Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ~ Galatians 5:16
You can’t walk in the Spirit, and the flesh, at the same time. One will overcome the other, and that’s the apostle Paul’s point. He says, “For the flesh lusts 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” (v. 17).
In other words, you’re in such a state of conflict that you can’t do either one well. You live with a perpetual war going on inside you, but it needn’t be that way. Why? Because Paul goes on to say, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (v. 25).
You are already alive in the Spirit, so you might as well walk by it! Your flesh is already crucfied in Christ:
And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (v. 24)
What’s needed is an awakening in your own heart and mind to the reality that you are now in the Spirit:
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
If the Spirit of God dwells in you, then you are in the Spirit. You don’t have to strive to get there because you already are there. What you need to do is renew your mind to it and walk out this spiritual life. Paul summarizes what this walk of Spirit should look like:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. ~ Galatians 5:22-23
You can’t wait around for love, joy, or peace to take control of you. That’s not how it works. You must begin to live out that love, joy, and peace based upon the fact that you now know such spiritual fruits abide in you and will become active as you activate them. You must step out in faith, renew your mind, and apply your faith to every area of life. You are now walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh.
