Walking In The Spirit @DavidDigaHernandez @BrittMays @Ruben.Vargas @dejidavids

If you are living in fear and ultimately your thinking is rooted in fear, then everything you hear will be filtered through that fear. We're not walking in the spirit when we rely on self. We're not walking in the spirit when we minimize the Holy Spirit's power and magnify demonic power. We're not walking in the spirit when we complicate freedom instead of going by the simplicity of the truth of scripture.

So what ends up happening is it's it's this fear-based approach to Christianity, and that fear ultimately is because it's we've not understood the love of God.

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Galatians 5:1. So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen, I Paul tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I'll say it again: If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you've been cut off from Christ. You've fallen away from God's grace.

But we who live by the spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

So when whenever we talk about living in the spirit, walking in the spirit, um, being in the spirit, there's a couple of ways that Christians can take that. The first one being that more general terminology in reference to just living for God in general. And then the second way we can mean that is in regards to choosing legalism over the spirit or the spirit over legalism.

So let's talk first about legalism. And for those listening that don't know what that terminology means, it's real simple. Legalism is man's attempt to do what only God can. And this primarily has to do with, in most cases, salvation. People think they can work for their salvation or that they have to perform unto perfection to keep their salvation. I know I myself used to be really bound by this kind of thinking. Very religious, grew up in church. I thought it was about, you know, perfect church attendance, making sure I read the Bible every single day, praying every day. And that if I missed one of those, that I was in jeopardy of God taking it all away from me because it depended on me. So that's where I was at one point.

Removing the whole spirit. Well, what I've come to realize is that you cannot struggle your way, um, into being like Jesus. You can only surrender your way to being like Jesus. You can't work your way to being like Jesus. And I think that's a mindset that, um, a lot of people struggle with nowadays. Um, just trying to do something like it has to be earned. There's something I have to do. And, and by no means am I saying that we don't have a participation when it comes to, um, walking in the spirit. But I even look at that participation to something that is helped by the Holy Spirit. And I think that's what Paul is talking about right there. Like, it's not, um, what you do in terms of works. It's not the legalistic mindset. And again, I just love to look at as you can struggle your way to being like Jesus. You can only surrender your way to actually being like Jesus.

And with that, I would say Paul says right there, the verse, the first verse that you read, "For freedom Christ has set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Talking about obviously that slavery of legalism, performance. "I'm going to make myself right with God," or "I'm right with God through faith, but I need to do this also." That part of Paul's exhortation is the effort you exercise is the effort to keep your works out of it. So almost like the work, the only work you're doing, and I don't mean that in a sense of being justified by works, but like your effort that you're doing is keeping the legalistic mindset and the, the law that a lot of people he was addressing at that time would have been struggling with, keeping that out of the way so that the spirit can do the work himself. So it's almost like you need to exercise effort to stay out of the way because the Holy Spirit's already doing a work in you.

One of the analogies I like to use when presenting an evangelistic message, and maybe some of the viewers or you guys have seen this at the services where when I do a salvation altar call, just before I give the invitation for for people to come forward, one of the analogies that I often use is going in for surgery. When you go in for a surgery or some type of procedure, you're obviously not the one performing that surgery. If anything, hopefully you're under under anesthesia. You're not feeling anything. You're being placed in surrender, so to speak. So you have to choose to submit yourself to that surgery. You have to get on the table, but you're not the one actually performing it.

I'm curious to know if all of you guys in your walk with God, when you guys got saved, or maybe down the line, months, years into your guys's walk, if you guys ever experienced that sight of legalism where you thought, "I had to behave or act a certain way in order to be viewed by God properly, rewarded by God properly." Did you guys ever experience that? Because for me, I don't know why I'm, and I'm trying to like, just, you know, starting off the podcast, I was thinking, was there ever a time in my life where I was, or where can I pinpoint the time in my life where I was like, "I have to live the certain way and pray and go to church on Sunday, otherwise I'm not right in the eyes of God?" I'm curious to know if you guys ever experienced anything similar.

So you don't remember the, the trying, figuring out, I'm trying to figure out the what, noral, what do you mean? Remember when you felt God calling you to Northern California? And that was, that was a real struggle for you. Remember? Yeah, I remember that. But I'm trying, trying to remember a point where how that even came about in my life. Like, was it doctrine? Was it doctrine? Was it somebody telling me, "You have to do it this way?" Or was it just me reading or viewing theology? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

So I think, I think, I think a lot of that does come from maybe not necessarily always bad doctrine. I mean, it can arise from bad doctrine, that kind of thinking, of course. But I think maybe in the way that good doctrine is sometimes represented with the wrong tone. So, for example, let me qualify that because I know that sounds a little out there. When we talk about prayer, you hear a lot of messages on revival and moves of God, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I understand that we as Christians have a commitment to pray. I understand that we, of course, ought to pray that the kingdom of God be established in the earth as it is in heaven. But even out of those kinds of sermons that really emphasize lifestyles of prayer, and I preach those, if we're not careful, people can hear, "It's entirely on me. If God's going to move, I have to show it by how many hours I'm praying." And to some degree, it's almost as if we believe that God is moving because of the price that we paid for that revival.

And so to kind of solve this in my own mind, at least, specifically as it pertains to prayer, I like to say that persistent prayer doesn't change the will of God. Persistent prayer puts me in His will. But again, it comes back to that, how is that heard? How do we receive that?

Now, Ruben and I grew up in a great church. We have a great pastor, um, and we were often taught the call of God, pursuing the call of God, radical obedience. And that's all great preaching. Those are all good truths. But I think if we're not hearing it properly, we can misinterpret that. I know I did at times. I misinterpreted that as if, "If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not in the will of God. If I'm not in pain constantly, I'm not in the will of God." And it's almost like we come to believe that pain for pain's sake is what pleases God, or sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice is what pleases God, as opposed to, "God told me to do something, and I obeyed, and that was sometimes a sacrifice." So yes, if God tells me to do something, I need to do that, no matter what. And sometimes that'll be painful, sometimes that'll be a sacrifice. But then there are times where God will instruct me to do something, and I'm like, "Okay, I like this. This is actually, this is an enjoyable season. Yeah, this is a good season. I appreciate what you're leading me into." You know, like when the Lord said, "Okay, make the move now to build the studio." That was exciting for me. I was not fighting that one bit. Right? But then there are time, there were times where God said, "This isn't the time for the studio. That's not the building I have for you." Or, "I need you to, uh, change this about the ministry dynamic." Where I'm like, "Oh, okay. Well, it's your ministry, Lord." And so again, getting back to what I was saying, you know, sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice can be an unhealthy way to perceive it or to look at it. But sacrifice as a result of actual obedience to God, yes, that's good. Obedience, though, is better than sacrifice.

