Equipped And Empowered
You’ve been given what you need.
1John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
That phrase as He is, so are we in this world, is worth considering. We are meant to make Him known to the generations in our lifetime.
Matthew 10:7 And as you go, preach, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Jesus modeled this way of ministry to His twelve disciples. They witnessed how He ministered to the people. He let them minister with Him. Then He tells them they can do likewise because He has given them what it takes. You have His fullness and the Holy Spirit of promise.
You have what it takes!
There’s a story of a little boy walking a beach littered with stranded starfish. Walking, he picked up starfish and threw it back into the sea. A man saw him and asked what he was doing. The boy answered, “I’m rescuing these starfish.” The man told the boy, “But there are so many; you can’t possibly help all of them?” The boy picked up a starfish, threw it into the sea, and then said to the man, “I just helped that one.”
If you get distracted by the size of the task before you, you may talk yourself out of doing anything at all. The man in the story was distracted by the size of the task, but the boy could focus on helping one starfish at a time. The boy had what it takes.
Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes!” If that is even a partial lie, Jesus was not sinless. He couldn’t be the perfect sacrifice for sin if He wasn’t sinless. That would mean you and I are still in sin and without hope. But we know Jesus never lied. That means all things are possible to him who believes! Your past does not define you, the abuses you have suffered do not define you, hurts and offenses cannot define you, betrayals cannot define you, your ancestry does not define you, failures do not define you! You are set free in Christ, and all things are possible to anyone who believes. You are more than an overcomer through Christ!
You have what it takes!
David could slay a giant much bigger than himself who defied the armies of Israel and mocked God because David believed in God and His promise for Israel!
Daniel could survive a night in the den of hungry lions after refusing to do something that went against God because he believed.
A fourth man stood in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they refused to bow and worship an image because they believed in God.
You have more inside and working through you today than those men had in their day! You have what it takes!
You can face down your giant of fear in whatever area it is when you believe in the One who is greater than your fear! Perfect love casts out fear! That includes fear of death, fear of man, fear of rejection, fear of failure, or any other type of fear. They all are kicked out of our lives by His love.
You have what it takes!
You’ve been equipped and empowered to go to your generation and share the good news of Jesus with them. Allow faith to rise in you, and you can freely give to others what you have freely received. I encourage you to take God at His word today and every day.
You Have What It Takes
Do you know what you have?
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus was full of something. He was full of grace and truth. But there’s something stated that we must not overlook.
John 1:16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
You are full of something too! You are full of His fullness! You have received grace for grace! God gave you favor to receive favor so you can go in favor to make Jesus known!
You have what it takes!
John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Just as Moses and Jesus were distinguished by what they brought, we can also be known for what we bring.
You have what it takes!
You have family members, neighbors, friends, acquaintances in the marketplace, and coworkers who need to know that God loves them and that His love was manifest when He sent His Only-begotten Son, Jesus, to this earth.
Jesus lived a sinless life, went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, and then gave Himself as a sacrifice for their sin.
Jesus took the whole world's sin on Himself at the cross, where they crucified Him so that any who believed in Him could receive the righteousness of God and be born again!
To prove He was the One sent by God to do this work of salvation and redemption, He rose from the dead after three days, and many days after that, He ascended into heaven with the promise of coming again. Once Jesus was seated on the throne in heaven, The Father released the Promised Holy Spirit to baptize those who believed with power. Jesus is returning soon, and multitudes are in the valley of decision needing someone to share the good news with them that God loves them, Jesus died for them, and they also can be saved.
You believed this good news yourself and have received His fullness! You now stand in His grace! Don’t let the enemy cheat you out of what you are full of! Don’t let him steal your voice, the promises that are yes and amen in Jesus or the privilege of reaching the lost for Christ!
You have what it takes!
New Covenant/Old Covenant Contrasts
Which covenant are you operating in?
When it comes to thinking about New Covenant versus Old Covenant, the lines often get blurred.
But there can be some simple ideas that may help a person distinguish between the two fairly easily.
Old Covenant thinking when it comes to obedience operates from a declaration of what obedience is meant to look like with an air of pull up your bootstraps and get to it, or prayers may be unanswered, and punishment dealt out swiftly. It ministers insecurity and death in one’s relationship with God. It is a continual roller coaster ride of ups and downs based on a person’s own performance rather than Christ’s obedience.
New Covenant thinking about obedience begins with one’s relationship to God through the obedience of Christ and thus has a handle on who they are because of who He is and knows what they can now do because of what He has made them to be. Their security is rooted in Christ’s performance, and the more secure they are in it, the more they discover obedience is an outflow of who they have become in Him.
New Covenant begins and ends with identity in Christ, whereas Old Covenant thinking begins and ends with identity in oneself.
Colossians 2:4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
In the New Covenant, we walk by faith in Christ. In the Old Covenant, they walked according to the demands of the law.
Notice that Colossians declared the saints to be complete in Christ. Completeness in the New Covenant is only realized in Christ. Righteousness, glory, power, and promise flow through Christ to His new creations.
