John David Hicks, Evangelist / Bible Teacher *
Summer 2002 · Volume 6 Number 3
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16 nkjv). “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darknessat all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7 niv). “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5 nkjv).
By John David Hicks
My last newsletter article focused on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now I want to write about giving Him “control” and putting your life in His hands. To do this, you need to avoid two attitudes that will dim your faith, and you need to cultivate the mind of Christ. Focusing on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, instead of yourself, other people, and circumstances will produce your walk in the Spirit.
Grieving the Holy Spirit
The apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” The first condition that can dim your faith and hinder your walk is grieving the Spirit with known, unconfessed sin. Sin wants to hide in the shadows of your heart. Our human tendency is to hide sin, to cover it up, to put on a “good front.” As long as you do that, the sin is not cleansed and dealt with. Let the light of the Holy Spirit expose what is in your heart so it can be cleansed.
Jesus says the Holy Spirit’s job is to reconcile you to God. “When he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (John 16:8 nlt). The key word is convince (reprove in kjv). It is a legal word that means “to bring to light, to expose, to refute, to convict and convince.” The Holy Sprit will use God’s law to show you your sin and bring you to Christ. Without the law and conviction, there can be no salvation.
Sin is rebellion in addition to unbelief and brings God’s wrath. God is holy and righteous and will not ignore your sin. There is a day of reckoning when all sin will be judged. Thus, the “fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” Without this fear, you won’t obey God’s commandments. The early church walked “in the fear of the Lord” (Acts 9:31), and so must you. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11 kjv). The “fear of the Lord” causes men to flee from sin (Proverbs 16:6).
Don’t break the Holy Sprit’s heart. He is moving and breathing in you, and is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for Himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. “Make a clean break with all evil. Renounce cutting and backbiting gossip. Be gentle with one another, sensitive to each other’s needs. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:30-32 The Message).
All sinful acts are committed twice: once in your mind and once in your behavior. To win the victory, you must first win the battle in your mind. The battle is won when your focus changes from the temptation to the Lord. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2 nasb). Walking in the Spirit requires following, by keeping your focus on the Lord and setting your mind on the things of the Spirit.
One day a distraught young man came into my office and said, “My wife says I am just like my father. My father was a drunk. He beat and verbally abused my mother and me. I hated him.” After counseling him, I saw that his thoughts focused so much on his despised father that he had picked up the same attitudes. The solution was forgiveness. Then, “Get your focus on Jesus,” I said. “He is the author and perfecter of your faith. By focusing on Him, your conduct will change.”
Try this exercise, with a friend if you’re single or with your spouse, to see areas of your life where you may be grieving the Holy Spirit. Select a passage of Scripture that has a practical application, such as Ephesians 4:17-32. Read each verse and consider how your life reflects the teaching. For example, in the Ephesians passage, the verses deal with impurity (v. 19), truth (v. 25), anger (vv. 26-27), theft (v. 28), and speech (v. 29). Consider out loud to your partner if your actions in these areas bring joy or sadness to the Holy Spirit. If you have grieved the Holy Spirit, confess your sins to God and to each other, and ask your partner to pray for you. Be confident that the Holy Spirit will attend your conversation with great joy. To have fellowship with God who is light, you must walk in the light.
Quenching the Holy Spirit
Fire is often used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and Paul again is the one who warns us not to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Fire is a symbol of purity, power, light, warmth, and, if necessary, destruction. The writer of the book of Hebrews even says, “God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). The fire of the Holy Spirit warms your heart with love, acceptance, and affection. As fire gives light, the Holy Spirit en-lightens your mind. The energy of His fire empowers your will. He fuses Christians together as a church, so there is unity of purpose and caring for one another. Then He purifies by consuming sin in your life.
But what would quench the Holy Spirit? How could this Fire be put out? Just as with a natural fire, you can put it out by withdrawing fuel. In this case, the fuel is our relationship with Christ. Don’t withdraw the fuel of devotion to Jesus, lest you quench the Spirit. Have a time and a place every day for prayer and the Word. Carnal lusts and minding only earthly things can diminish or even snuff out the Holy Spirit’s fire. Develop an attitude of always being aware of what Jesus may whisper to your heart. The risen Christ said to the church at Ephesus, “You have forsaken your first love” (Revelation 2:4). Christians were so busy working for God that they neglected the relationship.
If you would ask a random group of Christians when they prayed, I suspect you would get a variety of replies. Some pray on their morning walk or run. Some pray while driving to work. But many Christians find it difficult to do even this. They just cannot seem to find any time at all to pray. The world and its busyness press in on them.
Jesus, however, always took time to be with God in prayer. It is not that He had nothing else to do-rather He understood that prayer was the most vital aspect of His life. We often think of fasting as giving up food, but in a larger sense, fasting is giving up something in order to receive something from God. You can also fast by giving up some television time, some recreation, even some sleep. You will never find the time for prayer; you must make the time. If that means giving up something good to do something better, then so be it-fast!
