Full Speed Ahead One Step at a Time: How You Can Walk in the Spirit Every Day

Full Speed Ahead One Step at a Time: How You Can Walk in the Spirit Every Day –Galatians 5:16-18
This is one of the most important passages on the Christian life in the New Testament. It answers a question all of us have asked at one time or another: Why is it taking me so long to get better? We’ve all wondered about that, haven’t we?
� "I thought by now I wouldn’t struggle so much with anger. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”
� "I still get tempted by pornography. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”
� "I go to church every Sunday but I still have so many doubts. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”
� "I thought I’d be a better person by now but I’ve got so many bad habits. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”
� "I’m a bitter person even though I cover it up most of the time. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”
Many of us wish we had an answer to that question. We might assume that upon being saved, we would rapidly sprout wings and fly to Heaven. But it doesn’t happen that way. God has ordained that even though we are being made like Jesus, it only happens a little bit at a time. And sometimes that “little bit” seems very little indeed.
When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, God did not allow them to conquer it all at once. Because there were many entrenched enemies in the hills of Canaan, the Jews had to fight for every inch of it. Then they had to fight to keep what they conquered. It took them many years to possess the entire land. This is also a picture of the Christian life. There is victory to be had but it will not come easily or quickly. We are in a warfare with spiritual foes who will not easily yield their ground. Whether we wish to admit it or not, we will struggle with sin and temptation as long as we live. There is no reprieve from this struggle. And that’s one major reason why it takes so long for any of us to get better.
The Apostle Paul writes:
The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong , I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. Romans 7:14-16 NLT
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians 5:16-17 NLT
The NIV says: So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. Galatians 5:16-17 NIV
Struggle is a Normal Part of the Christian Life.
Many Christians prefer not to hear this truth because they want a Christianity that proclaims “all victory all the time.” They want a guarantee that all their problems will be solved if they will follow the right formula. But that is not realistic nor is it Biblical. We are to fight the good fight of faith, putting on the whole armor of God, standing in the evil day, and enduring hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Verse 17 is abundantly clear in this regard. Two principles are at war within us. One is called “flesh.” The other is called “the Spirit.” They are constantly at war with each other. The flesh is Paul’s term for the sinful nature inside all of us by virtue of our physical descent from Adam. This nature is hostile to God, selfish, and utterly evil. When we come to Christ, we become new creations by virtue of the Holy Spirit who comes to live within us. Even though the dominating power of the flesh is broken, the pull of evil remains with us. As one writer put it, evil desires arise from the flesh like smoke from a chimney. To say it another way, flesh is what we are by natural birth; the Spirit comes to us by our spiritual birth.

We can get several conclusions from this:
• Flesh and the Spirit are fundamentally opposite. They do not and cannot cooperate.
• The conflict between our flesh and the Spirit is continual and inevitable.
• That conflict produces conflicting desires in the believer.

Thus with the same mouth we curse and we bless. We love and we hate. We serve and then we steal. We proclaim Christ and then we lie to our friends. We read the Bible and then we watch dirty movies. We sing in the choir and then we have an affair. And so it goes. The manifestations differ, but all of us feel the struggle in one way or the other.
Some people think, “If I come to Christ, all my problems will be solved. I’ll never struggle again.” Think again, folks! If you come to Christ, your problems are just starting. As a lost person, you sin because that’s your nature. As a Christian, you have a new nature that pulls you toward God while the flesh remains with you until you die. In one sense, Christians have conflicts the unsaved never know about. Our rewards are great but so are our struggles.
We ought to praise God for the war within. The deadly feud between flesh and Spirit is one sign that we are the children of God. Do you desire to be holy? Do you want to please the Lord? Is there a hunger in your heart to know Jesus and to love him? Do you desire to live a higher and better life even though you cannot seem to attain it? If you answer yes, that is strong evidence you are born again - saved. Despite your personal failings, do you truly want to do what God wants you to do? Then you may rest in the knowledge that you are a child of God. Your struggle with sin is proof of your divine heritage. If sin is a burden, at least it is a burden and not a joy. If you can swear and hate and steal and mock and lust and think all sorts of foul thoughts and speak harsh words, if you can do that and feel nothing, then you need to take a good look at your “salvation”.
Our ongoing struggles and temptations are not in themselves sinful. We are not condemned because we struggle. It’s not the struggle that matters; it’s how we respond. The sin is in giving in, not in the fight itself.
• No one escapes the conflict.
• No one can avoid the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit.
• No one gets a Christian life free from outward pressure and inward turmoil.