In the Old Covenant, righteousness, glory, power, and promise had to be earned, and if not earned, then opposite consequences ensued. It was to keep it or be cursed.
In the New Covenant, Christ became a curse for us so that we could be set free from the curse under the law.
The New Covenant places us under and in Christ. The Old Covenant places a person under the Law.
Which covenant do you find yourself spending most of your time and thought in? I encourage you today to be mindful of the New Covenant in Christ at all times and not let anyone cheat you from it.
Riches of The Glory
Do you know the riches you are a part of?
In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul prays something worth noting when meditating on the Scripture. Interestingly, he prays for our eyes of understanding to be enlightened so we might know some things. One such thing involves,
Ephesians 1:18…………………. what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
I am intrigued by the part that speaks of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
What exactly does that mean?
It’s easy for me to grasp that I’ve been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ! I get that He is a rich treasure indeed.
But here, it speaks of riches of glory based on His inheritance in the saints.
I see this and ponder it in submission to the Holy Spirit and come away with my mind blown at the idea that I, along with others such as you who have been born again and follow Jesus and thus are called saints, are part of the riches of the glory of His inheritance.
It’s so easy to think of Him and value Him greatly because of His great sacrifice, but then the why of His sacrifice comes into view. There had to be something about our redemption that greatly appealed to Him. There was something of beauty to the new creation we would be that is considered a rich and glorious inheritance for Him.
With that in mind, we should never again consider a born-again follower of Jesus as being ordinary. There is no such thing as a worthless new creation. We all make up the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
2Corinthians 5:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
It has been stated in history by men of God long ago that if we could see the spirit man, made new in Christ as he really is, we would be captivated with awe and wonder.
There is an inner beauty to who we are In Christ, and Christ being in us magnifies that beauty.
Perhaps if we were to see what He sees when we look in the mirror, we might be able to walk in who we truly are in Him more fully instead of often seeing ourselves according to the flesh.
Would seeing yourself as part of the riches of the glory of His inheritance change anything about how you live right now?
In order to be and to do according to His good pleasure, a person must know what they are and who they are. If there’s any confusion and uncertainty about this, a person will struggle to be and to do. It is about knowing your identity and having it settled about being in Christ and being new, which will empower you to live a different life than you did in your former days before coming to know Jesus.
I encourage you to know who you are, whose you are, and what you are now that you are in Him so confidently that you live out that reality. You are part of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
Exceeding Greatness
Do you know how much power is put into you?
Ephesians 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
I don’t know about you, but that was some real mighty power at work raising Jesus from the dead after three days. I mean, doing that and not even taxing Him one bit didn’t even cause Him to lose a little breath!
The question is, how do we read and understand this statement made here in Ephesians?
The Wuest translation says it this way: and what is the superabounding greatness of His inherent power to us who are believing ones as measured by the operative energy of the manifested strength of His might, which might was operative in the Christ when He raised Him from among the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places
Superabounding greatness of His inherent power to us!
God has set to work in us, the exceeding greatness of power no less than the level of power that was at work when He raised Jesus from the dead after three days!
So how is this meant to impact us?
Romans 8:11 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.
I know no one who would say they did not receive new life in Christ when they believed. But they are referring to the spirit life within, not the physical life without.
But here we find a testimony in the Scripture that declares life will also be given to our mortal bodies!
His Spirit brings life into our mortal bodies, not just the new life we receive from the Spirit for our spirit. But sadly, not everyone sees and understands, and believes this precious promise given to us.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
This idea of more abundantly includes every facet of our life. Not just our spiritual life but also our emotional and physical life. God’s exceeding greatness of power is available to work in us because He has willed it to be so.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
If a promise of good life, long and blessed, could exist under the Old Covenant if the people were to comply with righteousness, then why can’t it be available to us now that we are made righteous with God’s righteousness?
I dare say we are far more blessed than we are aware of. I encourage you to allow yourself to meditate upon His goodness and the promises we have read today. Let the Holy Spirit feed you with the hope that knowing and belonging to Him can give.
Growing In Your Knowing
Do you really know?
Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Paul as an apostle, prayed this prayer for everyone in the church at Ephesus. He was moved by the Holy Spirit to pray in such a way and to stress the importance of believers having a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, Him meaning Jesus.
The desire is that we really know Jesus in such an intimate personal way that we can speak of Him the same as we would anyone we know closely and personally here on earth.
But more than that, there is a desire that we would have the eyes of our understanding enlightened. This, to me, is speaking of washing the soul with the truth concerning Jesus in such a way that it opens up the wide-open vistas of what it means to be in Christ and know the benefit more fully and completely.
In this case, it speaks of the hope of His calling. Hope can be a powerful thing when it is in full operation. The hope of His calling means there is more to who we are in Him and the purpose of His making us a new creation than just existing here and now, biding our time until we make it to heaven. His calling gives us purpose and aims to empower us to influence and impact our generation in His name.
