Since learning to live by the power of the Holy Spirit instead of being in bondage to the control of our flesh and sinful nature is so important as we stand for the restoration of our marriages, it’s necessary to recognize when we’re being controlled by our flesh and sinful nature so we can overcome those natural tendencies and live and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. And since it’s not possible to consistently live in the power of the Holy Spirit without first understanding who He is, I strongly encourage everyone to watch the messages below from Dr. Charles Stanley, which come from a series of messages entitled Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 identifies the fruit of the Spirit as follows: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. So when we experience contrary emotions, or act in a contrary manner, we’re obviously NOT living in the power of the Holy Spirit, which means we are being controlled by our flesh and sinful nature. And Matthew 22:36-40 says: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Based on that, when we walk and live in the power of the Holy Spirit, our thoughts and actions are God centered and more focused on meeting the needs of others than gratifying our own self-centered needs and desires. And one of the simplest measures for whether or not we’re living according to our flesh or walking and living through the power of the Holy Spirit is found in Romans 14:17, which says For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, So any time we struggle with righteousness, peace or joy, that’s a pretty good indication that we’re not operating in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And Since God IS love, we have to learn to love accordingly, especially since 1 John 4:8 says Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. That makes 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 one of the toughest standards by which to judge whether or not we’re living in the power of the Holy Spirit, because it says Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Ouch! If we’re honest, we ALL have to acknowledge that we usually fall far short of this standard, but it gives us something to strive for as we focus more on living and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and overcoming the control of our flesh and sin nature. And 2 Timothy 1:7 (NJKV) tells us For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So that tells us that when we are overcome with fear, doubt, dread, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, a judgmental spirit, and other negative and destructive emotions, they’re born of our flesh and not the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Even though the battle between our flesh and sin nature and the power of the Holy Spirit for control in our lives is a matter of ongoing spiritual warfare, Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us how to be victorious in this battle. And 2 Corinthians 10:5 says We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And that’s the ONLY way we’ll ever overcome the bondage and control of our flesh and surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, especially as we stand for the restoration of our marriages. And it’s not possible to do that without reading, studying and understanding what the Bible teaches. So the following verses are just a few that make the importance of walking and living in the power of the Holy Spirit as we stand for our marriages abundantly clear, as well as the blessings and power received when we do so:

John 3:6
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

Philippians 3:3
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

Isaiah 57:15
For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Ezekiel 37:14
I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ “

John 14:16-18
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Romans 8:3-5
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Romans 8:9
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Romans 8:12-14
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Galatians 5:16-17 (NKJV)
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Galatians 5:24-26
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Ephesians 2:1-5
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:22
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:14
Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Hebrews 12:9
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

1 John 3:24
Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 4:12-13
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

These messages, The Promise of The Father, from December 04, 2005, and The Mission of the Spirit, from December 11, 2005, from Charles Stanley explain the need we have for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians, which is vitally important as we strive to overcome the control of our flesh as we stand for the restoration of our marriages. Once we truly understand the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, and that we have unrestricted access to it, we will most certainly be blessed and encouraged!

Posted Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 9:32 pm in Seeds Of Faith.