The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty
(2 Corinthians 3:17).

The Spirit-filled walk is neither characterized by license nor legalism, but
liberty. Paul stated that we are “servants of a new covenant, not of the letter,
but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life . . . Now the
Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2
Corinthians 3:6, 17).

I believe that our freedom in Christ is one of the most precious commodities
we have received from our spiritual union with God. Because the Spirit of the
Lord is in you, you are free to choose to live a responsible and moral life. You
are no longer compelled to walk according to the flesh as you were before
conversion. And now you are not even compelled to walk according to the Spirit.
You are free to choose to walk according to the Spirit or to walk according to
the flesh.

Walking according to the Spirit implies two things. First, it’s not passive.
We’re talking about walking in the Spirit, not sitting in the Spirit. One of the
most dangerous and harmful detriments to your spiritual growth is
passivity–putting your mind in neutral and coasting. The Christian classic War
on the Saints, by Jessie Penn-Lewis, was written to combat such passive thinking.
Sitting back and waiting for God to do everything is not God’s way to spiritual
maturity.

Second, we’re talking about walking in the spirit, not running in the Spirit.
The Spirit-filled life is not achieved through endless, exhausting activity. We
mistakenly think that the harder we work for God, the more spiritual we will
become. That’s a subtle lie from the enemy. Satan knows that he may not be able
to stop you from serving God by making you immoral, but he can probably impede
your service by simply making you busy. Our service for God can become the
greatest detriment of our devotion to God.

Lord, I desire to walk according to the Spirit today at Your pace, not
sitting passively through inactivity or running myself ragged by becoming too
busy.

This daily devotional is published and distributed by
http://www.GOSHEN.net/ . It is written by Neil Anderson at
http://www.freedominchrist.com/ .