So back on to what you were saying, where does that come from? I think it's just human nature. Pride. Humans by their own nature are prideful. So to some degree, we will always tend towards self-reliance. Which is why Paul, of course, is writing when he tells them, "Who hath bewitched you?" Like, who, who pulled the wool over your eyes? Who's, who's convincing you of this? Yeah, where are you getting this from? Where are you getting this idea? You, we, we had this, right? You, you were, you were walking in the spirit. You were, you were living by faith. And now all of a sudden, you're being tempted to go back into this old way of thinking. And so you fall under that. I think that's just human nature. I think we will always tend toward legalism if we don't maintain that proper perspective in the spirit.

Would you say that that's one of the primary, I would say, assaults of spiritual warfare that we all have to face? Is obviously the gospel is the greatest defeat of the enemy. So getting people to stop truly believing the gospel is the only attempt he has at some form of victory. So, for example, like if people are believing the gospel, they're standing firm in it, and they're rejecting legalism, choosing to walk in the spirit, the devil has no power to deceive the spirit. The devil has no power to tempt the spirit. The devil has no power to stop the purposes, like expanding the kingdom, that the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish. MH. So his probably one of his best attacks is to get us to stop trusting in the spirit and trust in ourselves. Because when we're relying on our own strength, then we can actually be deceived, right?

Go ahead. No, I was going to say, I say this way: If the devil cannot deceive you about God, he deceives you about yourself. He starts to lie to you about yourself. "You need to do this. You're not doing enough. You need to do a little bit more." And I fell for that. And really, I can't remember how it started, but I, I dealt with that. I dealt with a little bit of that, like I needed to do a little bit more. God needed me to do something. And by no means am I saying there is no participatory role when it comes to, you know, our fellowship with the Holy Spirit. There is that. But I realized that he was very, very, it was becoming harmful when I was ministering because I felt like I needed to do something. H.

And I would, you say, would you say you started preaching that over the pulpit because that's how you felt about yourself? To, to some degree? Interesting. Well, I'm just curious because I'm wondering if that translated over the pulpit. Are you then telling people, "You have to live a certain way?" For me, it did. Yeah, for me, it did. It, I know, I know it did. But you were going to say something first. Yeah. Um, it, it was a big battle for me. But one day, I remember, I had to minister. I had to teach. And I had very, very short time. And this was when it dawned on me. God told me, "Remember how I healed the woman with the issue of blood on my way to heal Jairus' daughter? And how I stopped?" And God said to me, "I don't just heal because of what you've done and what you haven't done. It's because of love." I had a very short moment, and that was a healing moment for me. That was the breakthrough moment for me. Right on stage. I'd never thought about it before. And I just said, "God, you're going to do what you want to do regardless. I fasted, but now I'm going to get out of the way. I don't even have the time that I need to minister to these people." And it, it really shook me, what, what God did. And that was the, that was that breakthrough moment for me. But I can't even remember where it came from. I just knew I felt like I had to do more. And I think it, I think ultimately, it does come back from self, back to self-reliance. And when we get into that mode, that naturally, of course, will take us to places like a legalistic mindset.

Now, you asked if it affected the preaching. I can tell you firsthand that it did for me. How do I want to word this? Let me read some scripture here and then, and then I'll give you the, so we have some context for what I'm about to say. So Galatians 5, and let's go down to verse 13. "Now, my brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. 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. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law."

Okay, so let's establish a truth here first, so that I'm not misunderstood. If you are truly led by the spirit, you're going to turn from sin. Mhm. If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you're going to be offended at the sin in your own life. So when we say that you're not under obligation to the law, or that you mustn't attempt to earn your salvation, we are not saying that therefore you have a license to sin, to do whatever you want, that God will just wink at your wrongdoing. That is not what's being said. I'm going to make a very clear and defined stance: Sin has no place in the life of the believer. True.

Now, when I would preach, I was so convinced that the meaner I was, the more anointed the preaching was. And I think we've confused truth for cruelty. Because we have a lot of preachers today who phrase things as cruelly as they can, as mean-spirited as they can. And because they're being mean and in your face and rude, they pat themselves on the back and say things like, "Well, I'm just a truth teller. I'm bold. Or nobody will say it like I do. Or no other preachers are telling you what I'll tell you." And it is so egocentric. It is so anti-Holy Spirit. I don't know why we've confused it for preaching or for boldness, or for boldness for that matter. Exactly.

So when I preach the truth, the truth by its own nature is, is going to offend people. Mhm. The truth by its own nature is going to confront sin. The truth by its own nature is going to shine a light and expose the wrongdoing in someone's life. But that doesn't mean that I need to present it in a way that's mean and nasty and rude. And I think that we watch people and say, "Well, they said it in a mean way, so surely what they're saying is true." And the meaner it is, the more true it is. It's just not the case. So for me, it was this very harsh and, and, and today, I, I still preach the same things. Sin is sin. You call it out. 1 Corinthians 6:9-12, there's a whole list of sins in there. Um, I can name various different things that, uh, would offend a lot of different people, and I, I'll make no apologies about that because that's where the word of God has made its position, and I'll make my position on where the word of God has made its position. So I'll say the truth, and if saying the truth means I offend someone, so be it. But just because I'm intentionally offending them doesn't mean I'm preaching truth. And so that's where it affected my preaching. I thought that if I can tear you down, if I can be really mean to you, and, and if I could, if I could make you feel bad, that that was truth telling, that was boldness, that was preaching. And really, what it was, was it was, it was a disappointment with my own performance because it was, it was me not relying on Christ, not relying on His finished work to rest and knowing He finished the work. And, and yes, I may fail, but ultimately God isn't looking at my track record, and God isn't looking at my performance. He's looking at Christ's perfection, and that's what ultimately brings me my acceptance. So I don't preach for acceptance. I preach from acceptance. I don't live holy for acceptance. I live holy from acceptance. And so that's the way it affected me for sure. Was that it came out in this very, and again, I want to be clear, sometimes it's going to be harsh, and it's going to be true. But just being mean for the sake of being mean is not something we ought to pat ourselves on the back for.

