This devotion is the introduction to the series, “Learning to Walk in The Spirit.” We welcome the author of this devotion, Brother Bob Easton, to the Devotional Staff of the HOHPM. However, Brother Easton is not new to the HOHPM; for he is one of the original HOHPM Board Members, and remains on the Board of the HOHPM. For the past fifty years, he has been, and is continuing to be, a faithful minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know the readers of the “Morning Devotional Thoughts” of the HOHPM will be blessed by Brother Easton’s devotions. Brother Easton has committed to write and share with the HOHPM future devotional material, as led by the Holy Spirit. Brother Easton is a precious and faithful servant of God. Please pray that these devotions will speak to your spirit, and cause you to pant after the Word of God; as David wrote in (Psa 42:1) “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”

Learning to Walk in The Spirit

(Romans 8:1-4) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  (2)  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  (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: (4)  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

(Romans 8:14) “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

(Galatians 5:16) “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Not long after becoming a Christian, you make a rather startling discovery. You discover that there is an ongoing battle that is taking place in your life. You are saved! You have trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior! But now you find that as a believer you have some enemies. As Christians, we have three main enemies that we battle with. We have two enemies without: Satan and the world. But we also have an enemy within: the flesh. The Bible teaches that the world, the flesh, and the devil are the three main enemies of the Christians learning to Walk in the Spirit. When you are born physically, you get your physical nature. Jesus said in (John 3:6), “that which is born of the flesh is flesh.” People say, “I was born that way. I have a bad temper, and I’m mean.” But…

The Spirit changes us; makes us new, different. We may still battle some things, but we win in the Spirit. You get your flesh nature at the time of your physical birth. Your flesh nature is not your flesh and blood. It’s not talking about the flesh on your bones. When the Bible uses the word “flesh” here, it is referring to your old nature, to your sinful, fallen nature. It’s the nature with which you are born: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Then Jesus said, “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” At your first birth, you get your flesh nature. At your new birth, your second birth, you get your Spirit nature. So, you have an old nature, the flesh. You have a new nature, the Spirit. Here’s the kicker. When you are born again, you do not lose that old nature. When you are saved, it does not eradicate, or erase, that old nature. So, as Christians we have two natures. Therefore, there is an ongoing battle between the two.

In (Galatians 5:16), Paul is giving us the key to victory over that old nature and how to live a victorious Christian life. He says, “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” There it is, simply given. The word, “walk,” here literally means to walk around, or to live in. It is a picture of the Christian living their daily life under the influence and control of God’s Spirit. Living our daily life under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit is the key to victory. Then, he goes on to say if you do that, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Today I have a confession to make. Confession is good. Right? There is someone in the church that I have been having some problems with. I would like to tell you who that person is. That person is … me. You see some years back, I asked God to deliver me from my worst enemy. I was totally shocked and amazed to hear God tell me that my worst enemy was me. I just knew it was the demonic forces that I battle with daily, or maybe someone in the church that didn’t like me. I discovered that if I fail at achieving my God-given dreams; or fail to grow and mature in the Lord – it is not because of the Devil or his demons, it is not because of someone in the church that doesn’t like me – it is because my lack of learning to walk in the spirit. It’s my fault if I don’t become what God wants me to be; it’s my fault if I fail to grow and mature in the Lord. The one enemy that we all face and battle with daily is ourselves. The song writer said, “It’s not my brother, it’s not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”  The key to self-control is Learning to Walk and Live in The Spirit of God (Spirit-controlled). Let me say it another way, “to be self-controlled is first of all to be Spirit-controlled.”

Our lives would collapse and fall apart without the Holy Spirit. In fact, that is why so many Christians are living in defeat and depression. They refuse to surrender and yield to the Holy Spirit. They are not governed and controlled by the Spirit of God. They are Living Life in the Flesh; they are being self-centered and self-sufficient; they are living out of their own strength, abilities, and resources. It also means to be self-directed; making their own decisions, running their own life, doing what they want to do.

But: Living Life in the Spirit is to live a Christ-Centered and Christ-Sufficient life; learning to Walk in the Spirit. That means living in total dependence upon the resources of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also to live a Christ-Directed life. This is allowing the Lord Jesus Christ to rule and direct every aspect of our lives; that is, it is “yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal.2:20). (Look up this verse and read it.)