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Galatians has a very lengthy development addressing how to walk by means of the Spirit and how to oppose the problems coming from the flesh. Galatians 5:16 uses the phrase “walking by the Spirit” again. Paul wrote the letter to the Galatian Christians telling them to avoid the promises of the false teachers, the Judaizers. After dealing with the Judaizers and their beliefs, he told them: And I am saying by the qualities from the Spirit continually be walking [ordering your life], and a lust of the flesh you will never complete. This is a great promise. If we order our life in such a way that we allow the Spirit of God to minister to us, the lust of the flesh will not be satisfied. We may feel tempted, but it will not be completed. If we allow the Spirit of God to emotionally meet the need represented in that lust, the power of the flesh will be broken. The opposite of lust will appear: happiness, love, contentment, and self-control. When those emotions are present, the force of the flesh with its moods and desires loses its power: And the works of the flesh are manifest. These are of such a nature as fornication, uncleanness, gross sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hating, divisions, jealousy (there's nothing as emotional as jealousy), outbursts of anger (notice how emotional these are), fractions, splits, party spirit, envying, drunken bouts, banquets (parties that are thrown just so people can have illicit relationships) and things of such a nature. Galatians 5:19-21 Verse 18 continues: And if by qualities from the Spirit you are being led along, you are not under law. As we relate to the Father, we can bring the large circle of our lives under the influence of the Spirit of God’s ministry, which is known as walking by means of the Spirit. Within the larger circle of the Spirit’s ministry are specific things He does for us. One of those is Spirit leading. In Spirit leading we are positively prompted by emotion and insight to love people and trust God. Our responsibility is to respond to being tugged along, being led by the Spirit. When we are being led by the Spirit, we are not under law. Our preoccupation should not be with rules and regulations. Instead we have a father/son relationship based upon the emotions, feelings, and perspectives that the Spirit of God produces. This wonderfully enriching life is directly opposed to the life lived in the flesh. While the Spirit brings life and joy, the flesh brings chaotic and confusing moods and desires. These moods and desires harden into habits of the heart and life called the works of the flesh. These are individual habits people become addicted to in their lives. In Galatians 5:19-21 (above) Paul explains what the works of the flesh are. From this list, notice the powerful emotions involved in the works of the flesh. People who are caught up in adulterous affairs, people who are trying to break habits of fornication, people who are sexually obsessed, and people who have been living off of hateful relations are dealing with emotional dynamite. Strongly emotional is an understatement when describing the works of the flesh. Now it's quite interesting that Paul uses the word “works”. When moods and desires are fulfilled, they produce the works. Moods produce a pain-killer which is the desire to do wrong things. The desire to do wrong things becomes a lifestyle producing habits or works. Paul is describing basic counseling problems. His solution is a radical change in the emotional state of the person with these problems. Let's continue reading verse 21: And things like these, which I was telling you before, even as I have told you, that the ones who are continually practicing such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. God is not going to throw parties for illicit sex in heaven. Heaven is not going to have fornicators. Heaven is not going to have haters. Nobody in Heaven is going to be in that state. This is the pattern. Paul says sin produces moods, passive states of anxiety, fear, worthlessness, shame, and guilt. Out of that atmosphere arises desires or lusts to do wrong things. These desires produce a lifestyle that revolves around the works of the flesh. These works also involve a mindset. The mindset or perspective of the flesh is relational death. The person is not oriented to God or others. The orientation is to one’s own insides: persons do not matter. All of this is called flesh. Opposite to that, Paul says, is another way of living, called walking by the Spirit. If we walk by the Spirit, we will be tugged along by the Spirit. If we succumb to the tugging, we will have the by-product of the Spirit’s presence (the fruit of the Spirit in our life). Sorting out our emotional lives in a living relationship to the Father is called walking. As we do that the Spirit of God will start giving us peace, love, and joy. As we allow ourselves to be pulled along by those feelings, they produce an inner-atmosphere and a perspective of mind, or inner character. These "fruits of the Spirit" are all profoundly rich feelings. In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul describes the habits enslaving individuals. No one person engages in all of these works, but it is common to have more than one habit. Those who are engaged in these habits are actually in emotional bondage. Look at the list of the works of the flesh, and for each work think of two emotions that may be working in the person who is captured by the habit:
How can the Spirit of God address these powerful emotions? Most individuals who become Christians have to make a transition from certain habits or works of the flesh that have invaded their lives. As they come to terms with those moods and desires, and the pain underlying those, they will be able to transition to the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit will create an atmosphere in their heart that will give them the foundation for profound life changes. They will then go from some familiar and powerful work of the flesh to the freedom that Christ has promised for the Christian’s life. When the fruit of the Spirit is present, the freedom to obey God exists. When the works of the flesh are present, slavery to the kingship of sin is present.
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here are two different ways for
Christians to run their lives. One is to walk by means of the
Spirit, and the other is to walk by the flesh. Both are
systems that are complete in themselves. To understand one is
to also to understand the other. If one has to walk by the
Spirit, than of necessity one has to avoid the other. To walk
means to organize one’s life around some governing principle.
For walking by means of the Spirit, the governing principle is the
ministry of the Spirit of God in one’s life. To walk by the
flesh is to succumb to the moods and appetites of the flesh.
When that is done, the flesh will produce very predictable habits
or works. 
