How To Live A Spirit Filled Life Bible Study
The Blessing Of Living by Faith And Living A Spirit Filled Life On Earth
- You will be bad habits resistant and temptation resistant
- You will be productive and prosperous in anything you do
- You will be freed from all guilt and insecurities
- You will walk a straight path, bypassing all wrong turns and complexities in life
- You will save tons of times and resources that others need to spend to achieve the results they cannot even imagine they can achieve
A Narrow Path
This post is going to challenge and turn upside down the way of men. What is the way of man? Human wisdom, certitude, the board path… You got the idea.
Most people do what most people are doing. The Bible said the same of the board road and wide gate (Matt 7:13). More people choose that path, but that leads to destruction.
You can hear the same from some of the smartest men in the world – that if you go after the low hanging fruits and do what most people do, you are less likely to succeed. In fact, the majority is usually irrational and wrong. If you follow the stampede, you will hurt yourself. For example, the stock market! History repeats and people still buy high and sell low. They just follow the stampede and the same financial actors.
Only the few who actually know what they are doing and stick to it will receive the rewards at the end (Such as Warren Buffet).
You know what it takes: Courage, patience, faith, wisdom, knowledge…
It takes that same for the spiritual elites to live differently than the majority of people on earth.
And more.
Fortunately, God already wrote down what we need to do in the Bible. It is quite a list, but as I meditate on the verses that explain how to live a spirit filled life, I became so excited because I realized it wasn’t as difficult and complicated as I thought.
They are all familiar Bible verses. I just hadn’t put them together to pay a closer look before. I began to feel that my previous experiences resonate with the verses.
If you happen to have read most of the Bible, this post should be an easy scan for you. I wish I am doing a great service to you by putting the familiar verses in a focused manner that makes it easy to understand our central theme: how to live a spirit filled life. It was all hidden under my nose before!
The Natural Man, The Flesh, And The Spiritual Man
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgethc all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:14-16
9 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Gal 4:29
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Gal 5:16-18
As Christians, we have both the spiritual part and natural part within us. The “natural man” is capable for logic, senses, emotions, words/languages, imagination, and general capacities of human beings, while the “spiritual man” is born after the Holy Spirit when we accepted Christ as our personal savor and Lord (John 3:1-16), and one of the functions of the spiritual man is to serve as a spiritual organ that communicates with the Holy Spirit.
The natural man is pretty good at doing what it does, but it can’t receive truth and revelation from the Spirit 24/7 like we Christians can, because, on top of the natural man we also have the spiritual man in each of us.
Writing a post like this one requires the exercising of both the natural man and the spiritual man. The spiritual man receives divine knowledge from the Spirit, while the natural man deciphers the messages into human languages and understandable thoughts, so we can remember and communicate with others the lessons and messages we have received from the Spirit.
In order words, I have to allow the Spirit to lead and use my natural capacities in order to write this post. It doesn’t mean I become a robot and the Spirit take over the control of my body, but I follow His promptings to do what He directs me to do, and trust that He will empower me to do it.
As Christians, we should dedicate our body members to God (Rom 6:12-13), which include our natural capabilities; therefore, they are to be driven by the Holy Spirit, not the flesh. (Rom 8:4)
The flesh is the sinful tendency that we still retain even after our conversion into the family of God. The flesh will be gone only at the day we get into heaven or at the moment of the Rapture when we experience a transformation of our bodies into the new ones like that of Christ. (1 Cor 15:51-53)
But at the meantime, we have a war to fight. Our spiritual man and the Holy Spirit repels the flesh, and vice versa.
Here is where the natural man comes in. The flesh wants us to rely on our natural strength and capacities, rather than relying on God. The natural man is well-intentioned but it can only put on the form of righteousness. It isn’t able to empower us to live a genuine righteous life.
The natural man and the flesh don’t know what God’s perfect will is, and it will try its best to please God with its limited strength and wisdom.