That was how it affected you on the pulpit. How about when you were not, um, ministering? Prayer was a strain. Reading the word was never enough. I could read 30, 40, 50 chapters, and I'd be tormented by the idea that I wasn't doing enough, that I wasn't studying enough, or that I didn't really want to know God. And if I really wanted to know God, I'd do a hundred chapters for the day, and not just 50. And it became about fulfilling this checklist of obligations and responsibilities and trying to fulfill this duty, rather than, "I love the Lord. I'm going to read the word to get to know Him. I'm going to pray to get to know Him." Even back to that prayer, I've had people ask me, um, "Where's Vlad?" Vladislav, where is? Right, right in the back there. He asked me, uh, a few weeks ago, we were at my house, and you asked me, "How long do you pray a day?" You asked me, "How, how long do you pray a day?" I said, "I'm not going to answer that for you." I said, "Because then I just created this system and a standard for you." And, and people would ask Miss Coleman that, "How, how much do you pray?" She says, "I don't, I don't keep track." Because if I did, then I would think it's my track record that causes the power to move. And so this, this is where I think, like that, that again, that mentality to some degree of the revivalist is good. We want revival. We want a move of God. But then are we pursuing that move of God out of legalism? As in, we're the ones bringing it forth? Now, I understand Jesus said, "Pray that the Lord's will would be done in earth as it is in heaven." So there is something to be said of prayer. But it ultimately comes back to whose power are we relying on? Are we resting in what Christ did? Do we trust what He did is enough? And are we living out of His perfection? Are we living out of what He accomplished? Or do we think we need to add to that? And I think that's the key question.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, because now I think about it and I go, man, what a terrible way to live. And I'll speak personally, to go, "Okay, yes, I would hear great ministering from people from various ministries, whether it be online or in the church. But then there'd be these preachers that all they would preach would be like hell and brimstone." And yes, it's truth. Yes, they will say, "You're going to go to hell for sinning and doing all of these things." But the way they said some things, it would make you walk out of that service or listening to that sermon and go, "I feel like disgusted. Like I feel, me personally, I feel like I have to read my Bible." But I wouldn't read it out of the, out of pleasure for wanting to read the word. It'd be like, "I feel like I need to get right. Like this is terrible. Like, well, he said all these things. Like, it scared me. Like, I need to read the word." But it wasn't, it wasn't because I wanted to read the Bible. It was because of the things he was saying.

I feel like that's the, that's the major difference between conviction and condemnation. Yes. Like those messages just bring condemnation and not conviction. So you're doing it out of fear, not out of reverence, not out of fellowship. You're doing it out of fear, not out of fellowship with the Holy Spirit, not out of love for God. It's just out of, "This person said it. If I don't do it, I'm probably going to end up in hell." So I better be doing it. And then, what is the quota at that point? Yeah.

This was my issue. Is how many hours are enough of prayer? How many chapters of the Bible are enough? So a true Christian is going to want to pray. A true Christian is going to want to get in the word. A true Christian is going to want to live holy. Of course, we've established that. I don't think there's any debate about that. But what is the purpose as to why you think you need to do that? And that's where it becomes, um, dangerous if we're not careful in the way that we present these things. Because then we cause others to become reliant upon their own works. And either that, they become like you, totally dismayed because they realize they're never going to be able to meet that standard, or they become filled with pride because they think that there is a quota they have to meet and they think that they're meeting it. God's standard is perfection. It is none of us can fulfill that on our own. That's why we need Christ's grace to fill in the gaps of our imperfections. Again, not saying that we can go on sinning. I'll say that 100 times because someone's going to clip this out and take it. I'm not saying that you can just go on sinning. Yeah, don't do that. Let that be on record. Put it in the comments. David said, David said, we have to live holy. I'll put, I'll put like a warning at the beginning of the, of the, the program. No, we have to live holy. We have to live holy. We have to live holy. No excuse for that, of course. But I'm talking about our perspective and our approach to that holiness. That can become so condemning, at least in our own hearts and minds.

And so you're talking about like these, these sermons that would make you feel like, "Okay, well, you know, maybe I'm going to end up in hell and not know it." The scripture talks about an assurance of salvation. Salvation, Paul writes, that it's by the Holy Spirit. We cry out, "Abba, Father." We know we're accepted. Ephesians 1 describes the Holy Spirit as the seal of salvation. Like, you hear these messages, I'm sorry, I'm just going to say it, where it's like, "Oh, these Christians will end up in hell." Well, that's like saying these bachelors are all married. It's a contradiction in terms. A Christian in hell? Maybe a false convert, yes. But a real Christian in hell? No way. Because, well, they say, "Well, if a, if a true Christian, they start to sin without repenting and they go on sinning and they don't care." I'm saying, what true Christian wouldn't care? What true Christian would just go on sinning that long to the point where their consciousness, you, it's not possible because the Holy Spirit would convict you so heavily, you'd be miserable. And He'd find a way to chastise you because the scripture tells us He chastises whom He loves. And that chastisement is about correction and restoration. That's why He chastises you. So He's going to put you on the right track. Just ask Jonah.

So you're hearing these sermons, you know, "Well, you maybe you don't know, you don't know for sure." And it's like, well, the only reason I wouldn't know for sure is because I'm relying on my own works in the first place. But the very fact, you know, why I know for sure is because Jesus accomplished it. He said, "It is finished." Not, "You take it from here." Again, making sure I put out that disclaimer. I'm, of course, saying you should live holy. I, I, I used to have friends even that would tell me, they would use, um, analogies like your parents. They would say something like, you know, "If you, if you do something and your parents don't like it, yes, they've forgiven you, but they're still going to punish you for it." And I used to think, "Oh my goodness, that's God. Yes, He's forgiven me, but that punishment is still waiting somewhere." Right? Almost like it's just waiting for me to do one more thing wrong, just, you know, do something else that would just trigger that punishment. And it took, um, you know, some time for me to find, finally realize that when it says you're forgiven, I am in fact forgiven. And again, that does not mean though we should go on, you know, sinning and not living in holiness. But it took a minute for me to understand that. And the way I finally came to understand it was just relying on what Jesus did. Like you said, Pastor David, just remembering that He's done it. It's not mine to take up and continue from there.

And I've even seen preachers who say, you know, "Jesus said, 'Take up your cross and follow me.'" So it's like, it's done, so now you have to pick up that cross and now you have to start doing everything to make sure that you're accepted, you're praying right, you're studying the word right, you're loved. And if not, yes, God has forgiven you, but then there is still the sin, I mean, this punishment waiting somewhere.

Well, the cross is self-denial. So salvation is by grace through faith, but discipleship will cost you everything. And so, like we're saying, there is a place for sacrifice. There is a place for giving your all. There is a place for forsaking everything. We ought to do that. But we got to realize why we're doing it. We forsake all, we pick up our cross, we sacrifice, we deny self, not to try to earn salvation. We do those things because we already have it. And it is our reasonable service, our our response to the mercy that God has shown us, that we say, "Yes, Lord, we're going to lay down our lives, pick up our crosses, because of what You have done." And so we rest in His finished work, but we still have work to do. We still have a call to fulfill, right?

Right. But, but yes, exactly. And so there are still consequences, as we're saying, to to wrongdoing. I'll list three here. Firstly, there's the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 tells us to grieve not the Holy Spirit. Our actions can deeply hurt Him. Number two is chaos. There are naturally resulting consequences to sin. If you rob a bank, you're going to go to jail. If you commit a murder, you're going to be arrested, and you're going to probably spend life in prison. And there are consequences, naturally occurring consequences to our wrongdoing. You commit adultery, you're probably going to lose your marriage, right? You lose credibility, you lose trust. And then number three, there's the chastisement from the Lord Himself. Certain ways that He arranges for us to be corrected. And so to some degree, yes, there is still punishment. But that punishment is unto restoration, not always, and not ever unto ultimate condemnation. Because not only has He saved you, but He empowers you to live righteously. And He, you can trust Him to keep you on the right path. He who began a good work in you will complete it. He's faithful to finish that work. Yeah.