You can also put out a fire by pouring water on it or by smothering it with dirt. One of the biggest resistances to the Holy Spirit comes from religious people who oppose the work of God by pouring water on what the Spirit is doing, quenching the Spirit. In the next verse of the Thessalonians text, verse 20, Paul warns the church against this. It appears that the church struggled with the gift of prophecy. Some may have given a strange prophetic teaching of their own views on the Second Coming of Christ, with the result that the church wrote off all prophets. That is why in verse 21 Paul tells the believers to test what they heard. And don’t quench the Spirit with your preconceived ideas or prejudice, but be open to the Holy Spirit’s leadership.
Cultivating the Mind of Christ
Most importantly, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5 nkjv). The Greek word (phroneite) means “to be minded”-to be minded as God is, with the same attitude and way of thinking. It is an attitude of humility, self-giving love, and concern for others above yourself.
First of all, the mind of Christ realizes the truth, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing” (John 5:19). We are essentially in the same position. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Our culture values self-reliance and independence. We admire the man who has made himself a success and can take full credit for it.
Nevertheless, depending on your natural abilities means you are not depending on God. Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt and was a leader of men. But when he took it upon himself and his own abilities to deliver the Israelites, he quickly made a complete mess of things and became a man with a price on his head. He fled to the desert where he lived as a shepherd for 40 years before God brought him to a position of dependence on Him. At that point he saw that he could not do the job. Not until then could God use him. On his return to Egypt, Moses became the great leader we read about in the Old Testament.
In the same way, your natural abilities of the flesh must give way to the Holy Spirit’s abilities. In the Spirit, you are completely dependent on God. Faith is an expression of your lack of ability-your dependence on Him.
Secondly, the person with the mind of Christ recognizes what are the most important things in life. “Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything” (1 Corinthians 2:15 gnt). In other words, “The spiritual man can put the right price tag on anything!” One of the marks of the Holy Spirit in your life is discernment-the ability to see below the surface of life and judge what really matters. You can separate the important from the unimportant; the trivial from the vital; the temporal from the eternal.
Your attitudes and values affect your lifestyle. But the spiritual man has a new set of values that is different from the world’s values. Out of a focused relationship with Jesus, you see His values, feel His heart, and hear His voice. The righteous man knows that one day everything will have its true worth revealed. Only what has true worth will last.
Finally, the mind of Christ focuses on relationships. The great commandment-to love God and your neighbor-is a priority in the kingdom of God. John asked how you can say you love God if you don’t love your brother. A Christian’s focus should be on relationships, not on status, position, possessions, reputation, or anything else. When you have the mind of Christ, you will have the heart of Christ. The heart and mind of Christ give rise to compassion, giving, and reconciliation.
From the Mind of Christ
The mind of Christ gives you compassion for people instead of a condemning, judgmental attitude. Jesus always showed God’s concern for individuals who are hurting. When Jesus saw the crowds, He pictured them as sheep without a shepherd. Taking compassion on them, He prayed for them, fed them, and healed them. Out of His compassion, forgiveness came to Zacchaeus, the tax collector, to the outcast woman at the well, and to headstrong Peter, to name a few.
When you have Jesus’ heart of compassion, your primary concern will be for others and their needs, more than your own. Jesus illustrated compassion in the parable of the Good Samaritan. His followers are to help anyone who needs their help, regardless of their status, race, or nationality. This is not an easy command to follow and may involve personal sacrifice of money, time, or reputation.
Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, prayed, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” His organization has ministered all over the world to people who are otherwise forgotten. Compassion caused him to touch a hurting, needy world with the love of God.
You do not need to start a mission organization to show compassion. Lonely, hurting people are all around us. There are children in your local elementary school who desperately need an adult friend. There are shut-ins who need a visit. Think about the social service organizations in the community who need volunteers. Learn to focus on the needs around you and ask God for guidance in helping you show compassion. To walk in compassion is to walk in the Spirit.
The mind of Christ also gives you a heart for giving. The character of love is to give, not to receive. Jesus willingly gave Himself on the cross for you. His death reflects the Father’s attitude of giving from a heart of love (John 3:16). When God gives, He gives infinitely more than you could ask for or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). You are to receive the gift of salvation, but in all other ways you are called to give.
The nature of love is to give, and giving is the yardstick of godly character. Just ask anyone in love to give up something for the one he or she loves. No cost is too great. We bring our gifts and consecrate them to God. But God does not want our gifts; He wants us. It follows that when God gets you, your gifts are consecrated as well.
Jesus taught us that the Christian is not to trust in his possessions, nor to consider the things of this world as treasures (Matthew 6:19-33). How you use your money affects your values and character. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Paul told Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).
By putting God first and responding caringly for the needs of others, you are laying up treasures in heaven. The New Testament portrays financial giving as a priestly act, a form of worship, a response to the grace of God. Your giving, just as your public worship, is to be directed by the Spirit. Paul reminds the Corinthians that their giving must not be “reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
When you give out of love, you receive far more. Remember the teaching of Jesus, “If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving-large or small-it will be used to measure what is given back to you” (Luke 6:38 nlt).
God will be no man’s debtor. Whatever you do for God, He will multiply back to you. This law of sowing and reaping is true in every area of life, relationally and financially. Giving gives joy, faith, and breaks the bondage of selfishness and stinginess.