Then something more is added to that idea. There are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints that we are also meant to know and benefit from. It is meant to be a continual source of encouragement, equipping, and empowerment to be involved with the saints.
But to ensure we can be all He says we can be, there is yet another important benefit. We are to know the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, when He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.
This speaks of His supernatural transformative power, raising us from the dead and establishing us in a place of favor with Father. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. When Jesus died, Scripture says in Romans we died with Him, and when He was raised in life, we were raised with Him, and here and in other places in Scripture, we learn we are seated with Him!
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
We are more than equipped and empowered to be and to do according to His good pleasure. Go in the strength that knowing Jesus according to the Spirit can provide today and every day. I encourage you to look to Him and really live!
Real Transformation
What changes you?
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Jesus wanted to know what the disciples had heard about Him for a reason. Notice how wrong the testimonies of some people were. Some had speculated that Jesus was one of the prophets. They drew wrong conclusions due to not really knowing Him. But we see a different testimony from Peter. “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
All of a sudden, Peter knew Jesus as who Jesus was and captivated him with awe. Merely hearing about Jesus does not change you. You need a real revelation of Him that exalts His worth and greatness in your heart and imagination. Peter would have never concluded who Jesus was on his own, just as others had already proven they couldn’t get it on their own.
It is why the Holy Spirit is so important to us. His ministry is to reveal Jesus to us.
Having Holy Spirit revelation as to who Jesus is matters. Jesus is not just an ordinary man. He is the Son of God! He is God the Son! He is Almighty God! He is the Word of God! He is the Great High Priest of our confession! He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the One who was, and is, and is to come! He is the Great I am! He is the first and the last the Alpha and the Omega! He is the Prince of peace and the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Unfortunately, some prefer having a certificate of accomplished studies about Jesus to truly knowing Jesus. That is religion. The Holy Spirit desires that we know and encounter Jesus so that we are captivated in awe of Him. The Holy Spirit wants to transform us by revealing Christ in His glory to us.
2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
We need to see Jesus in ways that captivate our hearts and imaginations based on who He truly is. Failing to grow in a revelation of Jesus risks becoming cold and indifferent. It can lead to forfeiting the continual transformation meant to be experienced by beholding Him. It can also forfeit the drive to bear testimony of Him to others. The sure pathway to love waxing cold is to put off allowing the Holy Spirit to wash the soul by bringing fresh revelation concerning Christ Jesus and His greatness.
There’s no devil, no sin, no circumstance, no problem, and no past too big or too powerful for Jesus to overcome. The greater Jesus is in the imagination of the soul, the freer you become from all the things that would threaten your victory, peace, and witness for Him.
People need to see and hear of your very alive relationship revelation, not religious information. I encourage you today to look to Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to give you an even greater revelation of Him to run on.
Contradiction
Conflicted?
Under the New Covenant, the way contradiction has occurred for a believer shifted. Contradiction is not about how we are out of step with the Law. It is about being out of step with the new creation we become in Christ and Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Spiritual progress is made by investing in the effort to renew the spirit of the mind. Contradiction takes place when we allow our minds to remain tied to the old way of thinking instead of renewing it according to the New Covenant and the new creation’s way of being and doing.
The new creation that we are in Christ is righteous and holy. It is righteous with God’s righteousness, and it is holy with the holiness of Christ. This is the nature of the new creation that we are in Christ. Our spirit within is aware of this and desires to live according to whom Christ made us to be but to do so, the work of renewing the mind must be engaged.
This is why there is such an assault on the mind by the enemy. It comes through many distractions meant to keep us from discovering the truth in our minds concerning who we truly are and thus finding ourselves in a life of contradiction.
When we invest in renewing the spirit of our minds, it affects our choices. We become more productive in the purposes of the kingdom, and we adorn the gospel more effectively.
Spiritual laziness could be defined as neglecting to put in the needed effort to renew the spirit of our mind. Many might think it is defined as not doing what Scripture describes as new creation behavior. But our behavior will often be in step with where we allow our minds to dwell. A reluctance to invest in renewing the spirit of the mind produces the fruit of contradiction.
But I am not suggesting that a person goes to the law to rid themselves of contradiction. The New Covenant is about living out your new identity in Christ. God’s generosity towards Adam and Eve was great. They could eat from any of the trees in the garden except the one (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.) So renewing your mind under the New Covenant does not require you to go and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It sends you to see Jesus and what He accomplished on your behalf to make you righteous and holy so you can live as who He made you to be, as opposed to seeing yourself as what you are not according to the law.
If the spirit of the mind is not renewed in knowing where one’s righteousness and holiness come from so that it can tap into what has already been done on its behalf, a life of contradiction will be the outcome. I encourage you to know the truth concerning who you truly are in Christ, fill your mind with what He accomplished on your behalf, and be thankful.
Shame
Ashamed?
For some, this word is equal to a bad word. They claim it should never be a part of a believer’s experience. They contend that Jesus dealt with shame; thus, shame is now considered an enemy to anyone in Christ.
The dictionary defines shame as a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.