Now, I think about the individual who is living like this, because I've seen it. I even see it sometimes at services. David, where people will come up to you and say, "Well, I'm living like this," or "I think I've committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit," all of these things. And now I think about them and go, "What's like, I guess it's, it varies case by case. But what's like the proper wording or scripture to tell them like, 'No, you don't have to live like this?'" Because now I think about myself and where I became free of that mindset. And I think it just comes from not only listening, not only reading the word, but listening to it also in the right context. Like, I remember listening to you, David, and going like, listening to the word and people telling me, telling other things, but then you clarifying it, and then me going, "Huh, that does make a lot of sense. I don't have to live this way." Or, "Huh, maybe I can continue to be right in the eyes of God even if I do miss a Sunday. I think I will be okay." And it's, it's pretty crazy how there's those individuals out there. But how do you actually help them and set them free from that?

There's a thing, a term that I've coined called religious OCD. Religious obsessive compulsive disorder. Now, I'm not saying that a disorder is to blame, that we have no responsibility for how we think. The scripture commands us to to think a certain way. The Lord would not command us to control our thoughts if our thoughts could not be controlled. So we do bear responsibility for what we think and how we think it. And it may not always feel that way. It may feel sometimes like our minds are just out of control, completely outside of our own will. But they're not. We have full control over what we can think. Now, we can't always control the thoughts that come into our minds, but we can choose what we meditate on. We can choose what we allow ourselves to continue to think.

So what ends up happening is it's it's this fear-based approach to Christianity, and that fear ultimately is because this we've not understood the love of God, the compassion that He has for us. So if it's not the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, it's going to be something else. If it's not the teachings on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that freaked them out, it's going to be the teachings on the rapture because they're going to convince themselves, "When the rapture comes, I'm going to be left behind." When they hear of sermons on Paul the Apostle's writings concerning vessels of wrath, they're going to say, "Well, surely I'm one of those vessels of wrath." When they hear about the Holy Spirit leaving Samson, they're going to say, "Surely the Lord has left me." And no matter what you do, if you are living in fear, and ultimately your thinking is rooted in fear, then everything you hear will be filtered through that fear. And so if you hear on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, your first thought is, "Worst case scenario, I committed it." You hear about people being left behind after the rapture, you're going to jump to, "Worst case scenario, that's going to be me." You hear the sermons preached on Matthew 7, "Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name?" and you're going to say, "Surely that's me."

I'm going to actually, let's go there real quick, and then I'm going to finish that thought. I want to show you something here. Matthew 7. This, this right here is just one example. Now, we can't address every single one of those, but I'm going to show you kind of how, how that fear works in us, okay? Matthew 7, let's go down to verse 21. Very famous portion of scripture here. It says, "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Okay, this is what freaks a lot of Christians out. Like, "Is this going to be me?" "Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter." Okay, what's the will of the Father? What's the will of the Father? It's perfection. Who's doing that? The Holy Spirit. That's the Lord Jesus. Who, who is accomplishing the will of the Father? Jesus. Jesus. The will has God ever willed some sin? Did God ever will an almost perfect life? No. The will of the Father is perfection. So only those who do the will of my Father will enter. Well, who's doing that? That's Jesus. How do we get in on that? By grace through faith.

Now watch this. "On Judgment Day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.'" Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. God's laws. You, you live in the, by the law, or you live by the spirit? You live by the spirit, then you're living a life of faith. You live a life of faith, then you, you experience the righteousness of God through faith. It's the imputed righteousness of Christ unto me, and I vicariously fulfill the law through what Christ has accomplished.

So look at their defense. Did they say, "Oh, but we trusted on the Lord Jesus"? Did they say, "Oh, but we put our faith in the cross"? Did they say, "Oh, but we received the free gift of salvation"? Now, what did they say? "We prophesied. We did. We cast out demons." That's right. "Look what we did." We did. What does this show me? This shows me that these are people who were trusting in their own works. They were trusting in what they did. They thought salvation came because they cast out devils, or healed the sick, or prophesied, or did many works. And then He says, "You broke my laws." Why? Because they were trusting in the law. They were judged by the law.

So when He says to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Are we the ones who did well? No. "Well done, good and faithful servant." That is, is a spiritually speaking, positionally speaking, a reference to Christ. He's the good and faithful servant. He's the only one who ever did good, not us. And so you look at that, for example. Now, getting back to what we were saying about these, these people who come and they're troubled in the mind, they, they're all worked up. Brother David, did I commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Brother David, am I a vessel of wrath? Brother David, am I going to be left behind? Brother David, is the Lord going to say to me, "Depart from me, I never knew you?" Okay, it all comes back down to fear. It all comes back down to performance. It all comes back down to, "I'm not meeting a standard of perfection."

Well, as we said, disclaimer, disclaimer, you ought to, you ought to live holy. Don't go on sinning. Mhm. You will be punished for sin here upon the earth. You will reap consequences here upon the earth. God is not pleased with our sin. Having said that, our perfection comes from faith in Christ. And so when they say, "Solve the riddle in their own mind," and they, they're relieved after they hear a teaching on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so that's not me. True Christians can't possibly commit that. Okay. They're going to go find something else to freak out about. They're going to find something else to worry about until they address the root, root cause, which is they have no assurance of their salvation. And they have no assurance of their salvation because they are not walking in the Holy Spirit. They're walking according to the law. And no matter what it is, no matter how many times they work through their problems in their own mind, if they don't fix that, if they don't come to the place where they accept the free gift of salvation for what it is, and recognize that holiness is a response to that gift, not what causes it, and if they don't recognize what Christ accomplished on the cross, then they're going to find anything and everything to freak out over. And they will always go to worst case scenario.

I'm reminded of Galatians 2:20 as you were talking. "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." And I think so many people don't do that. They trust in themselves by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. When, oh, sorry, no. When he was talking, that just came to me. I'm like, that's, that's the ultimate key. But I was very curious towards the end of what you were saying, like, how did you break free from that? Like, what was that point for you where you go, "Oh, oh, yeah?" Because you were, you were talking about how you would, you would leave feeling disgusted. And I, I like, I can't pinpoint it. But I think it just came from hearing people preach it in the right context, using the word to actually back it up, versus experiences like, "Oh, this is what, uh, my parents, this is what my pastor told me," or whatever. It came from listening to it in the right context, being around you more often than not, David, and going, "Okay, that does make sense. Like, what he said, like, does that actually line up with the scripture, or is he just saying it because that's the way he wants to interpret the scripture?" So a lot of it came from listening to it in the right context and then being around, being around the right individuals who kind of told me like, "No, like, what, like, what makes you think that you have to come to church this many times in order to be right? Why do you have to be there so many times?" Like, "No, there's no one keeping track of your attendance besides a man."

