IN THE SPIRIT OR IN THE FLESH, YOUR CHOICE

IN THE SPIRIT OR IN THE FLESH, YOUR CHOICE

THIS IS AWESOME, and you get to decide (notes are added at end of passage)...

Galatians 5:16-25
(16) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
(17) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
(18) But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
(19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
(20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
(21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
(24) And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
(25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

DLG NOTES...
Christians, Saved People, Followers of Christ, Holy Spirit Empowered Believers...
vs. 16 (see passage above)
IF we walk in the Spirit (if we live in the power of the Holy Spirit) we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It is settled. Therefore, if we are fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, it is because we are not walking in the Spirit.

vs. 17 (see passage above)
There are two minds, two voices that want to dominate the life of a believer. There is the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, there is the old man and the new man, there is flesh and there is the spirit, there is the law of sin and death and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The negative influence (carnal mind, old man, flesh, law of sin and death) is the sinful nature, with which we were born, and which continues within us after we are born again. We (our regenerated self) choose to submit to either the sinful nature or the new nature (spiritual mind, new man, the spirit, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus). These two influences are leading in two opposite directions. The regenerate believer, before his entire sanctification, has an inward battle, an un-purified nature tending toward sin and causing the believer to say, along with Paul (in Romans 7:21-24),
Romans 7:21-25
(21) I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
(22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
(23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
(24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Some people would leave us in that inner turmoil (vss. 21-23), but God answered Paul's prayer (vs. 24), for him and for us in the next verses, Romans 7:25-8:1-4

Romans 7:25 thru 8:1-4
(25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
(2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
(3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
(4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

vs. 18 (see passage above)
Believers do not try to fulfill the law of God through the power of the flesh, because they are indwelt, empowered and led by the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) to keep the law of God.

vss. 19-21 (see passage above)
This is what is produced in those who are not born of the Spirit, those who are not empowered by the Spirit, those who are not led by the Spirit, those who do not walk in the Spirit. This is the life of sin and corruption.

vss. 22-23 (see passage above)
love
joy
peace
longsuffering
gentleness
goodness
faith
meekness
temperance.
Christians produce this fruit in their lives. If you are having a crop failure, then you need to repent and follow Christ fully.

vs. 24 (see passage above)
If you are not producing the fruit of the Spirit prolifically, then you need to be purified (see Jn. 15:1-6), or as it says here, THOSE WHO ARE CHRIST'S HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH, WITH ITS AFFECTIONS AND LUSTS.

The answer to sins committed, is being born of God.
The answer to sin as a nature is for the old man to be crucified, dead.

vs. 25 (see passage above)
The end result of being born of the Spirit and being crucified with Christ is a walk, a life lived in the power and the will of the Holy Spirit.All of God's word agrees, we can be forgiven, regenerated, cleansed, empowered, led and purified, even as He is pure, all by the act of trusting Christ.

(10/2/15 dlg on fb)