Biblically and practically speaking, shame is a product of the conscience. A healthy conscience is important for all of us.
1Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
If shame is an enemy to a believer, why would the great apostle of grace write what he did to the Corinthian church? Why would he use language such as, I speak this to your shame?
Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
When a person lives according to the world instead of being the heavenly citizen they are meant to be in Christ, it creates a conflict between their soul and spirit. It creates a contradiction.
In a state of contradiction, there will have been choices made to which anyone with a conscience that is not seared will feel ashamed. There can be thoughts dwelled upon that are in contradiction to whom a person is meant to be in Christ that stirs shame, especially if they are brought out into the light.
Shame becomes an enemy when it can send someone into hiding in the darkness they have stumbled into. But the power for shame to do such things was swallowed up in Christ if one can believe the truth concerning His bearing shame for us at the cross so we can be set free from the power of shame to keep us from walking in the light. The active work of grace and forgiveness in our lives delivers us from the shame we experience when we allow contradiction to have a place.
The purpose of shame is intended to drive us to Jesus. A healthy conscience will healthily experience shame when contradiction occurs. The early church used shame to help those taken captive in error.
2Thessalonians 3:14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.
Rebellious behavior, or a stumble into contradiction to the new creation Jesus made, is meant to experience shame so that it might motivate the person to go boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy to help in their time of need. But if we allow well-meaning but misled instructors to tell us shame is our enemy at all times, and that even in our bad behavior, we should seek to silence its voice at work in us, we will remain in the grip of error and contradiction that brought the shame to begin with and run the risk of hardening our hearts by deadening our consciences.
I am not in a snare of shame when I continually look to Jesus, who has forgiven my sin past, present, and future. But when I am not looking to Him and walking in faith with Him, I am subject to shame, and in such a case, shame can be a friend to me if I let it lead me to Him as it should. If shame has visited you, I encourage you to allow it to lead you to Jesus, who alone can remove it and replace it with His own peace.
Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Mistaken
Did you know?
I remember when I was 18 years old, receiving great favor from a Judge who really should have taken away my driver’s license. I had been pulled over twice by the same officer in the same spot for doing the same thing in two days back to back. That was on top of all the other citations I had accumulated until then. The judge gave me mercy.
Interesting though. The favor the Judge gave me did not mean my actions were no longer wrong. It meant I was not being sentenced according to those actions in that instance.
I clearly understood that to continue driving the way I did to end up before the judge in the first place would bring me right back before him again. My driving habit needed to change. The judge did not order that all speed limit signs be changed to a speed of my preference and that all policemen stop issuing tickets for illegal driving. He told me to begin driving civilized.
Being forgiven of something doesn’t make the wrong right. It doesn’t make sin good. The beauty of justification in Christ is that even though we were justly guilty of sin, by turning to Jesus as our Advocate, the things we could justly be punished for are wiped away. They are not transformed into being thought of now as being good. They are simply removed so that we are not judged for them.
Some speak of grace and mercy in a way that leads someone to imagine that sin was turned into something good. That somehow wrongdoing is now our friend. Such an idea is absurd. To think such is to be mistaken about who God is and what He is truly like.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
Just as some are mistaken about how grace works concerning sin and wrongdoing, others are mistaken when they read this passage and think it means we must double down on instructing others about right and wrong. But is that really what is being communicated here? When you look at it and consider what it is saying, this passage speaks about who we are now in Christ and why the idea of being committed to sin is way out of step with who we are now.
It tells us that sin will not cause grace to increase on our behalf. Sinning is not what keeps grace around, either. We are meant to understand that we died to sin so that the power of it would no longer rule us. That old self that was so in tune with self-interest and sin died and was buried with Jesus. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we were spiritually raised from death and were given new life in Christ. We are free now to live according to the new life we have received.
The new life is not given so that we can go back under the law and keep it better than before so that we can remain in the favor of God. The Spirit now leads us, and He sanctifies us.
The new life gives us a different drive, view of life, and set of motivations and desires. Sin nature is no longer in the driver’s seat doing as it pleases. Grace has come, the Father has bestowed upon us His favor, and we are empowered to live according to the life Jesus has given to us. Let’s not be mistaken about what grace does for us. Let’s understand how favor works to our benefit without making sin attractive. Let’s also not be mistaken into thinking that grace just gave us a fresh start to begin trying to keep the law all over again. Let’s allow grace to reidentify us as who God says we are and begin to walk in what He says we can be.
If
What if?
My mom used many old sayings to get the point across to me when I was young. She continued using many of them until the day she went to be with Jesus.
One such saying when I would attempt to offer a weak excuse for being lazy over something using the word “if” was, “If a frog had wings, it wouldn’t scrape its bottom every time it tried to hop.”
You can never get some old sayings out of your memory banks.
In some areas of Christianity, an excuse of “The devil made me do it” seems to be in vogue when a person is not behaving in step with who they truly are in Christ.
In Scripture, our conflict between who we are meant to be and truly are, as opposed to who we used to be and are no longer, is defined as a war between the flesh and the Spirit and hits at the heart of our new identity versus our old one.
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not 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 so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The first key to walking in our new identity is realizing which covenant we are meant to function under now. Trying to walk in our new identity while thinking like we are under an Old Covenant way of relating with God creates a conflict.
Before Christ, we did not have a renewed spirit that is born again and has heavenly DNA. Only by being born again do we become born of the Spirit and are made alive by the Spirit to the things that before seemed outside of us and often far from us. But if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law.
That means people led by the Spirit are not taken by the Spirit back under the law for being right with God in any way. The Law is dead to them now, and a new way of living has been opened up to them. The Law cannot judge the fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Now that we have found our life in the Spirit, we are allowed to do life according to the Spirit. We are given the privilege of walking according to the Spirit and no longer being relegated to the limitations of our strength and wisdom according to our natural self.
We no longer have to live a life that often yields to impulses at the moment that were stirred by the lust of our flesh. We get to live above that type of being and doing now. We get to be the new person God made us and live in the power of the Spirit to manifest His fruits in our lives as we yield to His wisdom, power, and ways. No one in Christ is a prisoner any longer to their flesh, their old way of living. It is for freedom Christ set us free. “If” is a tiny word that seems to yield a lot of power and influence in many lives. Let your “If” be swallowed up today in the power of the Spirit.
Got Love?
What are you motivated by?
1Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Any good deed devoid of the motivation of love means nothing where God is concerned.
But we should note here that the Holy Spirit is not denouncing good works by revealing the higher motivation of love.
It does reveal clearly that it is possible to do many good things, even heroic things, from a selfish motive. Such things can be done to be seen and praised and to make a name for oneself.
So by no means are tongues, prophecy, revelation, faith, feeding the poor, or being a martyr being discouraged by what is taught here in 1Corinthians 13.
It simply puts into perspective the idea of doing such things in a way that truly counts for something. The only way to do that is to allow myself to be moved by love towards others.
Granted, a world filled with these acts, even when wrongly motivated, is far better than a world without them. But for those of us concerned with the record of heaven and the pleasure of God, being rightly motivated so that it counts where it matters most is a big deal.
So when love manifests, what does it look like?
1Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Notice that love, as described here, requires us to be involved with others. You cannot be a recluse and practice love. Withdrawing from others will not enable you to exercise love. The platform for love to be on display involves being among others with purpose.
This is why being committed to the gathering is important, and being involved with others outside the gathering is equally important.
I encourage you today to allow the Holy Spirit to direct your attention where He wants it and be ready to be used by Him to love someone He thinks you should love despite who they are or what they are in the natural or the spiritual.
The only thing that matters is that the Holy Spirit is allowed to fill our hearts and minds with the love of Christ and then direct us about who we are to manifest His love to. Go in His love today and be ready to show His love to whomever He desires you to show it to.
Set Your Mind
Where do your thoughts dwell?
Colossians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Romans 6:4 Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
What I give my thoughts to is very important. That old saying that a person is too heavenly-minded to be any earthly good is untrue. It runs against what Scripture teaches.
We are meant to be heavenly-minded to be any earthly good.
If you have been raised with Christ. If you have been born again, you were raised with Christ. Anyone born again was created to seek those things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
We are meant to be thinking as heavenly beings. We are no longer meant to think as someone who is of this world but rather as someone who is of His kingdom.
This means that what we fill our minds with matters. To walk in the newness of life, we must think like someone who has received newness of life.
What I dwell on determines how I live. The Holy Spirit does not force me to be and to do. He will empower me to be and to do, but He does not turn me into a robot for God.
I have a choice in the matter of how I live my life. If I refuse the wise counsel of where to set my mind, I will struggle more than is ordinary.
Many think laziness begins and can only be described as someone who sits around doing nothing. But the birthplace of laziness is in the mind. It involves the refusal to think productively and imagine possibilities.
Laziness towards setting one’s mind where it should be produces inactivity or at least the wrong activity. It is victory over laziness that invests in choosing to think right so that one can begin to choose right and then act on that right.
By thinking right, we begin to know who we are and what we are capable of because we see Jesus, who created us for greater purposes. I encourage you today to fill your thoughts with Jesus and consider where He is seated. See His greatness and grace. Know His love and mercy—Marvel at His abundant life and radiance. Then realize all this is working in you when you are abiding in Him. This is how to bear much fruit and be productive for His kingdom. It begins with where our thoughts are allowed to wander and dwell. To set means to fix. Where will you allow your thoughts to dwell today?
Alignment
Have you been adjusted?
Most people who own a vehicle periodically have their car aligned when they buy new tires. The reason is that by aligning the car, the tires will last longer, perform better, and the warranty for the tires will not be voided. A car out of alignment will experience unusual wear on the tires, will not handle properly, and can even become dangerous.
