If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:25.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The narrow way, the way of perfection, is not the way of walking in the flesh but of walking in the Spirit. The way to perfection is My Spirit and your spirit joined in perfect fellowship as one. And there is only one way they join, by My Word.
It is My Word that made the heavens and the earth and it is My Word that joins Heaven and earth in Jesus. He reconciles and joins humanity with divinity in one seamless life.
The dividing line between whether you are walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit is whose word you choose to live your life in accordance with, that is, which word you agree with in your thoughts, words, and actions. You can choose the words of the world, the flesh and the devil or you can choose My Words.
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17.
My Words are established in Heaven forever, they are of Heaven, the words of the world, the flesh, and the devil are earthy and they perish.
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and strife in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural (unspiritual), demonic. For where jealousy and strife exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:13-18.
The words dominated by the flesh cause disorder and every evil thing among you, for the mind set on the flesh is set only upon itself, that is, its perishable self, and wants to grab everything it can to feed its desires while it is still has physical life, for it is perishable. But words dominated by the Spirit raise you higher than the flesh to see vistas of a beautiful inheritance that is forever. They bring life and peace, beauty and goodness, love and generosity of giving for you are not limited to the grave, that is only the threshold of a whole new beginning that begins even now as a new creation in Christ. You are in the world but not of the world that you should live by the lower standard of the flesh.
From the time of Adam’s fall from the spirit level to the flesh level, the word you follow has made two camps that are hostile to one another and are in opposition. You see this in Cain and Abel and you see it all the way to the final battle in the book of Revelation before the great white throne judgment and new heavens and a new earth, freed from the curse of corruption, are birthed at the close of the Adam’s leasehold interest in the earth which he gave over to the devil.
My servant Paul likens this to children born in slavery to the flesh, such as Ishmael from Hagar, the slave girl, and those born of My promise, that is of My Word, which is spirit and life, such as Isaac from Sarah. And just as the son of the flesh persecuted the son of the spirit so it still continues.
When a scribe or Pharisee agreed with My Son as He taught, He would tell them that they were not far from the reign of God, but not so when they disagreed and tried to exercise oppression on the people. Then He called them hypocrites and a brood of vipers. He knew their hearts and there was selfish ambition and murder in them along with greed and jealousy. A rotten tree produces rotten fruit. All flesh and no spirit results in evil and darkness, confusion and depression, impurity and licentiousness. They thought they were righteous and perfect but they were as far from it as the night from the day, the darkness from light, a lie from the truth. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs full of rot and dead men’s bones.
If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption, for it is passing away to the dust from which it came. But if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life. People mock Me thinking they can sow corruption and reap the imperishable but that is not the case. You will reap what you sow.
If you want to be perfect as I am perfect it is time to leave the mindset of the flesh behind and walk according to the mindset of the Spirit.
If you are having trouble discerning what is flesh and what is spirit just check your heart, if there is righteousness, peace, a sense of goodness and joy there, it is spirit. If there is unrighteousness (lawlessness), agitation and unrest, and bitterness, unforgiveness, depression, worry, and fear (that is, no true joy that passes understanding) it is of the flesh. A life that is an emotional roller coaster gives no peace and no rest and that is the life the flesh will give you. The wide road of destruction by run away emotions.
If you walk by the Spirit, that is, set your mind above on My Word, you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit produced in you contains self control, which is a wonderful fruit to have for a perfect life. For the flesh uncontrolled sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please but are instead controlled by your lusts which turn into addictions. This is not the way to prosper or succeed, the way of the flesh is seeking itself alone but it destroys itself by exercising no restraint towards that which is harmful though attractive at first. I call it the “fleeting joys of sin,” they hook you in and then destroy you. Judas had some elation and satisfaction when he betrayed Jesus, but then it turned bitter and remorse destroyed him with his own hands.
You can easily discern the works of the flesh and, unfortunately, since Adam, many choose the wide road of the uncontrolled flesh. You see the carnage of it all around you.
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21.
Now contrast what those that live according to the Spirit reap in their lives.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.
If you will note, walking according to the Spirit simplifies your life. It is a much shorter list, quite narrow, compared to the deeds of the flesh. Lying, hiding, and staying under darkness is much more complicated than walking in the light.
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. John 3:19-21.
The flesh, since Adam’s rejection of My Word to submit himself to the lies of the devil for self-glory and ambition, has corrupted all the seed. Your answer to life is not found in the flesh. The flesh is corrupted and cannot save you. The solution is in the Spirit. I knew what to do with sinful flesh in My Son, I crucified it. And if you are in Christ, you were in the spirit by substitution and identification, crucified to sin with Him and raised up to new life with Him as an entirely new creation.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24.
I think you will understand this passage of Scripture now at a whole new level:
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4.
There is the law of the flesh and the law of the spirit. It is like the law of gravity and the law of lift and thrust, one holds you down to the earth and one takes you up into the heavens. Both are laws in the same place but have very different results. Both are true, but one gets you to your goal much faster than the other.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8.
It comes down to what are you focused on in your mind. Life or death, blessing or cursing, love or hate, forgiveness or unforgiveness? I watch over My Word to perform it and that means you must be agreeing with Me. Keep your eyes on My Word, which is the same as saying to keep your eyes on Jesus for He is My Word among you showing you how My Word operates in the earth realm.
You may be saying that Jesus is no longer physically among you as He was with the twelve disciples but you have the same thing they did—you have His Words. And the Holy Spirit reminds you of all that He said. And He gave you who believe in Him the gift of the Holy Spirit, My promise to you, and the Spirit lives in your spirit guiding you to all truth. My Word is truth and My Word sanctifies you.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:9-13.
It all comes back again to the three witnesses who testify that in Jesus you have eternal life—the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. The Blood of Jesus cleanses you of sin and makes you holy, blameless and beyond reproach. The Water of the Word washes away all your impurities and wrong focus, and regenerates you by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit imparts My life into you as the sap in the vine to make the branch fruitful.
But ultimately, the test in each one’s life that is the dividing line between whether you are walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit is whose word you choose to live your life in accordance with, that is, which word you agree with in your thoughts, words, and actions. You can choose the words of the world, the flesh and the devil or you can choose My Words.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 0 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20.
I love you. Live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, sing in the Spirit and you will be perfect.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:25-26.