And there is no second blessing or spiritual experience that can magically propel you to a state where you no longer struggle with sin. That won’t happen until we finally get to heaven. Between now and then, we walk the hard road to glory, fighting every day to stay on the right path.
In the end is it impossible to remain neutral. The Holy Spirit can only help us when we depend on him. We still have a choice to make: Flesh or Spirit! Right or wrong! Good or evil! My way or God’s way!
That Struggle Produces Many Benefits.
It’s crucial to remember that God allows the struggle as part of our ongoing spiritual growth. Strange as it may seem, we need to struggle because that’s the only way we can grow in grace. Here are a few benefits to consider:

• It reveals to us our inherent weakness.
• It kills our pride and arrogance.
• It humbles us again and again.
• It forces us to cry out to God for help.
• It reveals the uselessness of human effort apart from God’s strength.
• It teaches us to rely on the Lord alone.
• It causes us to love the Savior who delivers us from sin.
• It leads us to a life of continual repentance.
• It makes us more watchful against the advancement of sin in our lives.
• It prods us to use all the means of divine grace.
• It encourages us to develop habits of holiness.
• It forces us to lean on our brothers and sisters to help us out.
• It leads us to look for daily solutions instead of instant miracles.

In Galatians 5:16 Paul tells us to “let the Holy Spirit guide your lives” That opens up a vast area of crucial truth.
• The Holy Spirit is a Person.
• He resides in us from the moment of conversion.
• He creates in us a new desire.
• He gives us the power to obey.
• He leads us to live like Jesus would live.

Paul’s point is that what the law could not do, the Holy Spirit does. Our hope is not in rules, but in the Person of the Holy Spirit indwelling every believer. By his power we can obey God in the midst of our ongoing struggle with sin.
In verse 16 the NIV translation says -- walk by the Spirit
The Greek word for “walk” is very ordinary. It means to walk from one place to another. It’s in the present tense, which means “keep on walking.” To walk means “to take a series of small steps in the same direction over a long period of time.” Walking implies steady progress in one direction by means of deliberate choices over a long period of time. To walk in the Spirit means something like “let your conduct be directed by the Holy Spirit” or “make progress in your life by relying on the Holy Spirit.” It has the idea of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide every part of your life on a daily basis.
Walking is slow compared with driving a car or flying in a plane. It’s not flashy at all. And sometimes walking can be tedious, slow, dull, drab, and downright boring. And yet if you’ve got to get from Point A to Point B, walking will get you there eventually. All you have to do is just start walking and don’t stop until you get there.
Letting the Holy Spirit guide our lives is not some mystical experience reserved for a few special Christians. It’s God’s design for normal Christian living. It’s nothing more than choosing (by God’s grace) to take tiny steps toward the light day after day after day. Those tiny steps do not remove the struggle but they allow us to walk in the light even while we feel the pull to go in another direction. The pull of the darkness is always with us in one form or another. By the Spirit’s power, we can choose to walk in the light every day.
What should we do during our struggles?
• Stay humble.
• Watch and pray.
• Keep your eyes on Jesus.
• Take little steps in the right direction every day.
• When we fall, get up and move forward for God.
Remember that our struggle is not sinful. God allows it so that we will look to him for daily solutions instead of instant miracles. The struggle itself is evidence that we belong to God. Through the struggle with sin our soul is made strong and we are being made fit for heaven. Stand and fight. The Lord is on our side.

TEMPTATIONS AMERICANS FACE

TEMPTATIONS AMERICANS FACE

Feelings of patriotism tend to flow rather freely at this time of the year. When we sing the "Star Spangled Banner," or hear a choir sing about America & the freedoms that we enjoy, we often want to stand up & salute or just do something to show that we’re proud of our nation.

Sometimes we hear patriotic speeches which contain that ringing phrase, "I’m proud to be an American!" And we echo those sentiments, too. But think about it for a moment. Maybe what we ought to be saying is, "I’m grateful that I’m an American!"

A father was talking with his rather rebellious son one day & said, "Every person who lives in the United States is a privileged person." The boy answered, "I disagree." And the father replied, "That’s the privilege."

We have the privilege to disagree. We have the privilege to speak our mind. We have freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, and the right of petition. We have the freedom to hope & dream & pursue our dreams. We are free in so many ways!

We have these rights because of what our forefathers have done. You & I didn’t earn the privileges that we enjoy as citizens of this land. But let’s be thankful for those who did earn them & passed them on to me, & that is what we should celebrate on the 4th of July.

During the 1800’s, a French political philosopher, visited our nation seeking to uncover the secret of our greatness. He traveled from town to town, asking questions, examining every facet of our society, & then wrote his conclusions in a book.

Here is something he wrote:

"I sought for America’s greatness. I found it not in her fields & forests. I found it not in her mines & factories. I found it not in her Congress & great tribunals. It was only when I entered her churches & heard her pulpits thundering against sin & preaching righteousness that I discovered her greatness. America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

Folks, if we put our trust in education, we’ll get what education can give us. If we put our trust in money, we’ll get what money can give us. If we put our trust in government, we’ll get what government can give us. But if we put our trust in God, we’ll have everything we need, for all eternity.

A few years ago a picture of the historic flag designed by Betsy Ross appeared on the front page of a Chicago newspaper, & underneath it was this caption, "It’s time to check our stitches again."

Maybe it is time for us to check the stitches & to make sure that we are still the home of the brave, & the land of the free.

Let’s look at three temptations that Americans are facing today.

