Exchanged Life, God, God's Power, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Grace, Identity In Christ, Jesus, Life, The Holy Spirit, Truth

Walking In The Flesh Or The Spirit

Posted on by Steve Sawyer in Exchanged Life, God, God's Power, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Grace, Identity In Christ, Jesus, Life, The Holy Spirit, Truth

No one can not serve two masters. Either you will love the one and hate the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24

Everyone walks in either their flesh or their spirit. You can’t walk in both. They are mutually exclusive. The unsaved person has no choice but to walk in the flesh. They know nothing else.  However, if we are children of God our intent is always to walk in the Spirit. But, as humans we have a choice. Daily. With every decision. To walk in the flesh, or walk in the Spirit.¹

If we choose to walk in the flesh . . . If we choose to walk in the Spirit. . .
We live by the law. We live by the grace of God.
We bestow our righteousness on ourselves with our behavior trying to do good. God bestows our righteousness upon us as part of our true identity in Christ.
We are obedient out of fear and a desire to avoid God’s wrath. We are obedient out of love for God and desire to please Him and fellowship with Him.
We base our acceptance on our performance. We know God fully accepts us for who we are in Christ.
In our flesh we “strive to arrive” and do things we think will be good enough to gain God’s approval.. In our Spirit we know we are fully accepted by God, all our sins are forgiven and we have an intimate relationship with Christ.
In our flesh we depend on our own resources and the counsel of friends or self-help books to resolve our problems. In our Spirit we depend moment-by-moment on the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth.
In our flesh we struggle to make it. In the Spirit we surrender all our wants and needs to Christ.
In our flesh we attempt to live the Christian life. In our Spirit we allow Christ to live His life through us.

Where do you walk? In the Spirit? Or in your flesh? It makes a world of difference.

¹One resource for this blog post is the Association ofr Exchanged Life Ministries Grace Conference workbook, ©1993-2000 by A.E.L.M., www.aelm.org

25 thoughts on “Walking In The Flesh Or The Spirit”

  1. It’s the flesh for me, I’m afraid! After seeing my in laws pastor of 30 years start to steal their property on the day my mother in law died, this from a preacher who was always telling me I was falling short? At least if you live in my world you expect people to be crooked, it is always a joy to be surprised by nice, honest ones (Christian or otherwise).

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    1. Sorry you had to endure that Mick. It’s the worst possible witness to the unbelievers when preachers fall, get caught. I hate it for them. And I hate it for the church. It’s always a blessing to me to hear stories like this one I reposted. Thank you for your comment. And thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon. God bless.

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      1. Thank you for taking the time to reply. The sad thing is that it was this preacher that got me to examine my faith during the time that I lived in Indiana, after 30 years of atheism! I hung on to a modicum of faith during the past year which has been very trying! (Read my blog to see it all) I endured a great deal only to have my last bit of spirit robbed by a crooked preacher, who I previously admired greatly. I have encountered some lovely spirit filled people on wordpress who have kept me going with their support.

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      2. Hang in there, my friend. I want to encourage you to not lose heart. I will read your blog in the next day or two, when I’m not working all day. In the mean time, hold on to your faith. If you want to talk with me or share more, you can reach me by email at: stevesaw@gmail.com. I’d be happy to chat with you. God bless.

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      1. 🙂 I hope you don’t mind that I reblogged it. I am so glad that God has connected us! and, you can call me anything that you like. I am just so blessed to have been connected with CB and excited to watch what God unfolds as I just hang on for the ride with Him!

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      2. Angel,
        Thank you for your encouraging words. You can reblog any post I publish any time to anyone. My goal is to get the glory of God to as many people as possible. If God leads me to write something that you or any other blogger likes enough to share, I am humbled, but also blessed because God’s word is getting out to more people. That is a blessing. Thank you. And God bless.

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