A H A N D B O O K F O R WA L K I N G I N T H E S P I R I T
And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. John 17:3
What is Goal of the Christian Life? Many people mistakenly think that the purpose of Christianity is to go to heaven when we die. Others think the point is to get help to become a better, more moral person. However, the true goal of the Christian life is to know and love God. Each one of us has been created in the image of God, with a destiny to enjoy and glorify Him forever. The ultimate nature of God is love, and the desire in the heart of God from all eternity has been that we would become like Him—filled with His love and one with Him forever. For this reason Jesus explained that the first and greatest commandment in the Bible is “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37-38) The Bible calls this total transformation of our hearts “holiness.” To be holy is to be wholly like God from the inside out, entirely perfected in love. God promised long before the time of Christ that He would make a way to change our hearts. “I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart” (Ezek. 11:19) This was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead. God’s passionate love for us cannot be satisfied with anything less than making us radically new, holy people—not just when we die but here and now, through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Romans 7:21-23
Why do we need the Holy Spirit? Because of our broken sinful nature, it is impossible for us to love God like we should. Many of the greatest saints in history have experienced the following steps of self-discovery—and perhaps you have as well:
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They realized that God is so great and so good, that they wanted to try to please God with every single action all the time—not just some of the time or with some of themselves, but completely and fully.
they were striving to please God, they became aware that God is 2 As more interested in our inward attitudes than our outward actions. So
they focused their attention on trying to purify every motive of the heart and every thought of the mind.
they realized that the human heart is even more broken than 3 Gradually, our outward selves. We may hide it from others, but inside we are full of selfishness, addictions, fear, greed, insecurity, anger, bitterness, etc. which hinder us from living fully in love for God and others.
when they began to lose hope, God revealed to them that they did 4 Just not have to please Him in their own power and strength. Through the gift of faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells us and gives us the desire and the power to love God and love others.
experienced a new life of joy, peace and love through total 5 They surrender to God and continual reliance on the Holy Spirit. '
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. John 14:15-16
Who is the Holy Spirit? The early followers of Jesus experienced God in three ways that they came to refer to as the “trinity,” or “three-in-oneness” of the eternal God. Intellectually, the trinity can be hard to understand, but God’s plan is not that we grasp Him with our head, but that we experience Him with our heart.
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God had revealed through nature and through the Old Testament scriptures that there could only be one true God—one Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, who alone is worthy of all of our love, obedience and worship.
of His great love for the world, this one true God made 2 Because Himself known once and for all by taking on flesh and being born as
a human being, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Through the Son the perfect love of the Father is revealed.
promised that just as the Father sent him into the world, so 3 Jesus he would send his Holy Spirit—true God from true God, one with
the Father and with the Son. Just as Jesus revealed the love of the Father to the world, the Holy Spirit reveals the love of Jesus to each individual person’s heart.
The Holy Spirit is promised to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit cannot be earned by good works, but is the free gift of God’s love. However, once the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, our next step is to learn to walk in the Spirit.
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So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:5
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Walking in the Spirit is simply the ongoing practice of “attentive surrender” to the presence of God within me. Attentiveness means that I constantly expect the Holy Spirit to speak to me. Over time I learn to discern the voice of God clearly. The Spirit guides my heart and prompts my mind with new thinking. I recognize His voice because it is the voice of love—constantly communicating His love for me, and through me His love for others. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) Surrender means that I have come to the end of myself. I am ready to die to my own will because I no longer trust myself to make the best decisions. Instead, I have become convinced that God knows better than me, that He loves me perfectly and that He always has my best interests at heart. Thus, I can entrust myself to Him fully. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) oo Each time I surrender to the prompting of the Spirit, He gives me the power to obey. Obedience brings joy and keeps my heart tender.
oo However, if I resist the Spirit, my heart becomes hard, and it becomes more and more difficult to hear the Spirit speak until I repent.
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God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. I John 1:5-7
What is Repentance? Repentance is the initial step by which we begin walking in the Spirit, and it is the place we must return each time we get out of step with the Spirit in order to continue to grow in love for God. Whenever my actions, words, or thoughts get out of line with God’s love, the Holy Spirit reveals it through the light of God. If I refuse to admit my fault, I become prideful, I remain in the darkness, and I become cold toward God’s love. However, if I humble myself and agree with God about my sin, I stay in the light, and God gently helps me move toward repentance. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for my sins, nor is it just trying hard to do better the next time. Sorrow that is based on condemnation and shame can cause me to change my outward behavior, but it cannot produce more love for God. “Worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Cor. 7:10)
True repentance flows from the kindness of the Holy Spirit who convinces me of how Jesus gave Himself for us on the cross. More forgiveness leads to more love for God. “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” (Luke 7:47)
As God changes my heart, He also begins to change my mind.
