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For the last 4 years, I've been meditating on what it means to walk in the Spirit, and this is what the Lord has shown me.
We are made up of three parts: Body, soul, and spirit. But when we look at this Christian walk, the scriptures primarily speak of two parts: Old man, new man. This has caused a ton of confusion within the Body about scriptures like Paul's reference to walking in the Spirit.
First of all, Jesus clearly states what the flesh vessel is good for: Nothing!
John 6:63
63 It is the spirit making alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words which I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
When we are born again, we are made alive in spirit and our spirit becomes betrothed to Jesus' Holy Spirit (just like a man cleaves to his wife). And just like a good wife, our spirit submits to Jesus' Holy Spirit:
Ephesians 5:22-24
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Ephesians 5:30-33
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak to Christ and to the church. 33 But ye also altogether, let each so love his own wife as himself: and the wife that she fear her husband.
So just as a husband and a wife become one flesh, we become one Spirit with Jesus. This is our "new man" Paul talks about. This is the "new wineskin" Jesus talked about.
When we "walk in the Spirit" like Paul exhorts, our flesh vessel has no sway over us. This is not a figurative thing. This is not a metaphor, it's real. We can really "walk in the Spirit" and have victory over our flesh.
We've all experienced this kind of victory, I'm sure. But it doesn't happen all the time. Why is this? Because we don't have a full revelation of what it means to be the "new creation" God has ordained us to be. We don't know how to feed our spirit person within us.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus always talked about eating and drinking? For one reason, the Jewish culture of the time were very concrete in their thinking. They liked to illustrate things in the concrete, as opposed to the abstract ways our modern culture likes to illustrate things. Additionally, it was God's purpose to do what in the natural what He would eventually do in the Spiritual.
What did God ordain the Jews to celebrate? FEASTS! There was a purpose behind this. They fed their natural flesh in natural ways on holy days to show their love and dedication to Father God. They did it to draw near to Him the only way they could, in the natural.
So then Jesus Messiah comes along, and He's relating to their natural sensibilities, but applying it to new spiritual truths. This is why He says that the Word of God is food. This is why He says they can drink living water. This is why He says it's true food to do the will of His Father. This is why He says to eat of His Body and drink of His blood (representing our prayer communion with Him).
If you were to write down directions for taking care of your natural body, it would look like this: Drink plenty of water, eat healthy foods, exercise regularly and you will be healthy and strong.
Jesus' directions for taking care of our new spirit person are different: Study the Word, be obedient and do our Father's will, pray daily, and pray in the Spirit to build up your spirit person.
But we still have this flesh that wants to fight with our new spirit person. Tell your flesh to have a seat! Take a look at what Jesus taught about fasting:
Matthew 9:14-17
14 Then came to him the disciples of John; saying, Wherefore do we and the Pharisees fast much, and thy disciples fast not? 15 And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast. 16 And no one puts on a cover of uncombed fragment upon an old garment, for its filling takes away from the garment, and the division is Worse. 17 Neither do they cast new wine into old wine-skins: but if otherwise, the wine-skins burst, and the wine is poured out, and the wine-skins are destroyed; but they cast new wine into new wine-skins, and they are both preserved.
Look at what He's saying here. When Jesus was present in flesh, they didn't need to fast. But once He ascended, they would need to fast. Why? Because fasting helps us overcome the flesh that the Spirit of God may reign in us. The new wine-skin is our new "spirit person" we get when we're born again and our spirit becomes one with Jesus' Holy Spirit.
So when we take care of our new spirit-person, and tell our flesh to have a seat by fasting, we will walk in the Spirit in great power and victory.
But we still sometimes struggle, don't we? Why is that?
Because we still have the soul to deal with. The soul is who we are. It's our character, our personality, it's the will within our heart. The soul is what must be "converted" through the process of sanctification by the washing of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter talks about our souls being converted here:
1 Peter 1:22
22 Having purified your souls in the hearing of the truth by the Spirit to unfeigned brotherly love, out of pure hearts love ye one another cordially
Jesus is preparing every believer Himself through the process of sanctification. By His Spirit and His Word, He transforms us from one degree of glory to another. This transformation happens in our souls, and changes our very character so we are more Christ-like, and less like our old wretched selves.
