Led by the Spirit - by Dennis Kiszonas

 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:18
 With this simple statement the Apostle Paul taught one of the most important principles for living the new life in Christ. Transformation, a changed life, begins here with the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. We are changed by a person who has come to live in us permanently.

 Receiving the Holy Spirit

 Since the Holy Spirit is a "spirit," He cannot be felt, seen, touched. He is spiritual and not able to be sensed by physical senses.
 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.  John 3:8
 We can see & hear the effects of the wind, but we cannot see the wind itself. So with the Holy Spirit, we can see His effects, but we are not capable of directly sensing Him. For this reason there are many unscriptural ideas about the Holy Spirit. We must walk by faith here and believe what the scriptures teach about the Holy Spirit, rather than trying to actually see or feel his presence.
 Paul writes to the Galatians that all believers are led by the Spirit. He came to live in us at the moment that we put faith in the Lord Jesus as our Savior:
 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Galatians 3:2
 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Galatians 4:6  We received the Spirit by the ''hearing of faith" ---that is, when we believed the gospel, we received the Holy Spirit into our lives. When we became sons of God, He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. In the dispensation of grace that we read about in Paul's epistles, there is no believer who does not have the Holy Spirit. And we don't have to wait to receive Him, He comes into our hearts as soon as we believe the gospel.

                                      The Spirit's Leading

 When the Holy Spirit entered in, He came to ''lead'' us. We often hear people saying things like, "The Spirit led me to do something," or "God led me to go somewhere." But this is not the idea that Paul is writing about in Galatians 5:18 because these experiences are just occasional, sporadic events in the believer's life, but the leading of the Holy Spirit is a constant experience. The Holy Spirit doesn't lead us only in rare occasions, but at all times.
 It is helpful to put two verses side by side to see the point that Paul is making here:
 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:18
 .......for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14
 Both verses state that we are "not under law." One says, in contrast to being under law, that we are "led by the Spirit." The other that, in contrast to being under law, that we are "under grace." To be under grace is to be led by the Spirit, and to be led by the Spirit is to be under grace. Not passing, occasional experiences, but comprehensive descriptions of the Christian life today in the dispensation of grace.
 We are not under law---not under a system in which blessings are earned by obedience and curses received for disobedience (this was God's plan for the nation of Israel, see Deuteronomy 28 for a full exposition of the operation of ''law.'') We do not earn our blessings a little at a time by obeying God because under grace we were blessed totally, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, when we believed the gospel (Ephesians 1:3). And as for curses, the Lord Jesus became a curse for us on the cross (Galatians 3:13). There is no curse for us today.
 Under grace we are completely released from the system of earning blessings or fearing curses, we are "loved." Instead of a system of law, we are given the Holy Spirit who leads us under grace. We do not always follow Him, but He is leading us every moment under grace.

Walking by the Spirit

 The Holy Spirit came to live in us when we believed, and He came to lead us in our life for the Lord, not to drag us or force us--Paul writes to the Galatians:
 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (slavery). Galatians 5:1
 The leading of the Holy Spirit is not a leading that drags us on the end of a chain, it is freedom and not bondage.
 On the other hand, His leading is not "carrying us" or ''bearing us." He leads us, but we need to follow Him, or as Paul writes to "walk by the Spirit" since we are now ''living by the Spirit." Though the Spirit is leading, He is not living the life in us all by Himself. As Paul wrote to the Philippians:
 Work out (note carefully: not work for) your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13
 He is at work in us to will and to perform, but we are the one who must work out what He is working in. How do we do that? Paul wrote to the Galatians:
 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Galatians 3:2-3
 They received the Spirit by hearing the message of grace, the message of the cross, with faith, that's how they "began in the Spirit." Now Paul says, continue as you began. We go on believing in the message of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), we go on focusing on the cross. We are motivated under grace not by the offer of blessings---we have already been totally blessed, and not by the fear of cursings---He became a curse for us, but we are motivated by gratitude, by thanksgiving for what the Lord did for us on the cross.
 The first ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives revealed to us in Paul's letters is found in Romans 5:5-6:
 ... the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
 The Holy Spirit comes into the believer's heart under grace with the primary ministry of pouring out the love of God in our hearts, that's His love for us demonstrated at the cross where the Lord Jesus died for us. And as we focus on that love, Paul describes the proper response:
 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
 Paul's heart had been gripped by the love of Christ for Him, that 'He loved me and gave Himself for me!' (Galatians 2:20). This love compelled Paul, it gripped his heart and life so that from now on he would no longer live for himself but for the Lord who died and rose for him.
 The life led by the Spirit is a life motivated not by fear or the desire to add more blessing, but by love and gratitude. What more could the Lord have done for us? If the cross does not grip our hearts, what will?
 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17
 Whatever you do, Paul writes, let it all be done as a prayer of thanksgiving. Everything in life done to say 'Thank you, Lord' for dying for me.

 The Spirit and All-Sufficient Grace

 In a number of places in his letters Paul writes of the amazing power of God at work in his life. He wrote to the Philippians:
 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.
 And to the Corinthians, he wrote about the time he prayed for relief from a problem and received an unexpected answer:
 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. " Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9.
 This grace that is sufficient for every situation in life is nothing less, no one less, than the Spirit Himself. He points us constantly back to the cross and to the resurrection of the Lord.
 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,' and the life which I now live in the flesh I live  by faith in the Son if God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
 Here is God's provision for us to be "led by the Spirit" and living in "newness of life."

How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

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