A True Walk in the Spirit

In the past few months the Lord has visited me several times about the ministry. True to form, He is continuing to fine tune and prune those areas that will keep us from His eternal Kingdom. One area He is focusing on, is our walk in the Spirit.

Philippians 3:15-16

15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

In the past few months the Lord has visited me several times about the ministry. True to form, He is continuing to fine tune and prune those areas that will keep us from His eternal Kingdom. One area He is focusing on, is our walk in the Spirit.

Philippians 3:15-16

15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Walking in the Spirit is to have the mind of Christ in situations, circumstances and relationships. Many in leadership, understand, preach, teach and counsel it, but cannot manifest it.

We find ourselves presented with a situation and ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’ So, we begin to rehearse in our minds all the teachings we’ve had, scriptures we’ve read, lessons we’ve learned and regardless of what the enemy is doing we say, ‘Okay, this is what God would have me do.’

But is this walking in the Spirit? Do we read in God’s Word that Jesus counselled Himself into performing righteousness every time a situation or circumstance presented itself?

When life presents us with tests and trials designed to offend and hurt us beyond ‘recovery,’ how do we come to walking in the Spirit? For instance, if a wife walks in on her husband in the act of adultery, what does she do with the hurt she feels at that moment?

As a manifested son of God, if you stop at the hurt and disappointment amid your circumstances, situations and relationships there’s no way you are going to make it in God. If you are experiencing hurt, (mental pain or distress), offense, lingering anger, disappointment, and frustration and all those emotions which come to cripple and hinder your walk, you truly do not understand walking in the Spirit. You don’t understand the mystery of Christ. You are right where most of the church is, even with all your knowledge.

This is very important because it is the emotions that reveal whether we are walking in the Spirit. If there’s an emotion that affects your mental state but does not affect the New Creature, that makes you two individuals. This would mean you have dual nature. Therefore, you are really saying that your fleshy mind can be affected but you’re not going to let that cripple you. It also means Jesus is not Lord of your emotions. If He’s Lord, then you can’t have two different emotions.

If we see ourselves as vulnerable to fleshy emotions and having to fight off or overcome them when bad things happen to us, then we are not walking in the Spirit. But you pat yourself on the back after finally doing the ‘right’ thing, taking pride in the fact that you overcame that negative fleshy emotion. But I want you to examine all the instances when the word ‘overcome’ is used to define our spiritually.

John 16:33

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Romans 3:4

4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Romans 12:21

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

2 Peter 2:19

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

If you are overcome by negative emotions, such as hurt or disappointment, then you are also held captive by the same. You have rendered yourself inoperable in the Kingdom of God.

2 Peter 2:20

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

1 John 2:13

13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

1 John 2:14

14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

In every case, the children of God are instructed to live a life that proves we have overcome the world and the evil that is in the world. There is no where we are told to overcome our emotions. These things we crucified with Christ. We are dead to the negative emotions satan created in us.

And again, destroy the mindset that says, “I have a right to hurt. How can any say that a saint is not supposed to feel hurt when people do evil things to them? I just don’t believe that. I believe we will all feel hurt at some point in this walk. And I believe that God understands our hurt.” “No, I don’t,” says God.

The biblical definition of hurt is mental pain and distress. The word distress means great mental pain, straitened and anguish. Anguish is severe mental pain and suffering. This is the emotion that saints are attributing to the Holy Ghost or the New Creature. But what does the scripture say about this emotion?

There are two elements that make hurt unlawful for the saints: hopelessness and resentment.

Hopelessness:

You see hurt is mental distress and distress makes one feel straitened or severely restricted to the point of helplessness. This emotion is void of hope. But the saints of God are never without hope. We were subjected to hope by God. There should be no situations that render us hopeless or helpless. Helplessness says, ‘God has abandoned me.’ This is unlawful and an insult to the Father, who has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Resentment:

You know all the scriptures on suffering, but you don’t agree with them. If you did, then your attitude regarding suffering would be different. The apostles are our examples.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

What the world intends to be distresses for us, we are to take pleasure in; for when we are made weak in situations or relationships, then are we strong in the Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:8-11

8. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9. Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Finally, in all the trouble that comes our way, we are not distressed, (full of mental pain and/or anguish). The enemy may take our body and soul through some ugly things, but it is all ordained of the Father and designed to reveal the life of Christ in our flesh.

Let me be clear here, . . . this teaching on hurt has nothing to do with ignoring physical pain. But it is designed to show that the purpose is more powerful than even physical pain.

Acts 5:40-42

40. And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

This is the attitude of a son of God. They were not resentful, nor distressed because of their imprisonment, public humiliation or unjust cruelty. They rejoiced, and they didn’t have to overcome any negative emotion to do so. Did they feel the pain of the whip in their flesh? Yes. But they also understood the purpose for their lives. And their purpose was more powerful than the pain in their body.

Maybe you still don’t believe in the power of the gospel and the oneness with our God. But He also addressed that possibility.

Romans 3:3-5

3. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

4. God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

If you don’t believe the testimony of the Word of God, then you surely will not overcome the judgment. We don’t have to overcome. We overcame when we received salvation. Our flesh is dead and for something to affect the flesh it means it must be alive. But the Bible says to reckon our body as dead to sin. Dead to sin means dead to anything negative and not of God.

There’s no way to walk in the Spirit without having the emotions of God. We don’t have two different emotions. Either Christ is Lord, or He’s not. If He’s your Lord, then you have His emotions, His desires, His perspective, His feelings, His responses, everything He is. We’re not supposed to be trying to overcome. We’ve already overcome.

The Holy Spirit is not trying to fight off little situations happening to our flesh; if so, we have an internal battle. This means we cannot deal with other people’s situations because we’re too busy dealing with our own. That’s not God.

Do you think Jesus did that when He was on His way to the cross? Do you think Jesus was doing that when Peter denied Him, and said, “I don’t know this man”? Do you think Jesus had to overcome rejection before He could die for the world? He didn’t have to overcome anything because He manifested what He is.

1 John 4:17

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We were birthed perfect. We are experiencing truth. We are the answer and the help the world needs. We don’t need the help because we are the help. The others (offenders) in our tests and trials, need us.

The scripture states, . . . as He is, so are we . . . What does that mean? Does it mean we are like Him until a painful situation arises or something negative happens? I don’t think so. To some this sounds ludicrous because it seems as if we advocate having no emotions or feelings. But this is the furthest thing from the truth. We do have feelings, but they are ALL of God! Walking in the Spirit affords us all the emotions of Christ. The reason many cannot receive this is because they do not allow themselves to become vulnerable to God.

This must be life to us. If not, we will never produce a manifested son of God. If we are not walking after the Spirit, it doesn’t matter how much we do, we are still going to die and go to hell. We can be the best church goers there are, loyal and faithful but if we are not walking in the Spirit, our ministry is in vain. All we can do is pass along information and babysit the people of God. We will never produce a manifested son of God.

But I trust that this lesson has opened your eyes to the truth. You can change your disposition simply by accepting the truth. Today is the day to believe God.