Now I'm not going to make a doctrine out of this, but I believe that God allows our souls and freewill to be active so the sanctification will give glory to Jesus, as it is His work in us as we submit and surrender to Him out of love and obedience, which He is so very worthy of!
Additionally, this process takes time because we aren't really ready to walk in that kind of victory without the transforming of our soul in great measure. There's got to be a work done in our hearts. Consider the Israelites when they were to take the promised land:
Exodus 23:27-29
27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.
We know this can be very ugly for us at times, as we get in our flesh, we can see what our souls are still like, and we weep and mourn over our state, turn in repentance from our sin, and call upon Him to change us. I mean, He could have just given us glorified bodies from the outset, but what of our soul? What glory is that for Him? He does this work in us, and it's awesome and glorifying to Him and when He is done, we will be of a character that will be able to rule and reign with Him during the Millenial Kingdom. He is not going to put people in charge under Him unless they have been trained by Him and changed and prepared.
And when we find ourselves tiring and seeking to get out of our flesh, we will turn our eyes to Him and His way, and we will begin to feast His way and our spirit person will get big and our flesh man will get weak as we get back into His Spirit.
He is merciful, He gives rest to our weary souls when the sanctification process becomes too much to bear:
Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
One final thought on feeding and strengthening our spirit person: Knowing Jesus' ways are not our ways, we can be sure it will turn our thinking upside down if we are going to do it right. Feeding our spirit person is no different than most of Jesus' paradoxical teachings.
In the natural, if we don't eat, we get really hungry. We start to get parched in the mouth and our stomachs growl and we get the urge to eat.
Our new spirit person is the exact opposite. When we feed our spirit person, it gets more hungry! The more we spend time in the Word, spend time in His presence, spend time doing our Father's will, the more we will want to! Praise GOD! THANK YOU, JESUS!
**NOTE ON BETROTHAL**
In our modern culture, which regards marriage so lightly, the "betrothal" period preceeding a wedding is not seen as secure or sure. This was not so in ancient Jewish culture. Betrothal was serious. So serious that when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant with child he considered "divorcing" here and they were not yet married:
Matthew 1:19
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Pretty much, when a couple was betrothed, it was a done deal. That's how important the covenant of marriage is to the Lord as it is a reflection of His promise to His bride.
Here is more on betrothal from the Jewish Encyclopedia:
BETROTHAL
The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
Table of Contents
• In the Bible.
• Betrothal and Home-Taking.
• Gifts.
• The Legal Ceremony.
The term "betrothal" in Jewish law must not be understood in its modern sense; that is, the agreement of a man and a woman to marry, by which the parties are not, however, definitely bound, but which may be broken or dissolved without formal divorce. Betrothal or engagement such as this is not known either to the Bible or to the Talmud, and only crept in among the medieval and modern Jews through the influence of the example of the Occidental nations among whom they dwelt, without securing a definite status in rabbinical law.
In the Bible.
Several Biblical passages refer to the negotiations requisite for the arranging of a marriage (Gen. xxiv.; Song of Songs viii. 8; Judges xiv. 2-7), which were conducted by members of the two families involved, or their deputies, and required usually the consent of the prospective bride (if of age); but when the agreement had been entered into, it was definite and binding upon both groom and bride, who were considered as man and wife in all legal and religious aspects, except that of actual cohabitation.
The root ("to betroth"), from which the Talmudic abstract ("betrothal") is derived, must be taken in this sense; i.e., to contract an actual though incomplete marriage. In two of thepassages in which it occurs the betrothed woman is directly designated as "wife" (II Sam. iii. 14, "my wife whom I have betrothed" ("erasti"), and Deut. xxii. 24, where the betrothed is designated as "the wife of his neighbor"). In strict accordance with this sense the rabbinical law declares that the betrothal is equivalent to an actual marriage and only to be dissolved by a formal divorce.
