Live according to God in the spirit.

Col.

{1:8} Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.


Your love in the Spirit. Love in the Spirit. What does it mean to have love in the Spirit? What is- in the Spirit? There are a lot of verses in the Bible on this so lets take a look at a few.


Luke {1:13} But the angel said unto him, Fear not,
Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth
shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
{1:14} And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many
shall rejoice at his birth. {1:15} For he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from
his mother’s womb. {1:16} And many of the children of
Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. {1:17} And he
shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord.

* John the Baptist- filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Filled with the Spirit- able to turn many to the Lord their God. In the spirit and power of the prophet Elias, John would would turn the hearts of the father to their children, the bad to the wisdom of good, preparing a people for the Lord. We all know that John the Baptist preached prior to Christ's undertaking His own ministry. That John the Baptist, baptized many turning their thoughts to God- preparing them for Jesus. The Holy Spirit filled John. John lived in the Spirit from the womb. We look at John's life- he lived in the wilderness, he ate locust, honey, and never touched wine or strong drink. His life was hardly desireable to anyone. He lived a strange life totally selfless not seeking his own pleasures at all. His life was devoted to preaching, witnessing for God. To say He was unique wouldn't be far off the mark. There weren't tons of *wild men* in the desert preaching, or down at the river baptizing. John made a name for himself as a prophet heralding the Messiah- it wasn't John's fault people rejected the Messiah when He came- or rather most did. John did all He could do in the Spirit.


John {11:33} When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her,
he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, {11:34} And
said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord,
come and see. {11:35} Jesus wept.


*Jesus groaned in the spirit and was trouble. In this instance it's very probably that the spirit here (and I don't know ancient languages so I'm not sure) but, it's very probable it means spirit the same way we do when we feel down in the dumps, our spirits are low. Jesus was upset, he was troubled by the grief all around him. Jesus wept. So to say his spirit was heavy would mean he was filled with emotional pain.


Acts {18:5} And when
Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was
pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews [that] Jesus
[was] Christ.


*Pressed in the spirit- convicted to testify to the Jews- Jesus Christ. The spirit convicts us to act, it presses us to respond, guiding us to do what needs to be done, if we listen to the spirit. How often do we push away spirit convictions? Too often we silence the very one we want to guide us. We all need to be pressed in the spirit and as Paul, we need to listen, to testify of Jesus Christ.


Acts. {18:25} This man was instructed in the
way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake
and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only
the baptism of John.


*Being fervent in the spirit- teaching diligently the things of the Lord. The spirit speaks we need to yield, to listen, to obey.


Ro. {2:29} But he
[is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that]
of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose
praise [is] not of men, but of God.


*A Jew in spirit, whose heart is cirucmsized, whose praise comes from God. Being a Jew in spirit is being a child of God's even if it's not so in blood, in heredity. Jew in spirit.


Ro. {8:9}
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. {8:10} And if Christ [be]
in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is]
life because of righteousness. {8:11} But if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.


*Praise God! We can have the Spirit of HIM that raised Jesus from the dead, in us! The Spirit is righteousness, not us, the Spirit in us- Christ in us. Our mortal bodies will be quicken by his Spirit in us. We can't be of the flesh of just ourselves and hope for life eternal. We have to have the Spirit in us, the Spirit of *God* in us it is the only way we can have hope at all, the only way.


Gal. {3:3} Are
ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh? {3:4} Have ye suffered so many things
in vain? if [it be] yet in vain. {3:5} He therefore that
ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among
you, [doeth he it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith? {3:6} Even as Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.


*The only way we are made perfect is in the Spirit, never of ourselves, never. If we accept Jesus Christ as our Sacrifice it is done in Spirit- there is no physical, fleshy act involved, it is a Spirit act. A Spiritual transaction, the part in us that relates to God joins with the Holy Spirit. We are transformed by the Spirit, not the flesh. Faith, as Abraham had we have to have, faith that is by the Spirit of God. Faith and the Spirit are together, not flesh and the Spirit.


Gal. {5:16} [This] I say
then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
flesh. {5:17} 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.


The flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. The flesh and the spirit are contrary to one another- contrary.


{5:18}
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
{5:19} Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
[these;] Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
{5:20} Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, {5:21} 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.


*Flesh. Works of the flesh, no wonder they're contrary to the Spirit. All that brings out the worst in people is contrary to the Spirit.


{5:22} But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, {5:23}
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.


*Spirit. Works of the Spirit- Fruits of the Spirit are so different than those of the flesh.


{5:24}
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. {5:25} If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. {5:26} Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another.


*Crucified the flesh.
Live in the Spirit.
Walk in the Spirit.

*It is clear we need to crucify the flesh- the works of the flesh that rise up in us. We need to focus on the Spirit, live in the Spirit. If we live in something, if we walk a certain walk of life it is part of us, part of who we are, who we wish to be. We can't encourage works of the flesh and hope to live in the Spirit, they are contrary to one another, they fight against each other. When you crucify something it's not easy, the very act of mortifying, subduing the flesh entails a struggle, an action that requires hardship. Crucifying our fleshy nature isn't easy, but it is possible in Christ, through Christ, with the Holy Spirit indwelling in us.


Gal. {6:1} Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted


Eph. {4:22} That ye put
off concerning the former conversation the old man, which
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; {4:23} And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind


Eph. {6:18} Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints


Phil. {3:3} For we are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh.


Col. {2:5} For though I
be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying
and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith
in Christ.


1 Tim. {3:16} And
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up into glory.


1 Pet. {4:6} For for
this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.


*Live according to God in the spirit.


May God help us as we seek to live in the spirit and not in the flesh, as we choose to accept Christ and His ways and not our own. May the Holy Spirit come into us guiding us making it possible through faith to be Christ's now and forever. By the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior, now and forever.


Amen.