LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25 (NKJV)

• Whoever claims to be born again has been born of the Spirit (John 3:5,6).

1. "Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
2. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
   John 3:5,6 (NKJV)

• And those who worship God should worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23, 24).
• If you were born of the Spirit, you should live in the Spirit.
• Being born of the Spirit is when your inward man, inner self, or spirit man, becomes a new creation—a regenerated spirit (2 Corinthians 4:16; 5:17).

• If your spirit, inward man, is regenerated, then you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you.
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
Romans 8:9 (NKJV)

• Your spirit, inner self, relates with the Holy Spirit.
• However, your soul [mind, emotion and will] and your body may not subject to your spirit—the inward man.

• Admonition:

• Believers in Christ Jesus should walk in the Spirit.
  “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
  Galatians 5:16 (NKJV)
• Walking in the Spirit is when the spirit man, inward man, has control over your mind and the flesh.
• A person who walks in the Spirit is being led and controlled by the Holy Spirit through the spirit man–the inner self.
• Such does things according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit.
• A believer who walks in the Spirit
  would not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

• Your spirit man, inward man, that is regenerated wants to do God’s will; but your soul [mind] and the flesh which are yet to change, want to do contrary to God’s will.

1. "For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature],
2. but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members."
   Romans 7:22,23 (Amp.)

• Albeit, for a change in the mind and the flesh: you have to present your body to God a living sacrifice and renews your mind with the Word.

1. “I beseech [urge] you therefore,
   brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
   Romans 12:1,2 (NKJV)

• You renew your mind with the word of God.

• The transformation of the soul, that is, the mind, is done through the word of God.
  “Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and RECEIVE
  WITH MEEKNESS THE IMPLANTED WORD, WHICH IS ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SOUL [MIND]."
  James 1:21 (NKJV)
• As you hear the word of God, read it, study it, and ruminate [think] on it, your mind will begin to change—your thoughts will begin to change, you begin to see things in God’s point of view.
• You begin to see issues of life from God’s perspective.
• This change in your soul, mind, will begin to affect your way and manner of doing things.
• The change in the mind will spill over to the flesh; and your physical appearance, that is, your comportment and disposition would begin to change.
• At this you are ready to present your body a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable [well pleasing] to God—which is your reasonable service.
• You can only present your body a living sacrifice when your spirit, inner self, has taken dominance over your mind and your body.
• The desires and lusts of the flesh shall be tamed. You no longer satisfy the lusts and desires of the flesh.
• For your spirit, inward man, to take over completely, you have to keep renewing your mind with the Word of God.
• Renewal of mind is not done once, you keep reading, studying, and meditating [pondering] on the Word of God, for your mind to think right—to work in line with God’s will.

• Renewal of mind is the key to healthy spiritual living!

• You cannot live a healthy spiritual life without a mind renewal. And a mind renewal is done through the knowledge of the Word of God.
• A man’s thinking can only be changed through the knowledge of the Word of God.
• If you succeed in changing a man’s thoughts, you have succeeded in changing his behaviour.
• Comportment, demeanor, and the general disposition of a person are controlled and regulated through the mind.

If a man’s thoughts are changed, his comportment or demeanor will change automatically.
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

1. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
2. For the flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
   Galatians 5:16,17 (NKJV)

• You will not fail in Jesus name.
Peace!