We are made up of three parts: Body, soul, and spirit. But when we look at this Christian walk, the scriptures primarily speak of two parts: Old man, new man. This has caused a ton of confusion within the Body about scriptures like Paul's reference to walking in the Spirit.
First of all, Jesus clearly states what the flesh vessel is good for: Nothing!
John 6:63
63 It is the spirit making alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words which I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
When we are born again, we are made alive in spirit and our spirit becomes betrothed to Jesus' Holy Spirit (just like a man cleaves to his wife). And just like a good wife, our spirit submits to Jesus' Holy Spirit:
Ephesians 5:22-24
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Ephesians 5:30-33
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak to Christ and to the church. 33 But ye also altogether, let each so love his own wife as himself: and the wife that she fear her husband.
So just as a husband and a wife become one flesh, we become one Spirit with Jesus. This is our "new man" Paul talks about. This is the "new wineskin" Jesus talked about.
When we "walk in the Spirit" like Paul exhorts, our flesh vessel has no sway over us. This is not a figurative thing. This is not a metaphor, it's real. We can really "walk in the Spirit" and have victory over our flesh.
We've all experienced this kind of victory, I'm sure. But it doesn't happen all the time. Why is this? Because we don't have a full revelation of what it means to be the "new creation" God has ordained us to be. We don't know how to feed our spirit person within us.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus always talked about eating and drinking? For one reason, the Jewish culture of the time were very concrete in their thinking. They liked to illustrate things in the concrete, as opposed to the abstract ways our modern culture likes to illustrate things. Additionally, it was God's purpose to do what in the natural what He would eventually do in the Spiritual.
What did God ordain the Jews to celebrate? FEASTS! There was a purpose behind this. They fed their natural flesh in natural ways on holy days to show their love and dedication to Father God. They did it to draw near to Him the only way they could, in the natural.
So then Jesus Messiah comes along, and He's relating to their natural sensibilities, but applying it to new spiritual truths. This is why He says that the Word of God is food. This is why He says they can drink living water. This is why He says it's true food to do the will of His Father. This is why He says to eat of His Body and drink of His blood (representing our prayer communion with Him).
If you were to write down directions for taking care of your natural body, it would look like this: Drink plenty of water, eat healthy foods, exercise regularly and you will be healthy and strong.
Jesus' directions for taking care of our new spirit person are different: Study the Word, be obedient and do our Father's will, pray daily, and pray in the Spirit to build up your spirit person.
But we still have this flesh that wants to fight with our new spirit person. Tell your flesh to have a seat! Take a look at what Jesus taught about fasting:
Matthew 9:14-17
14 Then came to him the disciples of John; saying, Wherefore do we and the Pharisees fast much, and thy disciples fast not? 15 And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast. 16 And no one puts on a cover of uncombed fragment upon an old garment, for its filling takes away from the garment, and the division is Worse. 17 Neither do they cast new wine into old wine-skins: but if otherwise, the wine-skins burst, and the wine is poured out, and the wine-skins are destroyed; but they cast new wine into new wine-skins, and they are both preserved.
Look at what He's saying here. When Jesus was present in flesh, they didn't need to fast. But once He ascended, they would need to fast. Why? Because fasting helps us overcome the flesh that the Spirit of God may reign in us. The new wine-skin is our new "spirit person" we get when we're born again and our spirit becomes one with Jesus' Holy Spirit.
So when we take care of our new spirit-person, and tell our flesh to have a seat by fasting, we will walk in the Spirit in great power and victory.
But we still sometimes struggle, don't we? Why is that?
Because we still have the soul to deal with. The soul is who we are. It's our character, our personality, it's the will within our heart. The soul is what must be "converted" through the process of sanctification by the washing of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter talks about our souls being converted here:
1 Peter 1:22
22 Having purified your souls in the hearing of the truth by the Spirit to unfeigned brotherly love, out of pure hearts love ye one another cordially
Jesus is preparing every believer Himself through the process of sanctification. By His Spirit and His Word, He transforms us from one degree of glory to another. This transformation happens in our souls, and changes our very character so we are more Christ-like, and less like our old wretched selves.