And for context, you had fallen into this mindset where if you weren't in the doors, you know, every day of every week doing something, it was like something was off. You weren't a true follower of Christ. Um, and just be clear, that, that wasn't the mindset of our pastor or how he thought. This was just, again, a lot of this has to do with the way we hear some of these, these teachings. And really, any teaching can be misheard. I mean, they misunderstood Jesus. And I think that comes back to checking our own hearts. Because a lot of times we blame, you know, preachers and teachers and churches when really they're clearly presenting truth, and we kind of just allow our minds and hearts to tend into these areas of deception if we're not guarding ourselves, um, carefully. Uh, but what you're describing here, Ruben, is truth. The truth set you free. Hearing the truth, believing the truth, and then refreshing your mind again and again with the truth.

On that, there are some who just refuse to believe the truth because they're so afraid. Now, this is, this is interesting here because in talking with people, let's say I'm sitting across from someone who's convinced that they committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If I walk them through the scripture and I show them how, in fact, they did not commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, even if you bring them to logically see your line of reasoning, even if you bring them to logically see the consistency with the word of God, and the word of God presented in the beauty of its full context, they will look at that, they'll understand it intellectually, they'll somewhat acknowledge that it's true, and then deep in their heart, there's this resistance. And they go, "I don't know, but what is..." Yeah, but what, you know, what? That's fear. Mhm. They're afraid that if they actually choose to believe what I'm saying, that they're going to have to drop their guard. Uh-huh. And if they drop their guard, well, wait a minute now. They're worried, "What if I miss it?" And they're so afraid of dropping their guard and just trusting the Lord that they just, they refuse it.

And I've talked, for example, I talked to this one woman years ago. She came to me and she says, "Brother David, I have to tell you what's happening to me. It's, it's unlike anything you've probably ever heard. She says, you know, at night I'm being tormented by demons." And the Encounter Podcast is sponsored in part by the donors and partners of David Hernandez Ministries. Your partnership or single donation helps us to reach the masses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Join the movement. Unite with thousands of believers all around the world. Support this effective, growing evangelistic ministry, and let's continue to expand the kingdom of God. You can begin your partnership today for as little as $15 a month. Visit DavidHernandezMinistries.com/partner to, uh, give a monthly gift, or DavidHernandezMinistries.com/donate to give a single gift.

Talk, for example, I talked to this one woman years ago. She came to me and she says, "Brother David, I have to tell you what's happening to me. It's, it's unlike anything you've probably ever heard. She says, you know, at night I'm being tormented by demons, and there are these witches, they're putting curses on me." And walked through the scripture on how Christians can't be cursed. That's a fact. Walked through to the scriptures on how Christians can't have demons. That's a fact. But even after seeing all that, she grew frustrated with me because she wanted the solution to be complicated. And it wasn't that she said it outright like that. She was looking for this deep, mysterious, you know, riddle to be unpacked for her so that she could find her freedom. Like, you know, in the movies where at the end they learn the, the ancient riddle and a portal opens and the demon gets thrown back into the, for it's not like that. And, and so we as Christians sometimes we want complicated answers because it satisfies the ego. Because then it's, "Well, my problem was bigger than what anyone else faced." Or, or, or maybe embarrassed that it took so long to something so simple. And so in this way, we become blockages to our own freedom because, because we're afraid of dropping our guard or admitting that maybe we overcomplicated it. And that's not, that is not easy.

To do. In fact, there might be someone listening to this right now. You're getting a little irritated with what I'm saying. No, that's you, or you might even be saying this to yourself, "No, Brother David, you need to go deeper. No, you don't understand the spiritual." Right? These are the things we say because we can't admit that we just got it wrong. And that's tough. Look, I've been there. I know. I'm human too. I like to be right. But I'm telling you, um, we're not walking in the spirit when we rely on self. We're not walking in the spirit when we minimize the Holy Spirit's power and magnify demonic power. We're not walking in the spirit when we complicate freedom instead of going by the simplicity of the truth of scripture. And we need to learn to walk by the spirit. In order to do that, we have to humble ourselves and submit ourselves to the word. Galatians 5:26, um, "Since we are living by the spirit, let us follow the spirit's leading in every part of our lives." Mm. And it says, "Let us follow the leading." So there's got to be a participatory role. You've got to let everything go. Plus, you've got to trust Him because He's not just directing, He is leading. And I think so many of us just, we, we don't want to trust Him with everything. We want to hold to some control. We want to be able to control some part of our lives. You know, I, I want to give Him my business, but not my marriage. I want to give Him my education, but not my finances. But, but the Bible says here, "Let us follow the spirit's leading in every part of our lives." And I believe that if we can just do that a little bit more, Acts chapter 2, the we fied, Acts chapter 4, the re again, if we can just do that, just a little bit more and more and more, that our lives will be better. That's, that's how I've always looked at it. Do you say it's because we don't actually believe that God loves us? For me, it was, M, that was, that was the breakthrough moment. That was the breakthrough moment for me. And here's the thing, this is where it gets complicated again. We can know things intellectually, but not fully embrace them internally. And even the listener has probably heard that what I just said a hundred times. I know I did. For me, many of you guys know the, I think you guys all know the story about how I battled severely with anxiety, depression, panic attacks. It was bad. This was when I was in the Long Beach apartment, um, and it was just a, it was a really, really, really tough season. And I felt like everything was culminating to just this stripping of self. The ministry by human metrics was failing. I don't, I don't believe in failing ministries as long as you're obeying God, who cares about the metric? But by human metrics, no one was coming to the services, hardly anyone was watching the videos, nobody was reading the blogs, no one was buying the books. I would get invitations to preach here and there. It was just, it was a rough season. So on the ministry front, I felt like I was failing. There were some challenges in Jess and I's marriage, just in terms of getting to put two lives into one. As there are marriage, I like to say, is an assault on selfishness. And I was learning of all the selfish areas in me, not so much her, she's like super gracious, but for me. And the ministry, in my mind, was failing. The marriage, for sure, was strained. My friendships were failing because I was so anxious that it was hard to be around that kind of anxiety, constant negativity, constant worst-case thinking, constant complaining. It's hard to be around that. Um, even like something as little as, you know, you're five minutes late to where we were supposed to be, it, it just, it threw me off. And it's like, hey, you know, who wants to be around that? Let's just be real. And so there were all these different points where I felt just like I, I was like, had reached my limit.

