Are You Walking in the Spirit or Flesh?

Are You Walking in the Spirit or Flesh? In my early years as a Christian, Paul’s statements in Romans chapter 7 where he explained the conflict between the flesh and spirit were very confusing to me. I did not understand much of what he said there until the Holy Spirit open my eyes to the nuggets of gold in verses 3 and 4 of chapter 8.

These Scriptures state, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Many of us like to confess Romans 8:39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God! Do we indeed realise that there are requirements that qualify us to be “children of God?” Romans 8:14 asserts that only those led by the Holy Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. Being led by the Spirit implies surrendering to God’s will.

It demands mortifying the deeds of our flesh, the carnal man. It implies letting Jesus Christ be our Lord and Saviour. Even verse 1 of Romans 8 is explicit that only those who are in Christ (surrendered to the will of the Father) are exempt from the condemnation of the law. You cannot be the lord of your life and claim immunity from the long hand of God’s moral law or the 10 Commandments.

Any believer who is living and walking in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8). This is because such a person would focus on things that please his or her flesh. Such people live by their natural feelings of sense, touch, smell, sight, and taste.

Consequently, they react to situations and circumstances as their senses dictate. They are easily offended; are critical of others and are very unforgiving in most cases. They feed on their ego and react violently when it is bruised. This is not the life of a genuine follower of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:19-21 highlight the kind of fruits or manifestations to expect from someone who lives and walks in the flesh. “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” Freedom from these sins comes through genuine repentance.

However, a life lived in the Spirit produces different kinds of fruits. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Paul gives us the antidote to escaping the flesh-enabled life with its ungodly fruits.

He said, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? It is letting the word of God be the sole authority in our lives. The Spirit of God does not operate outside His word.

Some people have opened themselves up to demonic infestations by yielding their members to satan as an instrument of unrighteousness because they ignored the written word of God in the Holy Bible. Some of them take instructions from demons pretending to be God’s angels or satan himself who manifests as an angel of light. The only safeguard for a believer in these evil days is the WORD OF GOD. Hide yourself there and your flesh will not collaborate with the devil to destroy your godly testimony.