Humans have a stubborn tendency to rely on the natural man to perform good works. Whenever we sin we like to figure out what went wrong with our own wisdom and logic, and then we double, triple, or quadruple our willpower to avoid sinning again. To our dismay, no matter how hard we try, the power of sin only becomes stronger over us. (Romans 7:21-23)
As Christians, it is very common for us to experience struggles between relying on our natural abilities/flesh and the Spirit.
Most of the times we are philosophically confused about it because very few Christian pastors or teachers teach about walking in the Spirit in a systematical, practical way.
As a result, many Christians are serving God out of the flesh, instead of relying and obeying the Holy Spirit.
To Rely On The Flesh Is Disobedient, Self-Centered, And Counter-Productive
On the surface, it looks like everything is fine as long as we have the heart to serve God and live a good Christian life, but it isn’t.
Matthew 12:30
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
Matthew 7:21-24
21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.24Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
1 Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnalc mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
The flesh can put on the show of good works, but the power source of these good works is the flesh, not the Spirit, and it is the same flesh that is the source of all vices that we find ourselves struggling with in our Christian life.
As long as we continue to rely on the flesh, we will never experience true victory over sins, and we will never truly please God.
The flesh and the natural man can only do what they think is good. They act on what they know in their limited wisdom and knowledge, and thus create a lot of unintended consequences that will ultimately lead to bad results, but this reality will not be immediately obvious to those who are walking in the flesh.
We are in fact resisting God if we rely on our flesh to carry out good works.
The flesh likes to boast of its power. It wants others to see what it can do. It is “self”. To live in the flesh is to live a “self” life without God being our actual Lord.
The Bible never said that the flesh is dead when we accepted Christ as our savior and Lord, but it actually teaches us that the flesh will continue to present, so we have to be watchful, lest it regains its control over us.
The moment we fail to live in the Spirit, the flesh will dominate. (Gal 5:16-18)
When the flesh dominates, sins will abound.
Don’t be surprised if you find your flesh to be active from time to time. It happens if we quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thess 5:19), or by a dozen of other reasons, so be vigilant and always learn from the Spirit so we can always walk in Him and avoid falling into the flesh again.
It is a lifelong practice with a very steep learning curve, so don’t feel disappointed if the flesh beats your best intention at times. Just go back to God and ask for grace to resume the practice again (Proverbs 24:16).
How Do I Walk In The Spirit?
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal 5:16
Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thess 5:19
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Rev.2:7
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Jude 20:20
We walk in Him by knowing who He is, by obeying everything that He tells us, and by approaching Him as much as we can. How do we know Him? The Bible teaches us who He is.
He is with us Christians 24/7, and He loves to fellowship with us anytime. (Phil 2:1-4)
The Holy Spirit speaks to us very frequently with a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). We can easily ignore Him and pretend we don’t know what He is trying to say, or assume that what He says is undo-able.
Why Does Christian Struggle With Sin? Why Doesn’t God Hear Our Prayers And Deliver Us From Sins and Bad Habits Right Away?
By repeatedly ignoring or resisting the Spirit, we can quench his power in us (1 Thess 5:19). If we allow that to happen, we will fall prey to the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Sins will regain dominion over us as the grace and power of the Spirit recede because of our little disobedience here and there.
Many Christians are struggling with sins. Me included. Until recently I re-discovered why – I fail to obey and listen to the Holy Spirit all the time.
When there is the flesh at work, no amount of prayers will stop it from bearing bad fruits, unless I repent at once and walk in the Spirit again.
I said “re-discover” because I learned this before, and this lesson brought me to a major revival a few years ago. I tried my best to stick to the right path while this lesson was still fresh, but later, the subtle deceptions of the flesh had slowly crept back in, and I relied more and more on the flesh again.
I was like a frog in a slowly heated water.