I received an invitation to go preach in North Carolina. Uh, Mr. Lay, you, you went with me on that trip. You remember that? He's, he's on the, he's in the ceiling there. He is. Your other microphone died. Okay, well, but you're here now. You, you remember the car accident? I do. Yes. Okay. So we're on our way to the airport. This is at like 4:00 in the morning. 4:00 in the morning on the way to LAX. Isaiah Lopez was driving us. You guys all know Isaiah. He's never on camera, but he's been a part of the ministry for years. He's in the driver's seat. I'm in the passenger seat. Tim was asleep in the back seat, not wearing his seatbelt. He was just lying across. I always told him since then, you need to wear your seatbelt. And we're driving, and I look at, like, maybe two lanes to the left, up in front of me, I see a car beginning to change lanes with no signal, but it kept going. And it's interesting because, like, watching it, it, like, happened in slow motion. Like, I know people say that. I think there's some science behind that, like your brain speeds up or something like that. I don't know. Adrenaline kicked in, and something about it just looked odd, like that's out of place. It just felt out of place. Not going to stop. It hit the center divider. Oh my goodness. Just as we were exiting, it hits the center divider, flips over. It was like a movie. Lands in front of us. And as Isaiah is slamming on the brakes, we're skidding along with this car that has flipped over on its top. Sparks are flying. I saw the person inside flailing. I, I, I, I don't know what happened to them. I don't think it was a very good end result, if you know what I mean. Their luggage goes everywhere. We, we did what we could. I mean, what can we do? We're right in the middle of the, the highway. We, of course, called for help. And afterwards, we just continued on. I get to the airport. My hands are shaking. I can't even check into the kiosk. I was, I was trying to type in my, I'm trying to, I forgot how to check in at an airport. I've been to airports hundreds of times, and I'm just, I didn't know what to do. And that, for someone who deals with anxiety, particularly anxiety around vehicles and travel, well, of course, that's going to be just, yeah. I don't remember much of what happened in between. All I remember was it was one of Tim's first trips, and he said, "Oh, we're probably going to see a celebrity, huh?" And I thought, "Oh, how naive." I thought, "No, Tim, it's not like in the movies where..." And then, sure enough, like, this very well-known celebrity walks onto the plane. He was on our, like, uh, I was like, "Oh, okay, well, there we go." So Tim's faith was, was, uh, was a factor in that, I'm sure. But anyway, that's about all I remember in between, but it was all a blur. I don't remember, even now, I'm trying to recall it, I don't remember much. I get to the hotel. I wake up the next morning, and I'm just staring at the ceiling. And I remember I just felt so, and this happened within like seconds, it was like a minute or two. I'm staring at the ceiling, and I'm just frustrated. I felt empty. I felt like my emotions had reached their max, my physical strength reached its max, my mental energy. I didn't, I didn't even want to think about anything. I felt like my mental energy had been expended. I didn't want to think. And I'm lying there on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and the Holy Spirit begins to speak to me. And it was interesting because it was almost like He was my therapist. We go all the way back to when I was a kid, and He said, "Do you remember your first day of kindergarten, and you were afraid to play with the other kids because you thought they might make fun of you? How terrified you were?" I said, "Yes." I didn't say it out loud, but internally, "Yes, Holy Spirit, I remember." And do you remember the faces you used to see the walls and the demonic voices you heard? How afraid you were? I said, "Yes, I remember that." Then He said, "Do you remember when you would go to theme parks with your family, and that for you was the highlight of the year, but then those days would be ruined because you were so afraid of worst-case scenario thinking? You know, ride breaking down, people getting killed. I mean, that was where my mind would go as a kid to where I would, I wouldn't enjoy the day." I said, "Yes, Lord, I remember." And He begins to ask me that question about every phase in my life. "Do you remember when you couldn't get your license because you were so afraid of driving? It took me like six times to take the test 'cause I was so scared." And I realized, as He's doing this, He's pointing something out to me. I realized at that moment that it was the same fear, the same core belief, manifesting itself in various different ways at various different phases of my life. I wasn't afraid of roller coasters. I wasn't afraid of driving. I wasn't afraid of being made fun of. That wasn't the issue. And then He asked me this, and this, this is what broke me. And I mean broke me in a good way. He said, "Why don't you believe that I love you and that I plan to do good things in your life?" That was a life-changing moment there. And it happens again, like two minutes. I don't even think, yeah, it was just like, like tears. I could feel them. Like I was like, "Oh, I, I, I don't cry much, but what is this? I'm crying." I felt this burden lift off of me. Since that day, yes, there were some battles still to face, but since that day, that was the turning point in in this issue I had with legalism. I realized all of those concerns, all of those manifestations, were ultimately rooted in the idea that God was out to get me, that I was hanging by a thread, that I was on His last nerve, that His patience was wearing thin, like that He was looking for an opportunity to get me for the wrong that I was doing. And it just wasn't true. It was the same core lie manifesting itself in hundreds of different types of beliefs in hundreds of different scenarios all throughout my life.

Yeah, I wonder if that's the same for a lot of other people that are even listening. Like, because I, I hear you in person, people come up to you like, "David, like, uh, I've been battling with this spirit for many years because, you know, my great-grandfather, you know, cast a spell on me or something." And like, I hear you break it down to them, and you tell them, like, "You're free. Like, like you're a Christian, you cannot be possessed and be a Christian." And to them, it's like, "But you don't understand, right? You don't understand." And me, not to like belittle, like their situation, but they're like, it's almost as if they want to believe that they're still possessed. They want to believe that they're so entrapped in this, you know, mindset. Like, like, listen, you have to understand, like, you're free. Like, why do you want to believe what you want to believe? Well, there are certain thought patterns that become formed. Uh, I would say it like this. Imagine there are explorers taking over new territory. And and in order to take over this new territory, they have to create travel pathways. So that first crew is going to come through with their tools, their maybe machetes, knives, and they're going to chart a path through the wilderness, right? Cutting away at the brush and the foliage, walking across the dirt, right? So that the next exploration crew that comes behind them is likely going to take the path they went because it's a little less resistant than everything else. But those first ones through, man, that's the hard work. You got to really get that going. But after a few, maybe a dozen crews come through, eventually there is a path. And that is the path that people will likely take for as long as that civilization is there. It becomes a main road. It becomes a highway, right? Why? Because that's where it began to form. That land is your mind. Those explorers are your thoughts. Those pathways are thought patterns. You are so used to thinking a certain way that to go off in a different direction is too much resistance. Why walk through the foliage? Why, why, why trouble yourself with pushing through the thorns and thistles when you could just take the path right there? So when I'm counseling these people, I'm trying to say, "No, no, no, don't go that way. Come this way." And they're coming through and they're going, "No, this, this doesn't work for me." And so it's hard because they have to push through. But, but they have to do it. They have to leave that other path. And eventually, what happens is, as they start to take that new path, yeah, the first time you allow yourself to believe the truth, it's a little difficult. And the second time, it's easier. Then finally, you're clearing a path. Before you know it, the foliage is growing over the old path, and the new path is becoming the easier way to go. So it's not necessarily that they want to believe these things. It's that it's been hammered in their heads. And very unhealthy teachings, like, well, you know, I've heard preachers say, like, "Well, if your pastor preaches that Christians can't have demons, if your pastor preaches that Christians can't be cursed, you got to leave that church. They're lukewarm." I'm thinking, what an insult to the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't think it's necessarily coming from a bad place, but I honestly believe it's just ignorance about the power of the Holy Spirit and what the nature of salvation truly is in our lives and what is actually going on in the spirit. And so what tends to happen is we hear that kind of preaching, so we become suspicious of anyone who tells us differently. And and we become resistant, thinking, "Oh, there's another attack of the enemy right there trying to get me to not engage in the battle." No, what I'm trying to do is help them see the truth so they can overcome the enemy, instead of fighting the enemy on his own terms, granting him these premises that aren't biblically true. And the way to create that new path is by the word of God, yeah, just renewing the mind daily, casting down every imagination and every I that exalts itself above the the knowledge of God.