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Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.� (Eph. 4:21-23)
How does repentance reshape my mind? As the Holy Spirit leads me through cycles of repentance, I begin to experience a fundamental change in my way of thinking about God. The Spirit reveals areas in which I have believed a lie and replaces it with truth. The Bible calls this being given “the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16) EXAMPLES OF TRANSFORMED THINKING Old Behavior
Root Lie
Revealed Truth
New Behavior
Lying & Deception
I have to hide my true self
I am accepted in Christ
Honesty & Authenticity
Impurity
I must feed my lusts to be satisfied
My soul is satisfied by God’s love
Self Control
Bitterness
I must get even to protect myself
God heals my hurts and protects me
Forgiveness
Greed
I must provide for my own needs
God loves me and provides my needs
Generosity
Truth is found in the Bible but is made real and personal in my heart by the Holy Spirit.* The more we have the mind of Christ, the more naturally we are able to live in joyful obedience.
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*For more on how the Spirit and the Bible interrelate, see our handbook “Taste and See”
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:10-11
How does the Holy Spirit produce joy? The mark of walking in the Spirit is joyful obedience. God does not intend for me to be miserable and unhappy. God is good, and His heart’s desire is always to do good to us. Therefore, I can trust that God only gives me commands that will be for my good. “The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey.” (Psalm 19:8, 10) At first, God’s commands may seem burdensome or unreasonable, because I still have my old thinking in place, which is based on a lie. However, as God renews my mind with the truth, I gain wisdom to discern how good God’s ways are. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2) For example, to the deceived mind, giving to others appears to be a loss, but those who have the mind of Christ recognize “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35). Each time the Holy Spirit prompts me to give to others, serve others, and love others, I experience more joy, so that obedience becomes easier and easier. Unfortunately, many people attempt to live by religion rather than by a relationship with the Holy Spirit. They may succeed in keeping some outward rules, but inwardly their hearts have not been transformed by God’s love. Jesus strongly opposed this kind of religious hypocrisy.
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Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Galatians 3:2-3
Holy Spirit vs. Religious Rules Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for religious people who substituted rules for a relationship of love, because he knew how deceptive religion can be and how destructive it is to our joy. Marks of religious hypocrisy: 1. Focusing on proper outward appearances while ignoring the hidden attitudes of the heart. “Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! (Matt. 23:3) 2. Magnifying the importance of minor rules while missing the big picture of God’s heart. “Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith.” (Matt. 23:23) 3. A jealous, judgmental compulsion to make others as miserable as you are. “They crush people with unbearable religious demands…you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces…you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!” (Matt. 23:4, 13, 15) Religious hypocrisy fills me with pride that blocks me from the relationship of love that God truly desires for me. It robs me of the joy produced by the Holy Spirit. It fills me with a bitter self-righteousness that hinders me from loving others. The key to overcoming religious hypocrisy is continual gratitude for God’s love and mercy.
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Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20
Remaining humble through thankfulness As I walk with the Holy Spirit, He reveals to me the goodness of God in creation. The basic elements of my physical life—food, sexuality, money, sleep, pleasure—are not evil in themselves. They become evil for me if I worship them as idols—that is, if I love them more than God. But when I keep them in their proper place, I am able to enjoy them as God intended. “Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.” (1 Tim. 4:4) The danger is that while I am enjoying God’s blessings, I may forget that they came from God, not merely from my own hard work or intelligence. This will lead me into the deadly trap of pride. “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” (1 Tim. 6:17) Pride creates resistance from God and from other people. Prideful people stop loving God because they don’t think they need Him. They stop loving others because they look down on them. God promises to bring down the prideful, but to raise up those who are humble. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Jam. 4:6) The secret to remaining free from pride is the daily practice of giving thanks. Constant thankfulness prepares our hearts for the highest pleasure of all, which is true worship. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.” (Psalm 100:4)
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True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. John 4:23
Worship in the Spirit Real worship is the greatest joy and the highest purpose for which I was created. True worship is enjoying intimate relationship with God. Intimacy in any relationship occurs only when both sides are willing to uncover their authentic self. The same is true for worship:
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First, true worship requires bringing my authentic self. I must stop pretending and be completely open to God. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. (Matt. 6:5)
true worship requires a revelation of God from the Holy 2 Second, Spirit. As I see more of God’s holiness, power, lordship, majesty, truth, beauty, goodness, and love, my natural response is worship. “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.…[that] you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.” (Eph. 3:16, 18)
As I practice walking in the Holy Spirit, I can experience continual personal worship. “Be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.” (Eph. 5:18-19) However, the full consummation of worship is experienced together with others in a community of faith.
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Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. Ephesians 4:3-4
Unity in the Spirit The Holy Spirit is always available to me as an individual; however, Jesus promised that His presence would be most fully revealed when his people gather together for worship and prayer. “For where two or three gather together in my name, I am there among them.” (Matt. 18:20) Gathering “in Jesus name” means that we come together in unity, aligning our hearts with the Holy Spirit. Through our oneness the Spirit releases greater power for healing, deliverance, breakthrough, and revelation. “If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.” (Matt. 18:19) Jesus said that this unity in love would be the primary way that the church would witness to the world around us. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35)
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God is raising up a great movement in our generation of worshipers who are no longer satisfied with cold-hearted religion and powerless programs. The Holy Spirit is igniting hearts with a holy passion for God, filling them with joy and thanksgiving, and gathering them together in unity. Let us make this our prayer: Spirit of the Living God, in Jesus’ name, set our heart on fire with holy love, that all the world may see.
They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers (2004).