When I was young, without Christ and very foolish, I owned a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. One night I was down on Cumberland Avenue and was not in my right mind for good reason. On the sidewalk was a group of college students, and I was making a left turn and thought it would be a good time to show off what this car could do. So, I stepped on the gas, the tires began to spin and smoke, and I was making my turn sideways across the intersection. I didn’t realize that I was drifting close to a high curb. Once I noticed I let off the gas, the car began to right itself and slammed my right front tire into the curb. At that, I decided to head home. Going down the interstate, it dawned on me that my car was pulling hard to the right. So like a real dummy, I let go of the steering wheel to see what it would do, and it took off to the right into the grass off the side of the interstate and barely stopped short of a concrete culvert. I won’t go into what it cost me to get things straightened out again on that car. But my foolish disregard that led to it being way out of alignment almost got me badly hurt or killed.
It can be very unprofitable to disregard alignment, personally and for others a person may claim to love and care about.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The goal of a follower of Jesus is to know the will of God and do it. Having been born again, I now know who I am and am allowed to know what God desires for my life. I can choose to trust that the desires He places within me for His purposes and glory far exceed anything I could come up with in my flesh.
My discovery of what His desires are for my life are made known and increased when I invest in renewing my mind with His word.
Not just any word I can find in the Bible but the right word that applies to me under the covenant I am in with Him right now.
If I had taken my Roadrunner in to be serviced and insisted that they align it based on tires that did not apply to the car, I would be no better off. I needed it aligned specifically for the tires I had on it.
The same is true for me now that I have come under the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. Jesus did not bring me into the Old Covenant that was before He shed His blood at the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven. That Old Covenant relied on what I could do in my own strength to be righteous. Under this New Covenant, I am made the very righteousness of God through faith in Jesus. I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit now, and my new man within desires to do the will of God.
But my mind must be aligned with the truth concerning who I am in Christ. I cannot serve myself and others by being out of line and thinking as I had before I came to Jesus. To live in the power God gave me to do His good and perfect will, I must align my mind with who He is, His ways, and what He says about me now that I belong to Jesus. Regular alignments are part of the journey, and I find that the more I am in His word, the more I adjust to the truth He reveals to me, and the more beneficial I am to myself and others.
Sealed
Want to be encouraged?
Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
When I asked my wife Sheila to marry me many years ago, I gave her an engagement ring signifying my promise to her to stand at an altar before many witnesses and declare her to be my bride. That ring gave her confidence that I would follow through, and it also was a sign to others that she was taken, not available, not on the market, so to speak. The Holy Spirit, if you will be open to the idea, is like the engagement ring. He is the sign that Jesus will come again and will complete His promise. What does the ring Jesus gave us look like?
In Scripture, we are given examples of what Jesus was like and told stories of what He did.
Jesus said if you had seen Him, you had seen the Father. In other words, everything Jesus spoke and did was mirroring the Father.
So we also know what the Father is like and how He acts.
The Ephesians were told they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise after they heard the truth of the gospel of their salvation and believed in Jesus. They were told that the Holy Spirit of promise guaranteed their inheritance.
Now in a like manner, this is meant to apply to us who believe in Jesus today. The same truth is ours, just as it was theirs.
So it would be prudent to ask, is there anything in Scripture that shows us what the Holy Spirit is like and how He acts? Is there something about the Holy Spirit that indicates a person has Him in their life and thus can be assured of their guarantee of the inheritance?
The answer to this question is that there is!
Anytime the Holy Spirit filled believers, we find certain activities took place. In fact, because of this truth in Ephesians, believers are encouraged when they are part of a move of the Holy Spirit in a gathering.
It is the work of the Spirit that sets us apart. It is why sanctification is of the Holy Spirit. The act of sanctification is being set apart, made different, unlike what is common. It is what holy means: set apart, made special in a sense, given a specific purpose, not common.
A believer walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is uncommon. They are different. Believers who participate in the gifts of the Spirit in a gathering are different and set apart, so to speak.
But the key is revealed in Ephesians as to what unlocks this privilege of being sealed. It uses the terminology “having believed.” You see, it takes the same kind of faith needed to believe in salvation to believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus makes the privilege of the Promised Holy Spirit possible by cleansing us from sin and making us righteous. He pioneered the way for the Spirit to come and indwell us and flow out of us to others.
When we believe and surrender to the work of the Spirit so He might express Himself through bringing His gifts to bless all, we are exhibiting the seal of our inheritance because there’s no mistaking that He is at work among us and that is evidence that we belong to Jesus and are destined for eternity. Just as the Father was made manifest through Jesus, the Holy Spirit magnifies Jesus through us and makes His presence known by how He moves us to respond to Him in various situations. It will always lead to blessing someone else according to the working of His power as opposed to us trying to affirm ourselves by trying to be good enough in our flesh to convince ourselves and others that we might just be okay.
I love being encouraged by His presence at work in and through me, signifying that I am born from above and that I am not of this world. I have supernaturally been born again through faith in Jesus, and I live a supernatural life through faith in the Promised Holy Spirit, given to me as a gift from the Father.
