Walk, Part 4

 Walk- 4

August 21, 2025

Galatians 5:16-18 (NASB95) 

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spiritagainst the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

Galatians 5:22-25 (NASB95) 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things thereis no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Watchman Nee points out in Sit, Walk, Stand, that the root of our problem in walking with the Lord goes back to the garden of Eden and the two trees in the center of the garden. When Adam and Eve chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, mankind forever after that has had a desire to choose for itself what is right and what is wrong. This leads to making laws and expecting others to keep them, even when we can’t keep them ourselves. This is legalism. When Christ died on the cross, he became to us the Tree of Life. Now, instead of trying to decide what is right and then striving to do it, we need to enter into the life of Christ and let His life live through us. 

Galatians states this as walking in the Spirit and yielding the fruit of the Spirit. An apple tree doesn’t say to itself, “Today I will try to be an orange tree and strive to produce oranges.”  No, by its nature it is an apple tree, and when the branches remain attached to the root in good soil, and there is sufficient light and water, the branches naturally yield apples. That is the way with us and Christ as our tree of life. When we are grafted into Him and remain attached to Him, we naturally yield the fruit of the Spirit. When we try to decide right and wrong and strive to do the right thing in our own power, we are reverting to tree of good and evil thinking and that only yields rotten fruit. So walk in the Spirit that you remain in Him, abide in him, and you will yield good fruit.