February 09, 2025
Greetings and blessings to all of you. Are we living and walking in the Spirit? Whenever we behave according to the old man or live in the flesh or the self, we in a practical way are out of fellowship with Christ. This means that when we are in the flesh, we are in the realm of the fallen human nature, which has been fully usurped by Satan who is the god of this world right now. (2 Cor. 4:4) (John 12:31) (Eph 2:2) There is a Kingdom of Satan and a Kingdom of Christ. If a genuine Christian lives in the flesh instead of in the Spirit he is not in fellowship with Christ and His Kingdom but in the Kingdom of Satan. It bears repeating, only when we live, walk, behave and have our being altogether in our Spirit, not in our natural man, are we in the fellowship with Christ. The way of the flesh is a lifestyle focused on self. Expressed as either self-gratification or self- effort and sometimes a mixture of the two. It is totally displeasing to God. When you read Gal.5:19-21 Paul lists fifteen “works of the flesh”. Maybe fits of anger, lying, jealousy, envy, drunkenness, and selfish ambitions are some you have clothe yourselves in. But in Col. 3:9 it says, “Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” There is nothing intrinsically wrong with certain appetites that the flesh likes. However, an appetite for food can lead to gluttony; an appetite for sex can lead to pornography, promiscuity or licentiousness; an appetite for power can lead to abuse of others and an over blown ego; an appetite for comfort can and most often leads to laziness, apathy and/ or boredom and an appetite for excitement can lead to a lack of self-control which leads to compulsive behaviors disorders. We want to believe these “appetites of the flesh” are normal and we rationalize and say, ‘everyone is doing it’ or ‘I do not do it all the time’ and then it begins to be a big part of your life causing destruction to your spiritual walk and to others around you. Therefore, we must understand that walking in the Spirit means allowing God’s Spirit to tell us how to think and how to act. In Gal. 5:22-23...it lists the “fruit of the Spirit”. These are nine characteristics of Christ. Since we now identify totally with Christ and we are “dead to sin” we should be walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. It is that simple. It is not complicated! Reading the Word of God will help.
With the Love of Christ
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC