Chapter 14
Living Like Who You Really Are
You can't be free if you don't live like who you really are.
In this book we have provided an opportunity through each chapter to realize God's inner healing provisions. We emphasized the power of His Cross for your healing needs and the transformation of your life. Now in this chapter we want to point out some of your responsibilities.
In our previous chapters we emphasized knowing who you are in Christ by faith in the Word of God. We stated that really getting an inner revelation on this will begin to transform your outer life. We also emphasized that you must be totally transparent with God in order to have that kind of faith to see and believe that you were really crucified with Christ and have been resurrected with Him already. We also emphasized that your thinking must be changed, your mind must be renewed to really see this amazing revelation.
However we can neutralize God's mighty power if we do not practice "Walking in the Spirit" or in other words making a determination to live a life of love. Galatians 5:6 says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."
Be careful of extremes.
Like many spiritual issues, walking in the Spirit can be misunderstood from two different extremes, both of which will cause great failure in our lives.
One extreme is living your life as if anything goes. Some people think that God's love and God's grace excuses them from making an effort to be overcomers and to allow Christ to be formed in them. They mistake this as grace.
The other extreme is living your life in a "perfect or nothing" attitude. These people realize that God wants them to change, but when they make mistakes, sin, and fail to change, they become condemned, feel overwhelmed, and give up.
The truth is stated in Romans chapter 8.
In Romans 6 Paul wrote about the wonderful finished work of Christ. In Romans 7 Paul then went on to say that he could not live his life as if Christ's work was finished. Then in Romans 8 he gives the solution.
Romans 8:1-6
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has 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 did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Notice that he said, "walk" according to flesh or the Spirit. Walk is an ongoing active verb. It means continuing to live in one manner or the other. It does not say that if you make a mistake you will be condemned,.. Paul is not talking about perfectionism, but rather about never giving up. You will see in the definition of walking in the Spirit below, that we will make mistakes. However my belief is that God sees our trying, He sees our heart of attempting to please Him, and most of all He sees our repentance when we fail, and He says, "Come on now, get up, I am proud of you, you can make it."
When the pain of what you are in exceeds the pain of change, then you can be healed.
That is an expression I often hear from Michael and Karen Vincent, my friends and co-editors. Now that we know who God is, we know that Jesus paid the price for our inner healing, and we know who Jesus made us to be in Him, we need to make lifestyle changes to conform to who we really are. It is not enough that God has done all these wonderful things for us if we do not make daily, even hourly, choices that will conform our lifestyle to match our true identity.
One major change you must make is to determine to fellowship with God in His Word. I am not referring about simply praying for your needs. Rather I am suggesting that you must take time to soak in the Word, pour out your heart to Him, practice a daily time of praise and thanksgiving, and in some way record your time with Him, preferably in writing, which we call journaling. Faith only comes by hearing the Word. When you hear the Word, revelation has an opportunity to come into your heart. When that happens His light does miracles within and for you.
Warning!
Many believers do not take their prayer life, their time of communing with God, seriously. I can usually detect those people who are attempting to walk in the Spirit. They seem to just have a "scent" about them. I am not referring to immature believer, or young believers, or those who are not educated in the Word of God, quite often they can have a closer communion with God then older believers. Taking time to cleanse your heart and to commune with God is what brings life, and it is what makes life worth living. It is what will provide for all of your needs. It is what gives Jesus joy.
Christ needs to be formed in you.
When you need the Holy Spirit more than life itself, then Christ will be formed in you. Galatians 4:19 says, "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." Oswald Chambers wrote, "The teaching is not Christ for me unless I a determined to have Christ formed in me."
We are saved by faith.
Romans 4:2-6 says, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:"
Our faith is completed and endorsed by works.
James 2:14 says, "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?"
James 2:17-18 says, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
Obedience to the King is needed.
John 14:21 says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
The Bible is clear that we are saved from hell both in eternity and while we live on earth when we make Jesus our Lord. Making Him Lord means to give up our independence and to obey Him as our King. Notice in the verse above that the more we obey Him the more He makes Himself real to us. Then it becomes a continuous cycle; we obey, He manifests Himself, then we see Him more and obey Him more. Soon, we become one with Him and He is glorified through the fruit we bear.
