Lesson 3 Walking by the Spirit
Questions 3 and 4
The Power of the Holy Spirit
The key truth from Galatians 5:16 is that not gratifying the desires of our flesh is presented as an automatic result of walking by the Spirit. Do you want to be free from over-drinking, drug usage, and cigarette smoking? Do you want to be free from all gratification of your flesh? Then the importance is to learn how to “walk by the Spirit.” For if you do that, you won’t gratify your flesh. Isn’t that marvelous?
Think about religion for a minute, with all of its prohibitions and regulations. All religions in the world have one thing in common: they tell us to stop doing something. Stop getting drunk, stop sinning with drugs, stop smoking, stop lying, stop cursing, etc.
But believers are told to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), to “live by the Spirit” and to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). And if we learn how to do this, the automatic result will be that we no longer live a lifestyle of fleshly living or substance abuse. Do you see the power of this?
Our Daily Struggle
Question 3. According to Galatians 5:17 NIV, what is the conflict that you and I experience every day as Christians?
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The flesh of every person naturally desires what is contrary to God’s Spirit. Our flesh, like a little toddler, wants to be gratified. It wants a pacifier. It wants what it wants, and it wants it now!
The Spirit of God wants us to grow and mature out of a life of fleshly gratification; He wants us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. He wants us to learn to live a life of crucifying our flesh rather than gratifying it.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Galatians 5:24
These two competing desires within us can lead us to great failure when we choose to let our flesh live by feeding its appetite for cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol. The result can often be great harm done to ourselves and others. I’ve experienced this firsthand; possibly you have too. The devil, using substances (among many other things), comes to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10).
So, these competing desires within us are totally at odds with each other and can never be reconciled. If we indulge our flesh, we will sin in ways we do not want.
“They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want.”
Galatians 5:17
Receiving the Holy Spirit
In this lesson, we are just introducing this concept, but I will continue to share with you throughout this course how God has taught me this truth which led to ongoing freedom in my life. But for the remainder of this lesson, I want us to be clear on how we receive the Spirit of God so that we can then begin Walking by the Spirit. Please read the following passage:
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”
Ephesians 1:13 NIV
Question 4. According to Ephesians 1:13 NIV, how do people receive the Holy Spirit?
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