I accepted the gift of salvation Jesus offered me when I came to Him, and I received all that the Holy Spirit offered me when I received Him as well. Just as Jesus gave the gift of salvation and new life, the Holy Spirit gives the gifts of the Spirit. I know I am sealed!
Double Mindedness
What do you think?
1 Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORDb is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
Double-mindedness occurs when we allow anything into our soul that is contrary to the truth of the New Covenant. It might sound good, but it does not accord with the counsel of God as revealed in the New Covenant truth. It might even be from the Scripture but fails the test of passing through the filter of New Covenant truth and perspective.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
What was Jesus saying? Being divided in your heart or mind is not profitable and will always interfere with your ability to retain your focus where it ought to be.
To get our soul and spirit in sync so we can walk in the power we’ve been given, we need to wash our minds with the right truth.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for herb 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Here we are given an example of what Jesus does for His bride. He washes her with words. I dare say these words are not negative criticisms, abusive outbursts of anger, and reminders of how she doesn’t measure up.
He made her something already, and she needs to know whom she is married to, what He has done for her, who that makes her to be, and what it enables her to experience. She needs to get to where she sees the same thing in the mirror He is describing because she increasingly believes His words over her more and more.
Refusing to subject thoughts and opinions to New Covenant truth is akin to seeking after problems.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Double-mindedness is out to rip off any follower of Jesus who allows it to have a place in their soul. Your spirit already has faith and trust in God and loves Him, and desires to do everything God wants. But the soul still needs some work. It needs some washing. It needs old ideas, traditions of men, sentimentality, nostalgia, and incorrect input washed out of it so it can align with the truth God speaks concerning you.
How does what you have been told by someone line up with what God says about you and the work of Jesus in Scripture? I encourage you today to saturate your soul with good truth concerning Jesus and His completed work and all that it makes available to you. Let the words of the groom wash your soul.
Trees Of Righteousness
Have you been planted?
Isaiah 61:1-3
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God: To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
I do not think that anyone would imagine that Jesus was not anointed. But Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah and told us what His anointing would be for.
There was a reason why the Spirit of God was upon Jesus. He was on Jesus to anoint Him. He was anointing Jesus to do specific things.
Preach good tidings to the poor.
Heal the brokenhearted.
Proclaim liberty to the captives.
Open prison doors for those who are bound.
Proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.
Comfort all who mourn.
Console those who mourn in Zion.
Give beauty for ashes.
Give the oil of Joy for mourning.
Give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
Ten things Jesus was anointed for. Everyone one of them is good. Everyone thing Jesus was anointed for was positive and a blessing.
Why was He anointed to do these ten things?
That they who received might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
In other words, it is the goodness of God on display through Jesus benefitting those in need and transforming their lives to the glory of God. Jesus did not come to make them focus on what they didn’t have in themselves. He came to make them aware of what He could offer them if they simply believed in Him. It’s about what He has, not what I don’t have.
At the cross, Jesus took our sins, past, present, and future, and in exchange, gave us His righteousness. New Covenant ministry sets at liberty under the same anointing Jesus walked in. It is the same Holy Spirit who anoints us. The ministry of Jesus is to continue on the earth through His church. Jesus stood in the synagogue in Nazareth, where he grew up, read this passage, and then declared, “This day, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus showed us the desire of the Father to be kind, good, and generous towards those who come in faith to Christ. This is still true today. This amazing message of hope and promise needs to be resurrected in the church and taken outside it to the lost. I encourage you to be a witness for Christ to those outside the church today.
Baptized With Fire
What were you baptized with?
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
In this case, John is speaking of Jesus. Jesus is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
To be baptized, we know, means being fully immersed. The word baptize was used at that time to describe the pickling process. The idea behind baptism in pickling is that a small cucumber would be fully immersed in a container until it was saturated from within to without. No part of the pickle would be left out of the pickling solution. The process would alter the entire pickle.
So if we think about it, the idea of Holy Spirit baptism is about being overwhelmed by Holy Spirit transformation and endowing power.
Jesus told the disciples after His resurrection and just before His ascension to wait for the promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit, to come before going out to be His witnesses. They thought they were prepared to be His witnesses after seeing and being with Jesus after His resurrection. But Jesus knew they needed to go in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. He told them to wait until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and cloven (Divided) tongues of fire were seen over their heads, and they spoke in another language praising God and then went on to turn the world upside down.
So that puts some perspective on being baptized with the Holy Spirit, but what is the fire about?
Obviously, it cannot mean fire in the most literal sense, even though cloven tongues of fire were witnessed over the 120 in that upper room that day, as that is the only record of that particular occurrence of tongues of fire. But when we think of fire in the spiritual sense, we are brought to altars where sacrifices occur.
The fire was used to offer up sacrifices. Sacrifices represented surrender and were required for purification. Once the sacrifice was offered, the sin requiring the sacrifice and fire was purged. Thus the ones represented by the sacrifice were considered clean and free.
