First, greetings and salutations to my fellow members of the Body of Christ, for no member is more important or less significant than the other. I pray for you constantly in the open and in secret. I pray always that you triumph in Christ daily which will allow you a chance to experience the true power of the gospel and also know the substance and power of the gospel taught in its ancient form. When we first heard of the man Jesus, it was the wonders He performed that captured our attention. Now when Christ is preached it is the miracles which are focused on and not the life. Because the life is without spot or blemish men would rather remember a miracle worker than a sinless man. If there was one sinless man, then all of us who possess the Holy Ghost should be sinless. Listen to what Paul says:
Romans 8:3
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
According to the above passage the rights and authority sin had over us were revoked because of the life of Christ. Only Christ has authority over sin, and when we walk in Christ we walk liberated from sin. Do you really know what this is saying? Anyone can be free from sin . . . the whoremonger, the greedy man, the drug addict, the drug dealer, the abused and the abuser. Everyone who has the Holy Ghost can live sinless. This is why Paul also writes,
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
The life of Christ cancels out what we were, our old desires, our past reputations and our old weaknesses. This is the power of the life of Christ. It is the power to make us new. This is the message the devil does not want us to believe. It seems that ever since Apostle Banks began to teach the message "Walking in the Spirit" and I confirmed it as her witness, I have been under attack by the enemy. I have had trial after trial. There has even been occasional stumbling into sin and this was most discouraging. Why am I so open? Because I realize that our lives are for others. Our failures as well as our achievements are all for others.
Our failures are no more hidden than the apostles we read about in the scriptures. So I say then, that I am but a man liable to sin when I walk in the flesh. But when I walk in the Spirit I am Christ, the overcomer. But God allowed me to fall into sin to know the way out. My trial now is profitable for others. Now we know that in order to walk in the Spirit we must agree with God, and this agreement must entail that our life is not our own. There are some who have done this (simply agreed with God) and consequently they are walking in the Spirit. They now know that the message is real. Getting in the Spirit is easy. It is remaining in the Spirit that is tricky.
Recently, God allowed me to experience some things while walking in the flesh. These things made me desire to be in the Spirit again. On every hand I was making a mess of things; my life, my marriage, everything was out of sync. I sought the Lord for an answer to the question, "Why do we vacillate to the flesh after having walked the Spirit?" This question plagued me because I know what it is to walk in the Spirit. So why do I occasionally walk in the flesh? Then God ministered to me through Apostle Banks. Here is what He said . . . We are as children learning to walk in the natural. They fall sometimes until they learn how to master their balance. We do the same thing. How do we keep our balance in the Spirit? Let us go to St. John 14:23
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Do you really love the Lord? This love must be seen in deeds as well as in confession. Whenever we sin it is due to a lack of love and respect for the Father. It is also a lack of love for our fellow man. God will allow us to walk in the Spirit based upon our agreement with Him, but it is when our human heart is satisfied with this agreement that enables us to always walk in the Spirit. Your mind has been converted, but now your heart must be converted, too. This is why Christ says,
St. John 14:1
“Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me."
If you believe God in your heart and love Him with your whole heart there is no room for failure. But how is the heart converted? Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth,
2 Corinthians 4:1-2
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; (this is why we are able to continue in the Spirit)
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, (in other words, our hearts are pure) not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. (This, too, is why we continue in the Spirit.)
Brethren, we have now tasted of the heavenly gift, the promise of the Spirit. The only thing that can keep us out of the Spirit is impurity in our hearts. Those things that we know are detrimental to us but we still love and prefer them. You must purify your heart of all these things that God has deemed unlawful or not expedient, if you are going to continue in the Spirit. If you stay in the Spirit your heart will begin to prefer those things pertaining to godliness. It is through experience of the righteousness of God that the heart is converted.
