By Boyd Hopkins
Galatians 5:13-25 says this:
Galatians 5:13-25 says this:
13For you were called to freedom, brothers; only do not
turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
God says through Paul that we were called for a purpose – freedom. There is a warning though, that we can use that freedom for self-centered things and still miss what we have been called to. I believe that this is why so many of we Christians live lives that are basically unsatisfying. Even though we claim to follow Jesus we still live basically for what we can get rather than for what we can give. We live selfishly.
True freedom is found in surrender to the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. Paul goes on to say:
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Paul says that if we live our lives by the power of the Spirit of Christ we will not do the selfish things that hurt and harm us and others – the selfish way of living that we have been used to.
17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
When we live yielded to Him, God’s spirit works in us to oppose the things our selfishness wants us to do. That is why, when we give our lives to Christ and are filled with his Spirit, we can’t live the old way.
So why do so many of us struggle to change? Why are so many Christian lives filled with self-centeredness rather than the peace and power of God? It is this: Many of us want the benefits of Christ but we don’t want to give anything up. We want the benefits of forgiveness but we don’t want to change anything. We pray, “Jesus take the pain away and bless what I already have.” It cannot be done that way. Jesus Christ says that the only way to follow him is to lose our lives (Matt 16:24-25). This is a call to give leadership of our lives over to the Holy Spirit.
How can we tell whether we are really surrendered to the leadership of the Holy Spirit? Paul speaks of how to tell this simply by looking at the evidence in our lives and relationships.
19Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
When we see such things in our lives they indicate that we are not actively following Christ or living by the strength that His Spirit provides. When these things are present, they are indicators that we are following our old lifestyle motivated by our old self centeredness.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
When we are actively living by the Spirit, we will experience these things as reality in our day to day life.
25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
If I have given my life to Jesus, then I am to act on it! A relationship with Christ is more than a conversion experience, it is a daily walk of surrender to His Spirit. It is more than an event. It is a process and a journey. It is more than conceptual. It is active. We are to live by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the very means of our living. Our lives are to be soaked in His presence!
Who are we? We are a people who are identified in the bible as being children of God with all the rights of His children. We are led by God’s Spirit into the works God has for us.
Who are we? We are a people who are identified in the bible as being children of God with all the rights of His children. We are led by God’s Spirit into the works God has for us.
Gods Promise is this: When we walk in daily surrender and are led by God’s Spirit we will not be self-centered, grasping, jealous, selfish and unsatisfied. We will be used by God, know His presence and His love and we will be at rest.
The Spirit allows us to fellowship with Jesus. Without the Spirit in our lives Jesus will never be more than a distant historical figure to us. Locationally speaking, the bible tells us that the physical Jesus now sits at the right hand of God in heaven. That is a long way away from where we physically are at. But he has promised not to leave us alone. It is by His Holy Spirit that he comes close to us.
The Spirit reveals the Word to us in ways that impact and Change us. He makes that word alive (Heb 4:12). Without him my bible will always be just ink to me, and not very interesting ink at that. God’s Word is made alive and impactful when the Holy Spirit opens our minds and hearts and uses the Word to touch and change us. It is both the Spirit and the Word. Not either the Spirit or the Word.
The Spirit allows us to fellowship with Jesus. Without the Spirit in our lives Jesus will never be more than a distant historical figure to us. Locationally speaking, the bible tells us that the physical Jesus now sits at the right hand of God in heaven. That is a long way away from where we physically are at. But he has promised not to leave us alone. It is by His Holy Spirit that he comes close to us.
The Spirit reveals the Word to us in ways that impact and Change us. He makes that word alive (Heb 4:12). Without him my bible will always be just ink to me, and not very interesting ink at that. God’s Word is made alive and impactful when the Holy Spirit opens our minds and hearts and uses the Word to touch and change us. It is both the Spirit and the Word. Not either the Spirit or the Word.
The Spirit demonstrates the power of God in our lives and makes us witnesses for Christ. Jesus promised that we would receive power when the Spirit comes on us and that this power would make us his witnesses (Acts 1:8). Jesus promises that the Spirit will be our helper, our strength (John 14-16).Without the Spirit in our lives we are separate from God and we are lost for all eternity because Jesus lives in us by His Spirit. That is why the one sin that is unforgivable is the rejection of the Holy Spirit because by doing so we refuse Jesus any access to our lives.
Being a people of the Spirit of Jesus is what makes Christianity unique among world religions. We do not worship a distant God or simply hold to a set of beliefs, we worship Immanuel – God With Us! Through the presence of the Spirit of Jesus, God is with us always. There is nowhere that we can go to escape His presence. There is no situation we can be in where he cannot hear us when we pray. He will come to be with us when we call. He will give us active guidance as we need it. The Holy Spirit brings God’s living presence to us at every moment and in every situation we can find ourselves. We do not just live for Him, we live in Him.
Just as you can fall in love and marry someone and then spend the rest of your life ignoring them, you can do the same with the Holy Spirit; with Jesus; with God. This kind of close Spirit-led walk with God is not natural for us. Our tendency is to be self-centered and go off on our own on a regular basis. This is what Paul is addressing in the passage of Galatians mentioned above.
The gospel (Good News of Jesus) is that God will always come, by His Spirit, and get us no matter what we have gotten ourselves into. His purpose is to make our lives increasingly marked by His power and the freedom that comes from knowing that He will never abandon us.
Just as you can fall in love and marry someone and then spend the rest of your life ignoring them, you can do the same with the Holy Spirit; with Jesus; with God. This kind of close Spirit-led walk with God is not natural for us. Our tendency is to be self-centered and go off on our own on a regular basis. This is what Paul is addressing in the passage of Galatians mentioned above.
The gospel (Good News of Jesus) is that God will always come, by His Spirit, and get us no matter what we have gotten ourselves into. His purpose is to make our lives increasingly marked by His power and the freedom that comes from knowing that He will never abandon us.
Living in the Freedom of the Holy Spirit