Tonight we will take a look at some very powerful phrases in Romans chapter 8. Tonight, I urge you to look inside yourself as we review what it means to walk in the spirit.
It really boils down to the things that occupy your thinking mind. What worries you? What concerns you? Do you dwell on how to arrive at that pleasure you seek? Physical pleasure or otherwise. Do you seek how you can improve your situation? Ok, we all do that, but in what context do you do it? Do you take steps to improve yourself for good? Do you pursue things that will only benefit you?
Once we can answer these sorts of questions honestly, we will eventually realize that it boils down even further to what is most important to us. I work, but what do I really work for? I love, but what is the subject of my love?
In Romans, Paul the apostle puts it beautifully:
“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.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:5-11
Jesus was and is the ultimate example for walking in the spirit. He lived for others and to do the will of God. Walking in the Spirit means abstaining from seeking physical and earthly pleasures. It means seeking life as God would have us to seek it.
““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:36-39
So, loving God means obeying Him. Obeying God means doing what He commands. Doing what He commands means loving others, abstaining from sin and fleshly temptations, and proactively helping others. This all leads to walking in the spirit. Please be aware, everyone fails at this, and some of us fail every day, maybe every hour. But the important thing is to keep trying. Keep trying to get better. Read your Bible. Immerse yourself in God’s Word. I promise you will never regret it.
Where do you walk?
Make no mistake, God’s Word teaches that salvation requires baptism.
Mark 16:16
I Peter 3:21
Acts 8:34-39
Monday Night Bible Study 