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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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How To Walk After the Spirit

That brings me to this question: How do I walk after the

Spirit? Paul wouldn’t make the statement he did in

Romans 8:1 without going on to tell me how to leave

behind the walk of the flesh and begin to walk after the

Spirit.

In the verses that follow, Paul differentiates between

the walk in the Spirit and a walk in the flesh. Notice in

verse 13, he says,For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall

die:[Don’t you wish Paul wasn’t so plain about it?] but if

ye THROUGH THE SPIRIT do mortify the deeds of the

body, ye shall live.

So now Paul is telling me that to walk after the Spirit, I

must somehow mortify, or put to death, the deeds of the

body through the power of my reborn spirit as it is

edified and built up by the Holy Spirit. This is starting

to sound like Romans 12:1. There it tells me to offer my

body as a living sacrifice. But back in Romans 8:13, it

tells me that I can’t do it through willpower, the energy

of the flesh; it has to be through the Spirit.

We’re going to talk more about mortifying the deeds of

the flesh later. For now, the question remains: How do I

release the Holy Spirit to edify and build up my reborn

human spirit to mortify the deeds of the flesh and offer

my body as a living sacrifice so I can find God’s perfect

will for my life?

The Holy Spirit Helps Our Infirmities

Through Prayer

To find the answer to that question, skip down to verse

26. Paul is still dividing between a walk of the Spirit and

a walk in the flesh. But now he’s going to tell us how to

offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we

know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the

Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings

which cannot be uttered.

Paul begins with the word, “likewise.” In other words,

he is saying, “In this manner” or“This is how the Holy

Spirit helps our infirmities, or our weaknesses.”The

word infirmities”refers to our inability to produce

results because of the limitations imposed on us by our

flesh.So the Holy Spirit was sent to help us in our

inability to produce results in our own strength.

Let me break down the meaning of this verse a little

further. Suppose a damnable disease brings normal life

to a standstill. I can’t get the disease out of my body,

and it’s in the process of killing me. That, my friend, is

an infirmity.

Or suppose poverty tracks me down and cancels out

anything I’m doing for the Kingdom of God. It brings my

forward progress to a standstill, and there doesn’t seem

to be anything I can do about it. That, too, is an

infirmity.

But, thank God, the Bible promises that “likewise the

Spirit helpeth mine infirmities” my inability to produce

results because of the limitations imposed on me by the

flesh!

What is your infirmity, your weakness? Is it anger? No

love for people? Do you scream at your wife at home?

Whatever it is, the Holy Spirit has been sent to help

your weaknesses. He’s going to show you how to mortify

the deeds of the flesh.

The Holy Ghost knows how ignorant we are. He knows

we don’t know how to pray as we ought. He knows we

really need to have our soul bypassed when it is being

whipped by the devil. So, thank God, He bypasses our

soul and the fight the devil wages with it. And He brings

an entire language of edification with Him a language

so articulate that it makes the English language we

speak look like we are playing with linguistic Tinker

Toys!

When we pray even just one sentence in tongues, it is

for edification, because God is the origin of it. The Holy

Ghost can express with one paragraph what would take

us all afternoon to say!

It is an awesome language, and the Holy Spirit uses it to

express not only the mystery of what Christ is in us, but

the call of God that we cannot fulfill in our own

strength. He steps in with groanings that cannot be

uttered and makes intercession for us according to the

will of God.

So enter into the closet and say, “Take over, Holy Ghost.

My soul has been sabotaging me lately, but I don’t mind

spending a day with You!”

The Mind of the Spirit

Now look at verse 27 to see what the Holy Spirit is doing

to help us in our infirmities:

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the

mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for

the saints according to the will of God.

Notice it says that the Holy Spirit searches the hearts,

plural. That means the Holy Spirit has the power to

search the hearts of the entire Body of Christ and

represent each person before the Father’s throne, all at

the same time. This ability is what makes Him God.

As the Holy Spirit goes into my heart to search it, He

already knows something very important: the mind of

the Spirit. That’s why He can make intercession

according to the will of God as He searches my heart.

For a long time, I searched out that scripture, asking

God, “What does it mean when it says, ‘the Holy Spirit

knows the mind of the Spirit’?” I would pack a pile of

Greek books in my suitcase and take them on the road

with me, searching the Scriptures to find out what the

mind of the Spirit is. But I couldn’t seem to find the

answer.

Then one day the Lord spoke the revelation to my

spirit. I had been praying in tongues all day long, and at

the end of the day, He whispered to me the answer to

the mystery, taking me back to Romans 8.

In Romans 8:20-21, Paul says that all creation was

subjected to corruption (at the fall of man) in hope of

being delivered from bondage to freedom. Paul went on

to say that we who have been born again and filled with

the Holy Ghost also groan in our spirits, longing for the

glorification of our bodies and of the Church (v. 23).

Paul is talking about God’s plan for mankind in these

verses — a plan that spans the approximately seven

thousand years of man’s existence on this earth

(including the millennium). This is the context in which

he talks about the mind of the Spirit in verse 27.

But why is the term “mind of the Spirit” used? Well,

God has something different in His mind for each

generation born. God’s plan of redemption spans seven

thousand years, but He who searches the hearts knows

what God’s mind is for your generation, for your

church, and for your life within that great plan. He

knows what God called and predestined you to do

before the foundation of the world. That is what

enables the Holy Spirit to be your Representative, your

Champion, as He makes intercession for you according

to the will of God.

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until next time

AMBASSADOR / SERVANT

Larry