Watch Out Even For The Innocence
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)
There is no sin that is too little. If the Spirit tells you not to do something that you think is innocent, then run away from it and never look back! I often do it or look back anyway, and it would bring me to a less innocent act, and then another that is even lesser, until I find myself drowned in sins.
In fact, anytime we disobey the voice of the Spirit His power in us will start to diminish, and we will find it harder to obey as we sink further downward.
There Are People You Can’t Handle. If The Spirit Warns You Of Them… Run And Hide!
Similarly, if the Spirit tell you to avoid certain individuals or situations, avoid them right away. There are many people or situations that will lead you astray. They can be innocent, well-meaning folks or events: pastors, Christians, harmless looking people, Christians gathering, or Church functions.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
There was a Christian whom I admired and wanted to connect with for quite a few years, and finally I had a chance to serve with him in a ministry. Soon, I found out that he had a lot of issues to deal with, and one of them was bitterness. This bitterness had spread out to those whom he had come across with, especially and including me. Gossips, divisions, and outburst of angers (from this person) were frequent when he was present. I regretted that I invited him on board and that I didn’t cut off all ties with him quickly.
God will deal with the people in your life if you lift them into His hand. Don’t intervene. Don’t offer any assistance or counsel to anyone if it wasn’t from the Spirit.
I made this major mistake with the guy I mentioned above, and with some other individuals.
As a result, my walk with God had been contaminated by the negative influences from fellowship with these people. It took me quite some time to recover spiritually. Their negative influence was one of the reasons why I fell prey to the flesh again a few years back – by allowing bad examples before my eyes for too long I was led astray.
He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm Proverbs 13:20
Examples of harmful effects these individuals can bring you include: they can hurt you deeply or tempt you to sin by gossiping, judgmental attitudes, and slanders. They can give you such a hard time that makes it difficult for you to be joyful, thankful, forgiving, and attentive to God’s voice. Their influences can rob you of peace.
In some extreme cases you can actually receive strong warnings from Holy Spirit when you come across extremely dangerous situations and people, see one of the stories here.
How To Be Successful All Your Life?
Jesus has spent only 3 years on earth, but look how much He has achieved.
It was miraculous.
You and I can replicate His effectiveness too, if we simply do what He would do. We could replicate the results of a successful person by replicate his actions!
But how can we know what He would do in every situation? By the Spirit!
The functions of the Holy Spirit are to teach us all truth, tell us what God’s will is, and remind us of what Jesus taught us. (John 16:13-14; John 14:26)
Without the Spirit, we can only read the letter of the Bible, but we will not be able to truly understand and apply the deeper meanings of them. In other words, God’s words aren’t God’s words if the Holy Spirit doesn’t actively bring the words alive for us. (2 Cor 3:6)
Many times, too many times, I had wanted to read the Bible more, but ended up doing worldly things. The problem was, I wanted to control when I would read the Bible, how often I shall read, and how deep I wanted to understand the words. I was trying to achieve spiritual goals with the power of my flesh.
I had failed almost every time when I tried to be more spiritual with methods, formulas, and plans. But at the time I didn’t know what went wrong.
There is no success formula which you can use apart from the active leadership of the Holy Spirit. Formula will fail, schedule will fail, method will fail, and knowledge will fail if you don’t walk under the active leadership of the Spirit.
To apply this principle on a broader scale: we should do everything out of the Spirit from the beginning to the end. Not just with the spiritual things, but with everything as well, including career choice, spouse choice, school choice, and everything big or small, even when to sleep.
At this point you may worry, “What if I hear Him wrong?” At times you may get deceived or confused as to which voice is the Spirit’s, but if you don’t listen at all, you will always get it “wrong” anyway. So in fact you are left with only one choice – just listen:
John 7:17
If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
John 10:4
And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
You Will Achieve A lot When You Walk In The Spirit Fully
Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
To meditate on God’s words day and night is to live a Spirit filled life. They work together. They are almost synonymous. Anytime you treat the words of God with complacency and neglect, you grieve the Spirit and quench His power in you, and anytime you rely on yourselves rather than the Spirit, the power and deep knowledge of God’s words will be withheld from you.