For the fire to occur, there had to be surrender. Jesus’ surrender first initiated the fire He spoke of. Think about the sacrifices of lambs before Jesus for a moment. What lamb ever walked up to a priest with a knife, jumped on the sacrificial altar, and stretched out its neck to be slaughtered?
Jesus knew He would be sacrificed and killed in a horrible way. Yet He offered Himself freely. Jesus was a knowledgeable, willing sacrifice. Jesus surrendered Himself completely to the will of the Father. The cross was the altar, and fire for Jesus was the culmination of the Father’s will in His death and resurrection. It would be His greatest act of surrender to the will of the Father.
For us, the altar and fire involve full surrender to the Holy Spirit so that we might walk in the will of God according to the Spirit. The desire of Jesus is not only that we are saturated in the Holy Spirit and endued with His power, but that we also are engulfed by the fire of surrender that brings us into the complete will of God for our lives.
Knowing and doing the will of God is not something you can do of your own accord and in your own strength. To embrace all God has for you, you need the Holy Spirit and fire Jesus promised to baptize you with. I encourage you today to be filled and saturated with the Holy Spirit and fire. Be found in full surrender to God, in full assurance of faith in His love and trusting in His goodness, ready to do anything He shows you is His will for you to be and to do.
Made Alive
How alive are you?
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
The power of God at work in raising Jesus from the dead is the same power at work in us when we are given new life in Christ. Jesus does not make people dead, dry, dull, and boring. His life animates us with the power of His divine life working within us. The Holy Spirit He baptizes with brings with Him a fire that manifests itself in a passion for Jesus and yearning for the will of God.
Holy Spirit fire burns out the lust of the flesh that before dominated our lives in one form or another. It replaces it with a passion for the kingdom of God and Christ. His fire burns out the rival loves and empowers us to be focused on the one love that matters most.
He makes us alive together with Christ! He raises us up together in Christ! He makes us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ!
All this is done to show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ!
There are exceeding riches of grace that God bestows upon us with purpose and intention. Are you aware of the exceeding riches of His grace that can only be seen by recognizing His kindness?
He demonstrated His kindness toward us in Christ when He sent Him to the cross to die and to pay for our sins past, present, and future so we could be brought into life with Him supernaturally according to the Spirit.
We no longer have to live to satisfy the desires of the flesh and the mind that had been so corrupted by lust. Lusts are not only sexual in nature. They can touch every facet of life in some way or another and are the driving force of those spiritually dead without Jesus.
Lusts are the fuel of bad choices, wrong paths, and unprofitable companions and alliances. They lead a person away from what is truly good and profitable to people, places, and things the enemy intends to use to rob, kill and destroy them.
But we have been set free from the destructive work of lusts of the flesh and brought into a life in Christ fueled by the Holy Spirit that takes us to the right places, people, and situations where God is at work, and His blessing is flowing with great abundance and power.
I encourage you today to reacquaint yourself with the idea of having been made alive in Christ and let yourself relish the truth and live in its power. Be aware of His kindness towards you in Christ, and enjoy the joy of truly believing such good news.
According To The Flesh
Walking free of condemnation?
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Just what does it mean to walk according to the flesh?
For many, their understanding of this begins and ends with blatantly obvious fleshly things related to sinful acts and choices.
But is that really what the Holy Spirit seeks to communicate to us?
The idea of Spirit versus flesh in these passages addresses how righteousness and justification are obtained and maintained.
What if we used the terminology “Own Strength, will, and determination” instead of flesh?
Seeking after right standing with God rooted in the law is relying upon our natural resources to comply. It assumes that with enough determination and by setting our wills to do our best, we might obey according to the flesh well enough for God to be impressed.
But the New Covenant Jesus established does not work on this basis. It works on faith in the finished work of Jesus at the cross, in the resurrection and the ascension, and in the fact that He ever lives to intercede for us as our high priest.
In other words, we experience a shift in where we draw our confidence from. We no longer experience confidence based on our performance, but rather it is based on the obedience of Jesus. If we allow ourselves to get caught in the snare of our performance for measuring our standing before God, we come back under condemnation and double-mindedness.
This is why mixing the law with grace is not New Covenant.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Law depends on our flesh, and our flesh is proven to be weak and inconsistent. Another wording that occurs in this train of thought is carnal-mindedness.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
Notice it did not say the carnal mind rebels and refuses to be subject to the Law of God. It says it cannot be so. There’s a problem too big for any man or woman to overcome in the flesh. No matter how much they may wish to overcome it and will themselves to be better, they cannot alter their sinful nature by relying on the flesh to improve or be good enough.
We must, by faith in Jesus Christ, be transformed. We must be born again by the Spirit and thus become new creations in Christ, made right with God with a righteousness that is not our own. Jesus took our sin, past, present, and future, at the cross and gave us His righteousness. By making us new creations, He removed our sinful nature and gave us a new nature created in Christ that is clothed in the very righteousness of God.
When we, by faith, walk in this revelation and understanding, we are walking according to the Spirit. I encourage you today to walk according to the Spirit, and you will find you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Do not live according to the flesh. Instead, let the Spirit supply you.