Echoes | Echoes of The Holy Spirit | Q12 – What does it mean to Walk in the Spirit?
February 10, 2024

INTRO - A familiar limp.

Q: What does it mean to Walk in the Spirit?

EACH TIME WE READ ABOUT THIS IDEA, IT IS FRAMED WITH AN OPPOSITE REALITY.

Two passages that highlight this for us:

Galatians 5:16-17
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

Romans 8:5-7

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

Paul’s rant in Romans 7

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

  • NERDS.

  • Much more at stake than an upset stomach….

  • What does Paul mean by “Flesh”

  • Word study - Greek ‘Sarx’

  • 13 shades of meaning in the New Testament

  • It is only when the human body and it’s desires and sensations, emotional or physical, are left

    Reveal Answer
    that flesh becomes associated with negative meaning.

  • A return to the beginning….

  • The Word became

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    and made His dwelling among us.

  • The path we take to find restoration for what God created us for is discovered again in

    Reveal Answer

  • Romans 8:5-7

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

So what does it mean to Walk in the Spirit?

Question #12 of our catechism.

Walking in the Spirit is the daily, ongoing act of surrendering ourselves to the reign of the Spirit in our lives. It is a constant wrestle we have between the selfish corruption of our fleshly desires when untethered from God’s rule (sinful nature), and selfless beauty that the Spirit births in us when we surrender ourselves to God (restored wholeness). It is an active daily pursuit to embrace the Spirits control and guidance of our lives.

HOW do we Walk in the Spirit?

  1. Practice
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  2. Embrace
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We discover life when we

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Galatians 5:13-14

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
3. Live in

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not in
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Galatians 5:1

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Romans 8:1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

When we walk in the Spirit, we live

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acceptance and not
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it

Galatians 5:16-18 (Msg)

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.