The Spirit empowers what the flesh cannot produce.
Good morning. Today’s Bible verse is Galatians 5:16: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
In society, laws and regulations are necessary because the human heart is sinful. Jeremiah tells us the heart is “deceitful above all things,” and Paul describes humanity’s condition in Romans 3. The Law of Moses was given to expose sin — to reveal what was already present in the human heart. It could diagnose sin, but it could never cure it. It could command righteousness, but it could never produce it.
But for those who have believed the gospel of grace, everything has changed.
We are a new creation.
We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
We are no longer under the Law’s condemnation or its demands.
And this is why Paul says:
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Walking in the Spirit is not striving.
It is not performing.
It is not living by a list of “dos and don’ts.”
It is not attempting to earn God’s approval through religious effort.
Walking in the Spirit is daily dependence on the One who lives within us.
It is listening instead of resisting.
Yielding instead of striving.
Trusting instead of performing.
Responding instead of reacting.
Those in the world can only follow the impulses of the flesh.
But we, as members of the Body of Christ, can choose to walk in the Spirit — and when we do, the flesh loses its power.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we walk through this life as members of the Body of Christ, we stumble, we choose to sin, and we feel the tension between who we are in Christ and what we still experience in the flesh. But if we hold fast to the truth of Paul’s gospel of grace and seek the Spirit’s guidance, He will lead us. He will strengthen us. He will empower us to walk in a way that honors Christ.
Remember this: your standing before God is without sin — fully secure — because of your faith in the finished work of Jesus, the Head of the Body, accomplished on your behalf.
And though your state is one of living in this world, wrestling with the world, the flesh, and the devil, the Spirit within you is greater than all three.
Walk in the Spirit today — allowing Him to do what the flesh never can.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ga 5:16.
Meditation:
Holy Spirit, teach me to walk with You today. Help me depend on Your strength instead of my own.
Reflection Question:
Where do you need the Spirit’s strength instead of your own effort today?