So why is it hard for some people? Is it really because they can't get into the word, or because they don't understand the word when they get into it? Because I've seen some people that go, "You know, but I still study the word. I, I try to read the scripture as much as possible. It just seemed like I can't get over it." This is why we need good teachers and preachers. That's the gift Christ gave to the church. And we need preachers and teachers who are fit to expound upon the word of God, rightly dividing the word of truth, um, not going beyond the intended meaning of what the scripture always was meant to communicate, and carefully explaining the way of truth, patiently explaining the way of truth, getting around godly people who are also living in freedom. This is that, you know, the little, the little leaven spoils the whole loaf. And this is where we have to be careful because because we allow that in, and it starts to permeate in the soul and mind, and ultimately infecting everything about the way that you think. And that's not to make you paranoid. Again, someone listening like going, "Wait, am I being infected?" No, it's just, it's just a matter of right thinking. Be around the right people. Be around the, and you'll recognize it because the anointing breaks bondages, it doesn't put bondages on people. And so when, when you leave away from a teaching feeling like it so much depends on you, it's likely that you, you've, you've not heard, uh, the right kind of teaching. Now, I'm not saying we don't have responsibilities. I mean, in Ephesians, the church at Ephesus was instructed to walk worthy of the calling. But again, we're talking about the proper place of those works, the proper place of living right, the proper place of righteousness. And as long as you understand why we live righteously, why we want, why we must live in holiness, then that begins to put things in proper perspective, ultimately keeping you grounded on what Paul is writing about in Galatians, and that is walking in the spirit. So as it pertains to salvation, as it pertains to prayer, as it pertains to deliverance, we've now covered. As it pertains to church service, we've got to make sure we're walking in the spirit. That is allowing Him to form and keep the way we think according to what is communicated in the word of God, namely the gospel.

You, you have that freedom. That moment where you realized the love of God. And you talk about how, you know, tears were just flowing down your eyes. Other than that, what, what was it that you felt inside? I'm, I'm really just curious. Felt, I, I was, I felt joy. I wasn't like laughing hysterically like a, like a maniac or anything. But was there, like, laughed? I, I laughed. I, I, I literally was like, like, "Oh my gosh," like laughing with just like relief. And almost like, "I can't believe that's actually over." It was, it was, it was, like I said, it was one of the, it was the one of the most life-transforming moments I've ever experienced. And it was so simple. It was just an internal. I like to say that sometimes the big breakthrough comes not through a dramatic change in outward circumstances, but rather a small internal shift in your thinking. And that's not to say that walking in the spirit can be reduced to just the way you think. There's, of course, action put behind that. But often these breakthroughs come when we just realize the truth. I like to say that when that, that breakthrough comes when I realize the truth, freedom comes when I walk in that truth. So the breakthrough moment for me was realizing that. Once I had that realization, now I had the, I had the proper posture that enabled me to walk in the freedom. Now, from then on, it was, "Okay, now let's apply this truth." Breakthrough came. It was, it was a major breakthrough moment. Something shifted internally. And now I got to say, "Okay, now I have to apply this." It took several years. And to this day, of course, I'm still finding all of these hidden ways that that lie is still manifesting itself in my life. Believe it or not, even to this day, I'm still finding, "Oh, where was that? Oh, that thought pattern was from the lie. Wow, I got to get rid of that." Or that assumption was from the lie. I didn't even realize that about me. My wife dealt with anxiety for for a long time. I think she shared that with you, Pastor David. And I, I remember this very day. I was telling her, "You know, God can deliver you, and He wants, He wants to set you free." And we had a whole fight about that 'cause she just didn't believe it. She just couldn't believe, like, "Really?" She said, "You know, this is how my mom has always lived. What if this is my life? What, what if I have to be on medication?" And all I simply said was, "God loves you, and He wants to deliver you." And she just could not believe it. She just, this was before we actually got married. She just couldn't believe it. But the moment she finally did and realized, "Oh my goodness, He does love me, and He doesn't want me to live like this." It was, she couldn't stop telling everyone she met. The moment she saw someone dealing with anxiety, it was like, "I, I got to tell them what I felt in that moment." And I mean, I've never really dealt with it, but just hearing those testimonies really is powerful.

Okay, gentlemen, some questions here from the community. This is from FFIC for Life. "Is walking in the spirit a mindset?" Which I, I have been inclined to believe it is, but I'm afraid it's simplifying the Holy Spirit, and I don't mean to do that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like everything that we're responsible to do as Christians is a mindset shift because, you know, even getting saved, to repent, to change your mind and believe on Christ to save you, it all starts in the mind. So I would say that God wants to renew our mind. You know, like, "Out of the abundance of the heart, your thinking, everything flows." Everything. So I would say that's a good. Yeah, it starts there. No, I definitely agree with you. I think it starts there, but then, um, it gets to where we have to bear fruit. Um, and I'm, I'm, I'm looking at John 5:19. So Jesus explained, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what He sees His Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does." So it gets to that point where it's not just a mindset, it's how we live our life. It's who we are, you know, led by the spirit, just like the way. So I believe that's definitely a great starting point. Ruben, want to weigh in on that, or should we jump to the next question? I thought that was pretty great what they said.

Stephanie Salazar 7554, "My question is, ways to deny the flesh? Question mark. And ways to keep walking in the spirit without getting weary?" Ways to deny the flesh. I think prayer is what causes debt to the flesh. And perhaps that's one of the reasons why our, our flesh just squirms in the place of prayer. That's one of the reasons why the flesh does not want us to pray. Gets very uncomfortable. Um, I believe prayer is definitely one of the ways, especially praying in the spirit. Um, and of course, get into the word, just constantly renewing your mind, um, by the word of God. I would say that anytime you choose what God wants over what you want, you're denying the flesh. And on this second question, Brit, do you want to weigh in before I, I comment on the second half of the question? I was just going to say that there's also the other side of it. What empowers our flesh is not trusting, like we've been talking about the whole podcast, not trusting in the spirit. Because living in that fear kills your faith. And if you kill your faith, and I mean like in the sense of like weaken that trust in, you know, God's work in you, then it kind of hinders that ease of the flow of grace in your life. And grace is the only thing that actually helps you overcome the flesh, right? If you walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I think that when you ask, "Ways to keep walking in the spirit without getting weary," I think maybe this comes from a misunderstanding of what it means to walk in the spirit. Because walking in the spirit, by definition, it would be impossible to become weary because you're not even doing it in your own strength. Uh, so I think if you're asking, "Ways to walk in the spirit without getting weary," I would say if you're truly walking in the spirit, you'll never grow weary because you're resting in Christ. Resting in Christ doesn't mean I don't do anything. Resting in Christ means that I'm doing things from the place of acceptance and reconciliation rather than trying to gain it.