For 5 years, I have attempted to meditate God’s words day in and night out, just like what the Bible commands us to do, but I had failed at every attempt.
However, whenever I sincerely converse with the Spirit, He often shows me relevant verses and explanations with simple real life applications. And when I apply the words according to His leading, it always become obvious of what I should do. It’s like a ray of light shining through thick clouds.
You can’t replicate the work of the Spirit by formula, methods, and plans. There are dozens of dozen of Bible study plans and methods out there, but unless the Spirit initiates the plan and guides you through every thought and step, your effort is futile:
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1
Once you meditate on God’s words day and night in the Spirit, God will make you prosperous and successful because He promised it. (Psalm 1; Joshua 1:8)
You will also have the mind of Christ fully at work in you (1 Cor 2: 16) . We are what we think (Prov 23:7). If the mind of Christ in us works actively, we will surely replicate Christ’s results.
Meditation of God’s words in the Spirit is just the “inner game” of our walk. Now let’s move on to the “outer game”!
The Outer Game Of Our Walk In The Spirit
If we get the “inner game” right, the “outer game” will take care of itself. Let me show you what the “outer game” is about:
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21
Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Proverbs 21:5
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. Psalm 37:23-24
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Luke 5:4-7
The Spirit often instructs me to do something “out of the blue” in random places. There were several times when He used me this way and “we” had brought several strangers to Christ. All I did was just obeying His prompting.
Prior to my walk in the Spirit, i.e., while I was still walking in the flesh as a Christian, I had never brought one single soul to Christ.
Looking back, I can see logical, biblical, and even scientific reasons behind His “random, out of the blue” instructions. The limitation of human understanding often prevents us from seeing the big picture at the time, and thus the prompting of the Spirit often seems random and uncomfortable to us.
But we will eventually get to the big picture and increase our understanding as we simply obey every promptings of the Spirit.
One problem: Humans don’t like unpredictability and unknown; We like schedule, plan, and habits.
You don’t need to force yourself to build godly habits; The Spirit will build something magnificent out of His daily walk with you as you go along. This includes everything in life: career, school, relationship, finance, and health.
You will learn as you do, and whatever you do in obedience to the Spirit you will reap multiple results in this life and the next.
Like in the example of Simon and the fishes (Luke 5:4-7), God loves to instruct us where to “let down our nets”, such as where to drop our resume, which person to marry, which school to attend, and which business venture or ministry to undertake.
He loves to speak His mind to us, if we would let Him.
If we listen and act upon His instruction, we will get multiple good results in our endeavors – just like how Simon caught many fishes in one move.
Simon was an experienced fisher – just like how most of us are experts in our own field – but he and his pals failed to catch any fish for an entire night.
Like Simon and his pals, we will deal with uncertainties in our endeavors no matter how good we are at what we do. As natural human beings, our skills and experiences can only give us the approximation, not the exactitude.
There is a huge difference between approximation and exactitude.
We will never have complete information at any point in life. If we act like the non-Christians, we are playing the number game. “Number game” aptly describes what every human endeavor on earth is like: full of trials , errors, and guesstimates – this is the only way non-Christians can achieve anything.
If we rely on the flesh, we are playing the number game; It’s like throwing spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks; We will have to make multiple shots and hope that one gets in.
We will have to climb all the way up through mountains, and sooner or later we might find ourselves on the wrong mountain, and we have to climb down and try the next one, because we have no map.
We will have to compete with thousands of other people who are relying on the flesh too: job searching, public exams, tournaments and contests, business ventures, and even ministry… Since you are not following an unique calling from God, you will have to do what most others are doing or create something new of your own (and hope it works), and hope that you beat the competitions and reach the top from above the thousands.
