Life in the Spirit

By Jennifer Moreno

The greatest search of the human heart is to find purpose and intimacy. The human heart yearns for intimacy that touches both the body and the soul, but so many times we look for that in all the wrong places. We search for it in romantic relationships, in our careers, through family, friends, success, but we always come out with a short end of the stick. All of those things are good things, but none of those things can really fill us like Christ can.

Before I became a Christian, this concept of finding life in the Spirit didn’t make sense to me at all. But it wasn’t until I experienced a serious health issue and a family crisis that allowed me to seek Christ and understand what it meant to live life through the Spirit. Before any of these events happened, I was living a very good life so to speak, but it was empty because I didn’t know Christ.

Sometimes I think we need to hit rock bottom for God to humble us and to show us that we can’t do anything without him. After I met Christ and allowed him into my heart, I realized a great weight was lifted off me. I no longer worried about what will happen next, and instead I left it to God. It gave me great comfort to know that my life was no longer in my hands, but in the hands of my creator.

What surprised me the most is when I started to notice that the things that I desired that were of the flesh, were no longer important. But let’s not get this confused, I am still a human and I am still a sinner, but now with Christ living in me, his spirit guides me and not my flesh. There is always that inner battle between what the Holy Spirit wants and what I want.

Romans 8:5 says “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.

Here is another example, if I am going to live in the Spirit I must say no to self. What does that mean? Well that means you have to deny yourself, you have to let go of your life and let go of being in control. You have to let God be in control…let him be the driver and you the passenger. You still have your free will and your choices, except this time you’re making wise choices with God involved in it. God works concurrently with your free will and his plan for you.

When we take that first step of letting go, we begin to live a life of obedience but obedience from the heart. It’s not about rules or perfection, it’s about doing your best to live a transparent life. A life that pleases God. You’re still going to mess up, but God sees your heart and he sees that you’re trying. Versus having a rebellious spirit and doing things your way.

The apostle Paul spoke about this extensively in his letters. Galatians 5:16 says “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” How many of us would like to be free from our own desires, desires that can be destructive if we really let them fester. Like drinking, or having sex, gambling, gossiping, anger, envy , lust and so many other things that only bring us to spiritual death.

Many times people believe that if you follow Christ you will lose your life and no longer have any fun. But on the contrary, Christ allows you to lose your old life to give you a new one. He never takes away your personality, instead he enhances it and you allow him to use you for his glory. It is life that is full of joy and peace and you can only find that through him. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says – “Where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.”

When we live in the Spirit, the Spirit guides us on every thought and deed that we have. We’re no longer slaves to sin and corruption, in case you didn’t know, you are a slave to anything that controls you. Many times we forget that, but once we realize that we are slaves to our own sins, we are not truly free.

But there is good news, Romans 6:7 says “For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”

Therefore my friends, when we live in the Spirit we have an abundant of grace in our daily lives, we allow the fruit of the Spirit to set us free and in return we get closer to God.