Beware of only seeking God for your own comfort.
I have know people who have had some encounter with God, but then have assumed that since God is love, then He will be okay with us no matter how we live. He just sort of comforts us and does not want us to feel any obligations.
Comfort only comes after the fear of the Lord.
Acts 9:31 says, "Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear [respect and reverential fear] of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied,
Our works are not really our works; they are the works of grace by Christ living His live in and through us.
Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
Faith works through love.
You can study the Word all day and all night, meditate upon it and confess it until you pass out, but if you are not walking in love it will be for naught.
Tear down your idols.
In Judges Chapters 6-8 Gideon and the Israelites were in bondage even while living in the Promised Land. God came and had many dealings with Gideon preparing him to be a deliverer for Israel. God developed a close friendship with Gideon and showed him the blood covenant. Gideon began to change his thinking from being a poor old defeated worm to being a mighty warrior for God. However, Gideon had to take a stand and tear down the family idols. Like Gideon you will not be able to stand against your enemies unless you walk in love and forsake your old ways.
Walking in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 says, "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Ephesians 4:1 says, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called."
Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." If you read on to Romans 8:8 you will find that God is serious about having us walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. He states that there is victory for one lifestyle and total defeat for the other lifestyle.
Galatians 6:7-8 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."
Walking in the Spirit is a simple, but a different way to live and the easiest way I know to be right with God on a daily basis. It is a process that goes like this:
1. You continue to look into the Word of God (mirror) and ask God to show you how to live. Ask Him, and seek out what His standards are for your life. For instance, it says to not lie, to treat your friends with love, to submit to your authorities, to treat your family with kindness, to not get drunk, do not be selfish, don't be angry, always forgive not matter what, etc.
2. You determine to live the way God wants you to, in love, knowing that only God in you can walk a life worthy of the Lord.
3. When you fail, and you will, be totally honest with yourself, God and others around you. Repent (turn) quickly. The promise is that when we repent (turn) that the Kingdom of God is at hand, or within our reach.
4. Confess your sin to God. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
5. Confess what the Word of God says about your situation in a positive way, i.e., Galatians 2:20 that says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself on my behalf."
6. As you continue to live this way those old habits and old sinful ways begin to disappear. The grace of God takes over and gives you the character of God instead of your old character.
7. Grace kicks in for your sin. You did not get righteous by the things you did, so your righteousness is still there, it just has some dirt on it. While you walk in the Spirit, God gives you grace for your mistakes, and He takes the penalty of the sin, and gives you overcoming power to deal with any consequences of the sin committed and in that you receive a blessing that you do not deserve.
8. Not only does grace kick in for your sin, not only does God give you a blessing that you did not deserve, but the grace you receive is actually the power that gets rid of the sin (or the problem) you are dealing with in the first place. Look at Zechariah 4:7 which says, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [a type of Jesus] thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." God speaks "grace" to your situation, and the mountain is removed!
Hang on; there is some Good News in this chapter!
When you confess your sin to God, it goes onto Jesus on the Cross, and from there to the grave. Do you remember what happens after the grave? That's right, resurrection!
When you sow your sin it ends up in the grave and God resurrects it into something beautiful; the likeness of His character!
1 Corinthians 15:42 says, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption."
Galatians 6:8, says, "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."
Paul stated that we could actually experience this resurrected power while still in this body. Philippians 3:10-11 (Amplified Bible) says, "[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] That if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body]."
How does this work?
It works in many different ways in our lives, including making it through sorrows, overcoming difficulties, suffering, and trials in our lives. However here we want to show you how "Walking in the Spirit" utilizes God's resurrection power for your sin and sinful attitudes!
Now here is a list that we use in our lesson The Flowing River as a guide for allowing God to uncover those attitudes and actions in us that do not line up with God's character.
A spiritual checkup
Now go ahead and sow some of the seeds of confession of sin and repent, then expect to reap the resurrected life of Jesus in return!
Another reference for a deeper spiritual check up is the Daily Moral Inventory by Dunkin.
Here is the web link to view the Daily Moral Inventory chart.