Today I want to look at what it is to walk after the Spirit and what it is to walk after the flesh.  

You know there’s no shortage of zeal concerning the things of God in the church but there is an absolute drought when it comes to understanding the things of God.  

The church is become like the Israelites in the apostle Paul’s day.  We have a zeal for God but its not according to the correct knowledge.  

The traditions of men have taught that the way you walk in the Spirit is you perform the fruit of the Spirit.  Kind of like where I wake up today and I say I want to walk in the Spirit therefore if I can love people that is how I can get in the Spirit.  

The fruit of the Spirit is not the precursor to walking in the Spirit.  Its what’s the Spirit brings forth in a person should they walk in the Spirit.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

So what does it mean to walk in the Spirit?  

Simply put it means to be intimate with the Spirit.  Well how is it we can be intimate with the Spirit.  What does that look like?  

The Spirit is called the Spirit of Life.  Now listen because of the love God has in His heart for you He sent His spirit to build you a life.  

What is it that John says?  God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that all who believe on him wouldn’t perish but have??? Everlasting life.  

Ephesians says we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus.  God sent the Holy Spirit into the earth to build us a life that is in the very same image of the life we see in Christ Jesus.  In Fact the life we see in Christ Jesus is the life God has built for us.  

Walking in the Spirit is to be intimate with the life God built for us through His Spirit.  Its to live and move and have your being within the life God built for you when He raised Jesus from the dead and glorified his flesh with immortality.  

What happens is you see just as the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep in Genesis to bring forth life and give the earth shape and form.  You see the Spirit has also hovered over mankind to give them shape and form.  You see the Spirit has shaped a life for you by forming a body that was made of a heavenly incorruptible substance in the person of Jesus.  And you live your life in the world knowing the life the Spirit has built for you, is your life. 

There’s a life thats been from the beginning; that is the chief of all things; that all things have their very existence from, and that holds all things together.  This life created everything from nothing.  It stood in the midst of the darkness and chaos that was in the earth in the beginning and brought forth light and order and beauty.  Within this life there is no lack; there is no death, no darkness, no decay ...... within this life is the ability to bring death to nothingness.  Now listen that life is in Jesus.  That life manifested in the flesh of Jesus, the son of man, who was dead in the grave.  That life raised him up in a body that was glorified with the immortality of God.  

Walking after the Spirit is to identify with that life.  Its to fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit around that life.  Its to live from the faith that says, that life is your life.  That life is in you and you are in it.  

Walking in the Spirit is to live by faith.  And not your own faith.  Its not about you trying to muster up belief.   Its not about you trying to believe.  Its about you living your life beholding the faith that was made flesh in Jesus. 

Now within the faith that was revealed in Jesus I see the Spirit has built me a life that is in the very image of the glory and immortality God possesses in Himself.  And the life I live now in the flesh I live beholding that life as my own life.   I live my life in the world living by the faith that the life I see in Jesus is my life. 

Hebrews 11 says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Again the faith being talked about here is not of ourselves.  Your faith is not the substance of things hoped for.  Hebrews 12 says Jesus is the beginning and the end of the faith that is the substance of what we hope for.  

The faith that was made flesh in the resurrection of Jesus is the substance of the life we always longed for.  I see God has sowed His strength to build me a life, and within the life He has built me is the substance of everything I long for.  The life I live now in the flesh I live by beholding the life God has built for me in the face of Jesus, and that dwells in my heart as the evidence that the life I see in Jesus is my life.  And that is what it means to walk in the Spirit.  

Pray