Brad Green 987, "How do I know that I'm pleasing the Holy Spirit? How should I improve my stewardship with His grace and influence?" Great question. Go ahead, Brett. I mean, simple thing is, you're obeying the Holy Spirit. If you're obeying the word, that's it. Whatever He wants, He's written in the word. I agree. Okay, simple enough. How should, and then the second part was, "How should I improve my stewardship with His grace and influence?" Now, I'm going to assume that the question is about how to daily surrender to that influence and grace in a way that is cultivating it as opposed to maybe surrendering in a way that's straining or adding to our, you know, like, like we talked about, sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. Um, so however you interpret that question, you can answer it. Oh, I would say, um, to grow in that, it's probably, and this is, I think what everything kind of comes back to. Like Paul says, "Stand firm in the gospel." If you just keep coming back to Christ did it. And because Christ did it, I have access. Like the Bible says, I believe it's in Romans, that we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. If you just keep stewarding the revelation of the gospel in your mind, you will by nature, because the spirit's working in you, you will by nature walk in His grace and not in the flesh.

Okay, so this next question, I'm going to give some context here. I preached a sermon on overcoming sin and I talked about how the flesh can be very deceptive, and we can be self-deceiving. Because when it comes to sin and overcoming temptation, sometimes we'll say, "Lord, I'm done with this sin." And the flesh will whisper, "For now, a little longer. Yes, just a little longer." Or, "God, I'll never go back to that again." And the flesh will say, "Well, or at least until I really crave it, right?" So I think there's this tension between what we know is right and what we desire in terms of sinful pleasure. And everyone has their temptations. And so I say that the flesh lies to you. You lie to yourself to where in one part of you, you're saying, "I'm done with this. It's gone. I never want to go back to it." But then the other side is, "Well, maybe we'll get to that again." Or maybe we'll go, you know, six months living holy, one month living in sin, six months living holy, one month living in sin. So that we can say technically, I'm living a lifestyle of holiness because it's not just consistent. And right, there's all these little ways we deceive ourselves. So with that in mind, the question is, "How do you ultimately overcome the flesh?" I always feel it in the back of my head, the, "Not now." Right? What we're talking about, like the enemy is saying, "You can deny me now, but you will do this sin later." Or, "You will later." So how do, how do you ultimately overcome the flesh and not leave room for those little deceptive whispers of conceding to sin? M's too practical, but I'll say, "Just subdue the flesh and live in the word." Obviously, like, live in, live according to the word. So I'm not going to sin because I want to sin. I'm not going to sin because I know the Lord doesn't want me to sin. I know that me not sinning is living in the, living in the will of God, doing what the Holy Spirit wants me to do. If I do something that I know is not pleasing to the Lord, then I know for sure I'm not living in the word. That's too practical, but that's me. Yeah, no, practical is good because that's, they're looking for, I'm sure this looks like an answer that's looking for practical answers. Practically, great. Um, I would say focus more on, you know, um, surrendering to the Holy Spirit than not committing that sin. A lot of times we, you know, I, I don't want to do it, I'm supposed to. I want to please the Holy Spirit, right? And I see that so many people find themselves in that circle of, "I just don't want to do it. I'm supposed to. I want to please the Holy Spirit." Which goes back to what we've been talking about, just surrendering to the Holy Spirit, trusting in the finished work of Christ. You're not, um, assuming the position of a winner of, of, or victory from, you know, what Christ is about to do or what I have to do. It's more so what He has done. It's finished. It's finished. Yeah.

S. No, no, please. No. I would say, like, you can see this all throughout Paul's writings, that the default posture of a Christian, even back in Genesis, the original creation, the default is dominion, not struggle. Struggle is only a result of listening to the temptation of the enemy. So like the person said, like, "How do I overcome it so I never have those whispers?" To be honest, you might never, until heaven, get to the point where there's never a whisper. Whisper it might come and go in frequency. And as you, you know, grow in your surrender to the Holy Spirit, that that craving of the flesh can weaken. But your goal shouldn't be to never be tempted again. Your goal should be to decide, "Even if I am tempted, that's not the life I'm going to live." I like that. Be soul-filled with heavenly presence. Yes, that you never hunger for worldly pleasure. That I'm so focused on Jesus, I'm living for Him, as opposed to not for the world. Because by default, if I'm living for Him, I'm not living for the world. And we are to make no provision for the flesh. You subject it, and you keep it subjected. You make it weak, and you keep it weak. Always acknowledging that if you're not staying in that place of grace, that old nature will begin to find influence in your life again. So that, yes, for the rest of your life, you're subduing it. Now, this doesn't mean for the rest of your life, you're living in torment and you're tortured over. That's only if you allow it to get so strong and remain strong that it's torturous. But you can subject the flesh to the point where it's weak enough that it's just, just like daily dieting or daily exercise, or it's, it's just another thing you just stay on top of it. Don't let it get out of control. Don't let it have any opportunity. This is why we're told to flee from temptation, not debate with it. You don't stay there trying to have a discussion with temptation. You get out of that place where you're tempted. And then I also like the, the point that you very often make about the, the preemptive holiness in the sense of it's not just fighting the battle of temptation, it's keeping yourself from things that are going to increase that temptation, right? So I feel like also you said something also along the lines of the flesh shrinks and it grows. Only. Yeah, the, the flesh doesn't come and go. It shrinks and grows depending upon whether or not you obey God. So if you live a lifestyle of keeping that, that flesh weak, it, it will not have the opportunity to ultimately overtake you. If you sin on Friday, it's probably because you were allowing yourself in positions of temptation Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Temptation is not an event, it's a process.

God's Princess 8975, "Will walking in the spirit keep you from disobeying God? And from being in fear of things like people?" And I think when they say being in fear of things like people, I think they're talking maybe about a lack of boldness, or maybe social anxiety, or being ashamed of the Lord in front of other people. Like, can that keep you from being, we'll word it another way, does walking in the spirit give you boldness? And does walking in the spirit keep you from disobeying God? What was the first part of the question? "Will walking in the spirit keep you from disobeying God?" I think not. I think if, if you're truly walking in, in the will of God, then you can't disobey the Holy Spirit. That was the question. Oh, okay. "Will walking in the spirit keep you from disobeying?" That's like, at first I was like, "Wait, wait a minute. Like, what do you mean?" I didn't understand it. I guess to the boldness part, 2 Timothy 1:7, "God is not giving us the spirit, um, of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind." The simple answer is yes. Um, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of boldness. You don't even know how it happens. You don't even try to. It just happens. So yes, walking in the spirit will, in fact, give you boldness.

Well, thank you for joining this discussion on walking in the spirit. Tell me in the comment section, what are some ways that walking in the spirit has transformed your life?