Spirit
authority by tossing a few mumbled sentences God’s way every couple of days. If
you want His power, you start your day with prayer and you call on Him
throughout the day. That’s true dependence. (The Promise:
experiencing God's greatest gift, the Holy Spirit)
(3) Walking is generally a
continuous activity. Very few people take just one step and stop, but they
repeat the process over and over. By the same token a believer is called to
walk by the Spirit continually.
Literally translated, “Keep on walking by the Spirit”.
Walking by the Spirit is God’s design for normal Christian
living. It’s nothing more than choosing (by God’s grace) to take tiny steps
toward the light day after day after day. Those tiny steps do not remove the
struggle but they allow you to walk in the light even while you feel the pull
to go in another direction. The pull of the darkness is always with us in one
form or another. By the Spirit’s power, we can choose to walk in the light
every day.
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