WALK IN THE SPIRIT

I really enjoyed reading this devotional this morning and thought I would share it with others. I needed to hear this because yesterday I got angry at a situation and responded to it too quickly instead of praying about it and seeking God's council on it. I have asked the Lord for forgiveness. The flesh can be such a powerful thing to battle against but when we walk in the spirit it is possible.

Enjoy....
"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

Before we are regenerated, our whole being is left to itself. But at regeneration, the life of Jesus comes into our spirit. Now there is a new source for our being. At the same time, our weak flesh is still present. We feel its rumblings. We feel its weakness. We feel its tendencies, its inclinations, its downward moves. In the past, when we felt it, we went to repair it. We went to cope with it. We went to do other things to make up for the void and the lack within that flesh. But those things did not work. We just went from one thing to another, from one misery to another, until one day we discovered our spirit. We still have the same weaknesses in our flesh. The flesh has not changed. But the difference is that now there is another source for our being. That source is as close as saying "Jesus." Calling on the name of Jesus instantly ushers us into a participation in the life that is in our spirit, our new source. To say "Jesus" is to instantly drink of the supply of His very life and nature that has overcome the flesh, that has dealt with it already. Now there is a new realm in which we live, and that is the realm of our spirit. So when we feel our flesh, when we feel our weaknesses, we know what to do. James says, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." This means that our life is a life of interacting with the Lord in our spirit—the source that was established from the first day of our new birth. We know that we have received Christ and that our destiny has changed. We will not perish but have eternal life. Nevertheless, for years we may still depend upon the source of the flesh to live this life, rather than discovering that we have another source in us. Learn to pray. Learn to call "Jesus." Learn to sing to Him. Learn to fellowship. Learn to bypass all the activity in your flesh and go straight to Jesus. Go directly to your spirit. Do not do anything else. Do not solve. Do not handle. Learn to do one thing—Draw near to God. He will draw near to you.

Bill Freeman