Can You Tell When You are Not Walking in the Spirit?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Gal. 3:3 KJV)
Our life in Christ is a life of the Spirit. We are born of the Spirit. We live by the Spirit. We are preserved until the day of Redemption by the Spirit. We also win our present-day battles by the Spirit. The Lord has explicitly instructed us to live by the Spirit. Can we know when we are living by the Spirit or rather, living outside the Spirit?
The opposite of the Spirit in this context is the flesh. At any one point in time, you are either living by the Spirit or living by the flesh. And you can tell in the majority of cases whether the flesh or the Spirit is in control. In some instances, it becomes a little blurry and requires more spiritual maturity and sensitivity.
There are two very simple tests, amongst others, we can use every moment to tell if we are living out of the Spirit or not. The first is seen above. The Galatians had moved from faith to the works of the flesh and were scolded for leaving the way of the Spirit. Whenever true faith is at work in anything you are doing, you are operating in the Spirit. The second is more apparent. Whenever we are living in sin, from the way we think, feel, speak or act, it is 100% certain that we out of the way of the Spirit. We, therefore, do not need a prophet to tell us we are out of the Spirit when we are in living in sin or unbelief.
MEDITATE
What are some of the shreds of evidence you can see when someone is walking in the Spirit? ( Gal. 5: 22-23).
APPLY THE WORD
You walk in the Spirit by following His leading in your life. He leads you by His voice(His Word) in the scriptures, in your heart or in and through other believers( especially Spirit-led leaders) around you.
PRAY
Ask the Spirit to help you yield to His leading in your life more than you have done before.
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