Eventually, you may achieve some success on your own term, but the result will not last for eternity since this success isn’t part of God’s plan – it is a discord in His grand scheme of things! You will also have wasted a lot of time during the trials and errors stage. Your time will be much more productive if you give your time to God instead.
With the one clean shot you make under the Spirit’s guidance, you will live your life to the full as you make one clean shot after the next, and the next and the next and the next and the next… for the rest of your life.
If we want to master the “outer game” of our walk in the Spirit, we have to walk every single step under His guidance. (Psalm 37:23-24; Proverbs 3:5-6)
Forget All Your Earthly Glory
God is I AM, not I WAS or I WILL. Forget about your accomplishments, titles, CV, wealth, and circumstance. Surrender your past and future to Him and just focus on Him in the present.
When we truly surrender everything to Him, He can use us freely in the now and then. If our mind get entangled by the past (baggage or accomplishments) or the future (goals and ambitions), the Lord can’t use us freely.
Our employers, business partners, customers, fans, friends, and others all look at our past and evaluate us base on that, but the Lord cares about the NOW. He can use you to accomplish anything if you just walk with Him and obey Him in the present, not the past or future.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. Hebrews 5:11
Throughout the Bible, God has used so many different characters, most of them were ignoble: they were shepherds, servant girls, slaves, losers, fishermen, and other weak folks. He has also used someone who had an impressive resume, such as priests, kings, and the riches.
It doesn’t matter to God – as long as you are willing to obey and be faithful, He can use you anytime.
You might have been a loser up to this point, or you might have been successful, but God can do something new and better in your life today if you simply follow His instruction and do what He wants you to do.
In the world, employers look at your education, credentials, references, and all that. You can be unemployed and broke right now, but the Lord can give you a prestigious job, a profitable business, or other amazing accomplishments within a very short time no matter how incompetent you were.
He knows your true gifts and talents. He has an unique calling that is custom-made for you. Only you can do the best job in that calling. No one can substitute your role in His unique plan. If you disobey and miss that calling, the blessings God could have given you and others through you will be forever lost.
His calling may seem insignificant at the first glance, maybe it isn’t a prestigious job, rather, it could be a job no one has ever heard of which is in the middle of nowhere, or it could be a business venture that goes against all odds. Persist and keep going! You will find the hidden gold mine if you just keep digging.
A friend of mine was called to be an academic. His field is data mining (*boring!*). For years he had spent so much time with text books, solving many mathematical and computational problems. He could spend an entire week in a room just to solve one math question that he finds interesting.
As a result, he can now look at any question his colleagues bring him, and within minutes he can formulate a strategy that his colleagues can use. His colleagues are PhD, masters, and some of the sharpest minds in Google. To this day, He has brought hundreds of millions of profits to Google. He manages hundred of researchers, four secretaries, and the whole nine yards (For example, a queen size bed in his office that Google gave him).
On the side he has started a few successful companies that monetize his other research findings, all of which makes multimillion dollars in profits. (He manages quite a lot of people! )
You too can be very successful in your unique calling if you surrender all of your past and future to God, and regardless of what others think of your resume and credentials, just be courageous and do what He wants you to do.
More On The Inner Game Of Our Walk In The Spirit
Now that we have the overall view of the big picture, we can go back to the “inner game” again to add some more crucial information, because without the light of the big picture, it’s hard to fully appreciate the information I am going to share here.
By now we know how narrow the narrow path is. It’s very easy to fall prey to the flesh again without even being conscious of it. The flesh is subtle and deceitful.
We must remember where our fleshes belong – the cross. We must put our flesh on the cross on a daily, hourly, and as-frequent-as-it-takes basis.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25
The walk in the Spirit requires our active cooperation. We must exercise our willpower constantly to focus and obey the Spirit. And we must not forget the truth — that we have crucified our flesh.