I. TEMPTATION TO ENJOY FRUITS OF CITIZENSHIP WITHOUT TENDING TREE OF LIBERTY

The first is this, there is a very strong temptation to enjoy the fruits of citizenship without tending the tree of liberty.

There was a sermon a number of years ago entitled "Parking on Someone Else’s Nickel." Now obviously the sermon is pretty old because you don’t park anyplace for a nickel anymore. But the point is true. Here is part of sermon:

I have a friend whose home town had only one street with parking meters on it. He says that when he was a teen-ager he remembers driving up & down Main street looking for a place to park.

There were always plenty of parking places because not too many people lived in his town. But not just any parking place would do. He always looked for one that still had time left on its parking meter.

And when he didn’t find it going down one side, he would make a U-turn & go back the other. He might burn up a gallon of gas looking for a parking meter with some time left on it. But when he wheeled into one that still had 30 minutes left it made his day. He was parking on someone else’s nickel!

Could this be a problem in our country today? Most of us haven’t earned the freedoms we enjoy. We didn’t go to foreign lands & fight for them. We have not shed our blood & sweat & tears for them. We are parking on someone else’s nickel.

A writer expressed it this way. "We eat from orchards we did not plant. We drink from wells we did not dig. We reap from fields we did not sow. We are warmed by fires we did not kindle. We are sheltered by roofs we did not build. We are blessed by moneys we did not give." We are thankful to be a citizen of these great United States. But as a citizen, we have a responsibility to tend the tree of liberty.

Is the world a better place because we are a citizen of this country? Is our community a better place because we are a part of it? Is our church a better church because we are a member of it? What are we doing?

Or are we enjoying the fruits, but not tending the tree of liberty?

II. TEMPTATION TO ENJOY BENEFITS OF CAPITALISM WHILE IGNORING CONSCIENCE

There is a second temptation & that is to enjoy the benefits of capitalism while ignoring the cries of conscience. It’s okay that we live in a capitalistic country. Capitalism is not dirty word. Capitalism means free market. We are free to buy, sell, make a profit - to earn our own living.

But capitalism without conscience becomes a cruel & ruthless form of life where competition & success & greed & materialism corrupt & we lose our concern for others.

You see, when our forefathers came to this country & founded our system of government, they were convinced that there was a Higher Power who was involved in the destinies of men & nations. They believed that men were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights - & that among these were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This was evident in the way they wrote, the way they lived, & the way our nation developed. There was a moral fiber, a moral strength in our nation.

But today it seems that by & large our society is so caught up in greed & materialism that we’re only interested in ourselves. It is survival of the fittest, & all we’re concerned about is making more & more. The result is increased crime, increased drug addiction, increased immorality.

A man sent a letter to Ann Landers. He wrote, "This is for the woman who was distressed about her son. I would like to ask her some questions about the boy. Is he disrespectful? Has he been arrested for drunk driving? Has he been kicked out of college for cheating? Has he made his girl friend pregnant? Does he get failing grades? Does he steal money from your purse?"

"If you can answer `No’ to all these questions, stop complaining. You have a great kid." It was signed, "Ralph N., Oakland, CA."

Here is how she answered him.

She replied, "Your letter showed just how much times have changed. You said that if a kid today isn’t on drugs, doesn’t get failing grades, hasn’t been arrested for drunk driving, or kicked out of college for cheating, hasn’t made his girl friend pregnant, or stolen from your purse, that he’s great. But you make no mention of achievement. There’s not a word about integrity, a sense of responsibility, decency, morality or service to others."

Then she went on to add, "What a sad commentary on our times. Good Lord, where is our nation headed, & who is going to lead us there?"

The soul of America is God, & we’re in danger of losing our soul!

III. TEMPTATION TO WANT CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT COMMITMENT

Our 3rd temptation is to want Christianity without commitment. We are not talking about an emotional experience. We’re talking about a commitment & surrender to God that results in a changed heart & life.

For too long there have been churches who have felt that it’s all right for nice little people to get together in their Sunday best, & listen to pleasant choir specials & little sermons that make them feel good about themselves & their homes & families & relationship to God.

"Just tell me how nice I am, how pretty I am, how righteous I am. Give me Christianity, but don’t talk to me about conversion. I don’t want to change. I want to remain exactly the way I am."

Somehow along the way, in our celebration of independence & freedom, we have forgotten the greatest freedom of all. Jesus Christ went to the cross & gave His life to gain our freedom from sin. And that is a message that you & I & our country needs to hear again & again today.

So let’s salute the flag. Let’s allow our patriotic juices to flow freely, & get goose pimples up & down our spine. But remember this, we didn’t earn our freedoms. We may not even deserve them.

Folks, hopefully we are humbly thankful to be a part of this great land of ours, & that we do not take our citizenship lightly, but be determined to hold high the freedoms we enjoy so that the generations that follow us will experience & treasure them also.

And the prayer today is that we will be a real Christian who is hungry & thirsty for the truth of God, & that we will never compromise it, but share it with a world that desperately needs to hear the only truth that can guarantee our freedom for all eternity.