Spirituality

Becoming The Spiritual Person You Want to Be How do we move away from selfishness to loving service to God and other people? How can we turn our eyes from sin? What does it take to be a Christian in whom others can see Christ daily? - Realizing our identity in Christ - Put to death our old sinful flesh Living out your true identity is often called walking in the spirit How do we walk in the spirit? To get a clearer understanding of walking in the spirit, we must identify the three kinds of people. In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about 3 types of people: the spiritual person, fleshly person and the natural person As you explore the characteristics between these people, you will notice that the differences are quite obvious.

If we examine our lives and living environment, it is quite easy to differentiate between a spiritual person and a natural person.

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Because a spiritual person walks in the spirit, he is compelled to pour out his love and compassion to others, while a natural person who walks by his flesh and is spiritually dead, is compelled to sin.

The Natural Person: - Spiritually dead as a result cannot help but sin - Has a soul-although he is capable of thinking, choosing and feeling, he is directed by his flesh, which directly affects his decisions.

- Because he is independent from God, he gives sin and the devil an opportunity.

- He is walking in his flesh, which eventually leads to a corrupt mind, depressed emotions and overall dissatisfaction.

The Spiritual Person - Has been transformed, has obtained spiritual birth and has united his spirit with GodÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯s.

- He has full freedom but willingly chooses to walk accordingly to the spirit.

- Body is fully changed. Was once a dwelling of sin, is now a dwelling of the Holy Spirit and Temple of God - Intentions are pure because he has been united with GodÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯s spirit. He is a victim to love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness - Although temptation of sin remains, he considers himself dead to sin - He is filled with joy, peace and stability opposed to the rocky, degrading life he lived as a natural person The Fleshly Person - Has been saved and declared righteous by God - Although he is spiritually alive, he chooses to follow his flesh rather than the Spirit - His body remains a Temple of God but is in poor shape - Because he often gives in to his fleshly, sinful temptation he battles similar problems that a natural person would have such as insecurity and depression Why are so many people struggling in this stage and fail to reach their potential in Christ? How do we become the Spiritual person everyone longs to be? To enjoy the abundant life we inherited we must continually apply the truth about our identity to our daily walk. Becoming a spiritual person also requires patience. It is not easy to change our ways because our human nature has been programmed to sin and our mind is weak. But as we incorporate and live out the truth everyday, God will slowly mold us into spiritual beings we were meant to be. We also neglect the presence and effect of Satan on our lives. Believe it or not the devil is constantly pushing you and attempting to deceive us. But once we realize that the impact Satan makes on us, we are able to stand against him with more ease.

ÃÂ¡ÃÂ°Walking according to the Spirit is more like a relationship with a good friend than a list of doÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯s and donÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯tsÃÂ¡ÃÂ± There is no set way or formula to walk in the spirit. It is more like a relationship. Walking in the Spirit is the process of building a relationship with God. And as your relationship becomes stronger, God will help you grow into the spiritual person you want to be.

Galatians 5:16-18 Understanding the Spirit Filled Walk In order to walk in the Spirit, we must properly identify what the Spirit Filled Walk is and what it isnÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯t.

What the Spirit Filled Walk is not As children of God, we are free to do anything. Although we have this great freedom, will we really walk in the Spirit when we are committing all these immoral acts? Obviously not.

Walking in the Spirit means you are free to do the right thing and to live a responsible life.

As evidence in NeilÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯s story, freedom may actually be a direct path toward bondage. Therefore, we can rejoice in the fact that we are free but we must acknowledge that our true freedom is actually our ability to live obediently.

What the Spirit Filled Walk is The Spirit Filled Walk is not license or legalism. It is liberty- the freedom to be who we are in Christ.

We must carefully examine what Walking in the Spirit means.

Walking means constantly participating and staying alert. If we begin to sit in the Spirit, the rate of our spiritual growth is slowed down and can be detrimental to our spiritual maturity. Also we are not running in the Spirit. We are often confused and even trick ourselves into thinking that if we pray a little harder or if we attend Church more often, we can come closer to God. Although these things are essential to our spiritual growth it does not guarantee a Spirit Filled Walk.

Matthew 11:28-30 tells us about the Spirit Filled Walk. It shows us that the pace is steady and the burden is little. Although God moves at a steady pace at all times, we often slow down or speed up. When we slow down, we are stalling and not fulfilling our potential. When we speed ahead of God, we then refuse GodÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯s help and try to do things our own way. We may also even be listening to the devil instead of God. All these things cause us to lose focus and the only way to make things right is to go back and continue the steady pace the Lord sets for us.

One of the easiest ways to know whether we have been walking by the flesh or the Spirit is to look at our actions. If you willingly show love, thanks, joy and peace you are walking by the Spirit. If you feel hateful, angry or depressed, it is an indication that you are walking by the flesh. In order to correct this and to go back to GodÃÂ¡ÃÂ¯s path, we must admit it and correct it. Confess you sin to God and return to the right path where you are safe and secure.