Now I'm not going to make a doctrine out of this, but I believe that God allows our souls and freewill to be active so the sanctification will give glory to Jesus, as it is His work in us as we submit and surrender to Him out of love and obedience, which He is so very worthy of!
Additionally, this process takes time because we aren't really ready to walk in that kind of victory without the transforming of our soul in great measure. There's got to be a work done in our hearts. Consider the Israelites when they were to take the promised land:
Exodus 23:27-29
27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.
We know this can be very ugly for us at times, as we get in our flesh, we can see what our souls are still like, and we weep and mourn over our state, turn in repentance from our sin, and call upon Him to change us. I mean, He could have just given us glorified bodies from the outset, but what of our soul? What glory is that for Him? He does this work in us, and it's awesome and glorifying to Him and when He is done, we will be of a character that will be able to rule and reign with Him during the Millenial Kingdom. He is not going to put people in charge under Him unless they have been trained by Him and changed and prepared.
And when we find ourselves tiring and seeking to get out of our flesh, we will turn our eyes to Him and His way, and we will begin to feast His way and our spirit person will get big and our flesh man will get weak as we get back into His Spirit.
He is merciful, He gives rest to our weary souls when the sanctification process becomes too much to bear:
Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
One final thought on feeding and strengthening our spirit person: Knowing Jesus' ways are not our ways, we can be sure it will turn our thinking upside down if we are going to do it right. Feeding our spirit person is no different than most of Jesus' paradoxical teachings.
In the natural, if we don't eat, we get really hungry. We start to get parched in the mouth and our stomachs growl and we get the urge to eat.
Our new spirit person is the exact opposite. When we feed our spirit person, it gets more hungry! The more we spend time in the Word, spend time in His presence, spend time doing our Father's will, the more we will want to! Praise GOD! THANK YOU, JESUS!
**NOTE ON BETROTHAL**
In our modern culture, which regards marriage so lightly, the "betrothal" period preceeding a wedding is not seen as secure or sure. This was not so in ancient Jewish culture. Betrothal was serious. So serious that when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant with child he considered "divorcing" here and they were not yet married:
Matthew 1:19
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Pretty much, when a couple was betrothed, it was a done deal. That's how important the covenant of marriage is to the Lord as it is a reflection of His promise to His bride.
Here is more on betrothal from the Jewish Encyclopedia:
BETROTHAL
The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
Table of Contents
• In the Bible.
• Betrothal and Home-Taking.
• Gifts.
• The Legal Ceremony.
The term "betrothal" in Jewish law must not be understood in its modern sense; that is, the agreement of a man and a woman to marry, by which the parties are not, however, definitely bound, but which may be broken or dissolved without formal divorce. Betrothal or engagement such as this is not known either to the Bible or to the Talmud, and only crept in among the medieval and modern Jews through the influence of the example of the Occidental nations among whom they dwelt, without securing a definite status in rabbinical law.
In the Bible.
Several Biblical passages refer to the negotiations requisite for the arranging of a marriage (Gen. xxiv.; Song of Songs viii. 8; Judges xiv. 2-7), which were conducted by members of the two families involved, or their deputies, and required usually the consent of the prospective bride (if of age); but when the agreement had been entered into, it was definite and binding upon both groom and bride, who were considered as man and wife in all legal and religious aspects, except that of actual cohabitation.
The root ("to betroth"), from which the Talmudic abstract ("betrothal") is derived, must be taken in this sense; i.e., to contract an actual though incomplete marriage. In two of thepassages in which it occurs the betrothed woman is directly designated as "wife" (II Sam. iii. 14, "my wife whom I have betrothed" ("erasti"), and Deut. xxii. 24, where the betrothed is designated as "the wife of his neighbor"). In strict accordance with this sense the rabbinical law declares that the betrothal is equivalent to an actual marriage and only to be dissolved by a formal divorce.
). Thank you, Jeff. This a helpful discourse on feeding the spirit vs. feeding the flesh.
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