You are a steward of all that God has entrusted to you. Anointed giving does not come out of some whim, but from a driving force to help another, doing what is best for that person.
“We never get credit spiritually for impulsive giving,” says Oswald Chambers in Biblical Psychology. “If suddenly we feel we should give a shilling to a poor man, we get no credit from God for giving it, there is no virtue in it whatever. As a rule, that sort of giving is a relief to our feelings; it is not an indication of a generous character, but rather an indication of a lack of generosity. God never estimates what we give from impulse. We are given credit for what we determine in our hearts to give; for the giving that is governed by a fixed determination.
“The Spirit of God revolutionizes our charitable instincts. Much of our benevolence is simply the impulse to save ourselves an uncomfortable feeling. The Spirit of God alters all that. As saints our attitude towards giving is that we give for Jesus Christ’s sake, and from no other motive. God holds us responsible for the way we use this power of voluntary choice.”
For the spiritual man, there is no other motive in giving than to please God. This is using your resources correctly because it reflects your devotion to God and your commitment to eternal values. Fix your eyes on the goal beyond. To walk in “giving” is to walk in the Spirit.
In addition, the mind of Christ gives you a heart for reconciling lost people to God. Jesus’ mission was to reconcile hostile sinners to God. This was Jesus’ passion and vocation, to seek and save the lost. He commissioned His disciples to do the same. The command to “Go!” is an imperative from our Lord. This is an impossible task for faithless, self-centered, stubborn men.
In the Bible, the Jews believed that God loved them, but in their self-centeredness they did not believe that God loved the rest of the world as much. They were the chosen people, and others were “Gentile dogs.” Their religion was centered on themselves.
Likewise, the Pharisees would not accept Jesus because they expected a different kind of Messiah. Their smug, self-satisfied religion developed a narrow-minded understanding of redemption. Thus, they could not discern who Jesus was and missed the greatest movement of God in all time.
In the Scriptures, unbelievers are not told to go to church; we are told to go to them with the gospel. Indifference and self-centered religion will prevent you, too, from obeying Jesus’ command to go. The fields are white and ready for reaping, but where are the laborers who are willing to go into the fields?
We are called to take the light of the truth of God’s word to the poor, lonely, hurting, needy, and desperate. Whatever their situation, they need the salvation that only God can give-forgiveness of sin and the impartation of God’s life and power.
In the seventh chapter of John, Jesus used a flowing river to illustrate the movement of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (v. 38). Jesus was talking about the Spirit, “whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (v. 39). As water satisfies your thirst and produces fruitfulness, so the Holy Spirit will satisfy your desires and enable you to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Can you envision a Christian who does not strive for his own self-interest? Who does not ask, “What’s in it for me?” Who is not a slave to appearances? Who does not think he deserves better? Who does not answer the call of God with conditions? If you find a person like that, without question that’s the sort of person God would use and empower, and through him would flow streams of living water.
In Philippians, Paul told of his experience: “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!” (3:8-11 nlt).
Paul lost his religion and his reputation, but he gained an inward river that flowed outward in resurrection power.
Perhaps the best picture of how the river of the Holy Spirit flows is found in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye labouring and burdened ones, and I will give you rest, take up my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and humble in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Young’s Literal Translation). The life that Jesus brings is full of rest, easy yokes, and light burdens. But the life that we so often live is exhausting, difficult, and burdensome. We strive to make something happen, feeling as if everything depends on us. We strive and strive, and fail and fail.
Note the two lessons you must learn if the “river of life” will flow: meekness and humility. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). What is humility? Is it not being pushy? Is it being a doormat, letting people walk all over you? NO! It’s when you come to the place that you see that God is everything and the creature is nothing. The meek know who they are and have nothing to prove. There is no pretence. When you are meek and humble, you know who you are and why you are here and are totally dependent on God. You are personally secure in God and have an inner joy and peace.
The meek and humble man is not deceived about himself. He sees his own weakness, failure, and sin. But he also knows who he is in Christ. He is loved, accepted, and forgiven. He has nothing to prove. The Bible says “you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord'” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).
The spiritual man has a motto: “In himself, nothing. In God, everything.” The world may overlook the humble man and place others ahead of him. But long ago he died to status, approval, and opinions. He no longer worries about what people think, as long as God is satisfied.
Leanne Payne writes in Restoring the Christian Soul: “To walk in the Spirit is to cease striving in our own strength and goodness, and to walk in His. It is to celebrate our smallness, our inadequacy apart from Him. It is to admit that He alone is our righteousness. We cannot keep the law. Another, the Holy Other, must do it for us. To walk in the Spirit is to live in the present moment, always looking to Christ, always practicing His Presence, always moving in tandem with Him.”
The mind of Christ is a humble attitude, an obedient servant’s heart, and total dependence on God-“without Him I can do nothing!” Compassion, giving, and reconciliation flow out of the relationship with God and man, and your new priorities cause you to think and act like Jesus. This “mind of Christ” enables you to experience divine guidance, and empowers you to do the will of God. You embrace your calling to be Jesus to your world. You rest in Him as grace floods your soul and you learn to share His yoke. This is what it means to walk in the Spirit.