Many Christians walk by their senses rather than by their spirits. As a result, they are running into a multitude of problems which will lead them down the road to defeat.
Although people may be saved and even filled with the Holy Spirit, they are not attaining and living the overcoming, victorious life. So what's the reason? It is simply because they have not made the change from the realm of the senses to the realm of the Spirit.
The only way to make that change is with a renewed mind. A mind (spirit) that is renewed with the Word of God is always at war with the un-renewed mind, always in conflict, always engaged in a battle with unbelief. Unbelief is simply the conflict between the spirit of a man and the senses of a man. Your senses will always demand tangible, visible evidence concerning the reality of the things of God. In contrast, the man who walks by the spirit is always governed by the Word of God, independent of the senses.
It is easy to see why many Christians are falling prey to the same kinds of things that have brought non-Christians to the road of defeat. Rampant fornication, adultery, lying, maliciousness, drug abuse, and other forms of ungodly behavior result when people allow themselves to be led by their senses, by their flesh. If the Word of God were ruling you, how could you sleep with another person's spouse? How could you use your body for prostitution? How could a spirit-ruled man or woman ravage his or her body-the temple of God-with drugs, cigarettes, alcohol? And how could a spirit-ruled person live a lifestyle of lying and mistreating others. A truly spirit-led person could not continually behave in these ungodly manners.
The sense-ruled person is unstable, always unsure of what he has. He constantly asks for wisdom, even though 1 Corinthians 1:30 should assure him that he already has wisdom inside of him through Christ.
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
There is so much uncertainty in the minds of many Christians as to whether God will do what He says. They read the Bible, yet they do not believe it. They do not have faith in the Man who wrote it. It is not possible to really serve a God you don't really believe in. So they end up being moved by every situation that comes along. However, they feel that is how they respond, because they have no faith in God's Word. And, going to church, in reality, is just a habit.
1 Kings 18:21-22: And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men."
The people were vacillating back and forth-sometimes following Baal and sometimes following God. They were inconsistent. Falter means "limp." Elijah was asking the people, "How long are you going to limp between two opinions? If God is God, then act like it! Serve Him and be done with it. If He is not God, forget Him and go ahead and serve Baal."
This scripture is a perfect example of how many contemporary Christians behave. They do not know whether the Word of God is true or not. On Sunday mornings, many are hot to trot. On Wednesday, the same people act like they don't even know how to spell "Christ." This person feels fine as long as he is in church, the choir is singing and the pastor is ministering the Word of God. However, when he leaves the church environment and goes back to his job, where his co-workers are blowing cigarette smoke all over him, cursing all day long and running around with each other's wife, then he goes back into the dumps. He doesn't know whether God is really real or not. He wants to believe that God is, but He is not sure, because his senses keep telling him, "I don't know." The spirit-led Christian is constant all the time. If you want to be blessed and live the overcoming life, you have to believe God's Word and then act on what you believe.
Dr. Frederick K.C. Price is the founder and pastor of Crenshaw Christian Center West in Los Angeles and CCC East in Manhattan. To obtain more information about his ministry, please call (800) 927-3436 or visit www.faithdome.org.
