Sunday Recap: The Spirit-Led Life

Andi’s message from this past Sunday was on The Spirit-Led Life, based on the book of Galatians. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul urges the people to live by the Spirit rather than to live by the Law. He spoke of how living by the Law results in rules and regulations, which are of the flesh, whereas living in the Spirit is where freedom is found.

“For every single one of us, there is a WAR going on between your Spirit and your flesh…it is a constant practice to live a Spirit-Led life because if you are not conscience of it, the flesh easily takes over. But we have to remember: we are Spirit beings encased in flesh.” - Andi

Andi went on to describe the two ways we can live a Spirit-Led life - ways that are simple yet can be difficult to actually practice - allow margin in your life and kill excuses.

These are things that require discipline and practice on our part, especially living here in New York. We’re constantly in a cycle of sleeping-in as late as possible, spending all day at work, fitting time in with friends, and by the time we get home our free time is spent on the computer or in front of the TV.

“So often we leave our leftovers for God, if any…” - Andi

Andi suggested writing down these excuses that keep us from spending time with God, then crossing a line through them and writing solutions to them. When we begin to allow margin and stop making excuses, we might be surprised at what the Spirit begins to do in our lives!

Finally, Andi highlighted three of the many things that can happen when you begin leading a Spirit-Led life.

1) When you live the Spirit-Led life…you don’t live to please the crowd.

This one ties in to Paul’s message on the Authentic Life. Galatians 1:10 says, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

“What things do we do today in the name of Christianity to be in the ‘in crowd?’ Because if you have faith in Christ, you’re automatically in the ‘in crowd.'” - Andi

The Spirit-Led life is all about freedom - we are no longer bound by what others’ say or think of us, rather we are focused on the audience of one…God.

2) When you live the Spirit-Led life…you will produce the fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22-25

Andi used the illustration of organic versus greenhouse-raised fruit. Sometimes we’ll bite into the juiciest, most delicious-looking of strawberries, only to find them white and flavorless on the inside. But an organically-grown strawberry - one that grew slowly, was fertilized, and had just the perfect amount of sunlight and darkness throughout the process - that’s what real fruit is made of.

“I don’t want to be a flash-ripened greenhouse strawberry…I want to be an organic, real-deal strawberry.” - Andi

3) When you live the Spirit-Led life…you will live knowing you are a Child of God.

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28

When you walk in the freedom of a Spirit-Led life, there’s no question of who you belong to. No matter what our earthly view of a father might look like, there is nothing that can separate us from God’s unconditional love.