Galatians 5:16 - Live by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 (NIV) So I say, live by the
Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the
sinful nature.
Galatians 5:16 (NLT) So I say, let the Holy
Spirit guide your lives. Then you wont be doing
what your sinful nature craves.
Galatians 5:16 (AMP) But I say, walk and
live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit
[responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit];
then you will certainly not gratify the cravings
and desires of the flesh (of human nature
without God).
COMMENTARY PEARL
To walk means to place one foot in front
of the other and to go forward one step at a
time. If you stop doing this, you are no longer
walking. You are standing still - or worse, going
backwards. Walking always implies movement, progress,
and direction.
This is what it means to walk with God.
It means moving forward in step with Him,
confident that the way He is leading is best. The
problem is that we are weak. We stumble or get
diverted, or get weary and stop moving forward. But
that is one reason why the Holy Spirit has been
given to us. Galatians 5:16 could be paraphrased
this way: "Walk by means of the Spirit."
One of the highest commendations in the
Bible is found in these words about Noah: "Noah
was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah
walked with God" (Gen. 6:9). Could this be said of
us?
Do you feel the enemy trying to lead you
off God's path? Whatever you do, don't stop!
Keep walking with God: be in His Word, pray
continually, move forward in faith. Slow and steady
still wins the race. [Hope for Each Day by Billy
Graham]
INTRODUCTION
If your desire is to have the qualities
listed in 5:22, 23, then you know that the Holy
Spirit is leading you. At the same time, be careful
not to confuse your subjective feelings with the
Spirit's leading. Being led by the Holy Spirit
involves the desire to hear, the readiness to obey
God's Word, and the sensitivity to discern between
your feelings and his promptings. Live each day
controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit. Then the
words of Christ will be in your mind, the love of
Christ will be behind your actions, and the power
of Christ will help you control your selfish
desires. [Life Application SB]
There are those who profess to serve God,
while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His
law, to form a right character, and secure
salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense
of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform
the duties of the Christian life as that which
God requires of them in order to gain heaven.
Such religion is worth nothing. When Christ
dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled
with His love, with the joy of communion with
Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the
contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to
Christ will be the spring of action. SC44,45
COMMENTARY
Walking according to the Spirit is more a
relationship than a regimen. Think about your marriage as
an illustration. You may have started out
relying on some rules for effective communication,
meeting each other's sexual needs, etc. But if after
several years you can't even talk to each other or
make love without following an outline or list of
steps, your marriage is still in infancy. The goal
of a marriage is to develop a relationship
which supersedes rules.
Or think about prayer. Perhaps you
learned to pray using the simple acrostic ACTS:
adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. But
if you have been a Christian for a few years
and your prayer life is no deeper than an
acrostic, you've missed the point of prayer. Prayer is
not a formula; it's the language of your
relationship with God. Similarly, walking in the Spirit
is essentially a relationship with the
indwelling Spirit which defies quantification.
Even though Scripture doesn't give us a
formula, it does help us see what the Spirit-filled
walk is and what it is not . Helpful parameters
are found in Galatians 5:16-18: "Walk by the
Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the
flesh. For the flesh 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 if
you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
Law."
So how do you walk by the Spirit? If I
answered by giving you a rigid formula, I would be
putting you back under the law. The Spirit is not an
"it"; the Holy Spirit is a "He" - a person.
Walking by the Spirit is a relationship issue, not a
legal issue or ritualistic exercise. It is a walk
with God.
Father, thank You that my life in You is
a relationship, not a set of rules. [Daily in
Christ by Neil Anderson]
ILLUSTRATIONS
How to Open the Flow of Gods Blessings
Most people from up north probably
wouldnt consider Texas winters to be harsh. But when
we moved from Florida to Texas, it was a shock
for us. I remember one night that first year
after we moved that it got down to 17 degrees. For
us, it was unbearably cold!
Well, we didnt know how to prepare for
a hard freeze like that. So we neglected to
wrap up our water spigots outside and leave our
indoor faucets dripping overnight. And the next
morning when I woke up and turned on the water
nothing. Our pipes had frozen.
After things began to warm up, we were
able to turn the water on. But we couldnt do
anything until then because the ice was clogging the
flow of water.
Just as that ice was to our pipes,
restraining and choking out the water, sin and
disobedience are in our lives, clogging what God wants to
do and freezing up the flow of His blessings.
Thats because when youre not walking in the
Spirit, you cant receive everything God wants to
give you!
Whatever it is in your life today
thats choking out the abundant life God wants you
to have, get it out. Walk in obedience and
youll open up the channel to receiving Gods
greatest blessings for your life.
OPEN THE FLOW OF GODS BLESSINGS IN YOUR
LIFE
BY WALKING IN THE SPIRIT AND LIVING IN
OBEDIENCE!
[PowerPoint Today by Jack Graham;
https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/powerpoint/ re Deu. 28:1-2]
How Did Enoch Walk With God?
Enoch walked with God three hundred years
previous to his translation to heaven, and the state
of the world was not then more favorable for
the perfection of Christian character than it is
today. And how did Enoch walk with God? He educated
his mind and heart to ever feel that he was in
the presence of God, and when in perplexity his
prayers would ascend to God to keep him. He refused
to take any course that would offend His God.
He kept the Lord continually before Him. He
would pray, "Teach me Thy way, that I may not err.
What is thy pleasure concerning me? What shall I
do to honor Thee, my God?" Thus he was
constantly shaping his way and course in accordance
with God's commandments, and he had perfect
confidence and trust in his heavenly Father, that He
would help him. He had no thought or will of his
own; it was all submerged in the will of his
Father. {1SAT 32.2}
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Living by the promptings and power of the
Spirit is the key to conquering sinful desires (see
v. 25; Ro 8:2-4). [NIV SB]
In learning to walk with God, there is
always the difficulty of getting into His stride,
but once we have done so...the individual person
is merged into a personal oneness with God, and
God's stride and His power alone are exhibited.
[In His Time; My Utmost For His Highest]
If you "hear what the Spirit saith...," and
meditate upon the instruction given to them, your
ears will be closed to the folly and nonsense
which surround you. You will neither hear and
repeat these things, nor will you ever hanker after
them. When Christ satisfies the soul hunger, these
trivialities are to you distasteful and disgusting. You
have no desire to feast upon them, but choose
instead the bread of heaven (MS 92, 1901 re
Rev.2:7). {7BC 957.11}
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY
Galatians 5:16 - Living by the Spirit.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2019/20190728-1011.html
Galatians 5:16 - Live and Walk in the Spirit.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2018/20180620-1117.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/