To be watchful of the flesh all the time can be stressful. To be on call for the Spirit all the time can seem stressful too. Also, in the presence of the Lord His light and justice will progressively reveal all of our sins and erroneous thinking. For the faint of hearts it can seem too much to handle.
Satan will siege every opportunity he can find to attack you as you try to maintain this delicate balance on the narrow path. If you start shifting your focus and attention from the Lord to yourself, then Satan, the flesh, and the world will easily deceive you into walking in the flesh again.
One of his tactics is condemnation. Since you have become alert and aware of your own every darkness in the presence of the Lord, he will use that as an opportunity and condemn you with every sin that you see in yourself until you can’t stand before the Lord anymore.
If you fall for that trap, you will see your inadequacy more than you see God’s adequacy, and you will sink in doubts and sins very quickly.
Bouts of depressions and regrets will follow if you let Satan does that to you, and soon your strength, peace, and joy will leave you as you believe in Satan’s accusations and deceptions. (See Spiritual Battle.)
Before you realize what has been going on, you may have long departed from the walk in the Spirit already. It’s a narrow path, so narrow that it’s easy to fall into the ditches on both side.
In my own walk in the Spirit, I learned some important lessons about how to maintain the walk. For example, in Getting Over Regret I shared how I walked through the trap of regrets, and learned to forgive myself as I grew. It’s important to forgive yourself after you have been forgiven by God. Otherwise, the narrow path can become unbearable because of perfectionism.
It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint
If what I just shared in the last section sound excruciating, it probably is, but in time it will get better as you become more “skillful” at abiding in Christ and walking in the Spirit.
One of the skills you need is to be thankful.
Give thanks often for every little progress and blessing that God grants you. You will find a lot of strength as you give thanks. The walk in the Spirit is full of challenges. It’s important to celebrate every progress you are blessed with before the next wave of challenges come.
The next skill is to forgive, because you will be very sensitive to sin in the presence of the Lord.
If anyone sins, don’t worry too much as you should lift him or her to God, believing that the Lord can take care of every consequence of that sin. If you sin, just repent. True repentance leave no regrets.
The third skill is wait.
You should accept your current condition before the Lord. Don’t strike. Just wait before God and wait for the Spirit to guide you along.
If we try to rush it before God’s timing, we are relying on the strength of self. I have done that many time and it always turns out to be a waste of time. I have forfeited or delayed many blessings and breakthroughs that could have been mine, or could have been mine earlier, by worrying too much and working too hard for them (all those schemes, visions, and plans!), instead of just waiting prayerfully and peacefully before God.
The blessings that I had deprived myself of by striving and scheming include biblical insights, purity, calling, financial wealth, career success, relationship, and more. That sounds a lot, but in fact everyone on earth experiences the same – falling short of God’s perfect plans. I believe very few people throughout history have attained all the blessings that God had planned for them.
If there is such person, he or she is perfect indeed.
Don’t worry too much about failures in your walk! The more you worry, the more likely you will fail. Simply trust God can empower you to accomplish everything He wants you to accomplish.
For me, the first time I embarked on the walk in the Spirit it was exhilarating! It had lasted for 2 to 3 years, and then I fell into the ditches because of many of the traps I have just mentioned in this post.
After that I was able to resume my walk slowly. The big fall into the ditch confused me somewhat, so the recovery took a while.
This time the future is bright, and I was just freed from a major sinful habit because I started walking in the Spirit fully again.
I hope by sharing my personal victories and failures with you I might be able to strengthen your walk in the Spirit. God bless!
I am in aware of God’s presence and perfect timing. My life is in a lot of confusion’ all areas but after reading your article I have hope.
How are you doing so far? Has the problem with confusion improved so far? If not let me know, so we can find out what’s going on behind the scene.
Let me know how you have been doing
I know that the Holy Spirit inspired this post because it is what I need. I have a better understanding of how to walk in the Spirit and not my flesh.
Thank you,