Transformation from the flow of the spirit into the soul (mind) changes us from a soulish believer to a spiritual believer but does not guarantee that we will never again walk according to the flesh.
On the contrary, an ever-present danger exists of falling back into it. Satan is constantly alert to seize every opportunity to cause the believer to fall from their lofty position in a walk in the spirit to a life of soulish gratification.
It is therefore highly necessary for God’s children to always be watchful and to follow the Spirit so that they may remain spiritual.
“In order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Now those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:4–6). Following the spirit is to walk contrary to the flesh. Not following the spirit is walking by the flesh.
Many Christians waver between these two: following the spirit and then following the flesh. Remember that the flesh is that union of the soul and body acting independently of the Holy Spirit.
They ought to walk according to the inner man (spirit) only, which is, to walk according to the spirit’s intuition and other senses of the spirit and not for a moment according to the soul or body.
In following the spirit, we must “set our minds on the things of the spirit.” And the result shall be “life and peace.”
To live by the spirit means to walk according to intuition and the other senses of our spirit.
It is to have all one’s life, service, and action in the spirit, ever being governed and empowered by it. This preserves the saint in life and peace.
Since we cannot remain in a spiritual condition unless we walk according to the spirit, then we must understand its various functions and laws if we are to walk in the spirit.
To live after the spirit is the Christian’s daily choice. We ought to perceive that we can live neither by the noblest of feelings nor by the loftiest of thoughts that originate in our soul, only when those thoughts and feeling are the flowing of God’s life into our soul from our spirit.
We must walk according to the guidance to our spirits senses, mainly the intuition.
The Holy Spirit expresses His feelings through our spirit’s senses. He does not operate directly on our minds, but through the flow of the spirit into our mind as spontaneous thoughts, and into our emotions, so that we are feeling what God is feeling.
All God’s works are done in our innermost depths (spirit). If we desire to know God’s mind, we should conduct ourselves in accordance with the intuition of our spirit and its other senses.
The senses of our spirit are first love, fear of God, intuition, revelation, worship, hope, faith, reverence and prayer, which is two conversations with God.
At times, we may sense something in our spirit, that our mind does not comprehend what it means, what it is communicating, then we must just trust in the Lord, that he is working in our spirit, and we will experience the results later.
Whenever this happens, we must commit ourselves to prayer, asking that our mind may be given understanding.
Once we apprehend the meaning of what we have sensed in our spirit, we afterwards should behave accordingly.
The mind can instantly be enlightened and made to understand the senses or functions of our spirit; but thoughts which originate with the mind and not the flow of the Spirit should not be followed.
The thoughts in our mind come from our brain, or from God or the enemy. This is why we must take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ.
The enemy’s thoughts are somewhat easy to discern because there is no fruit of the Spirit in them.
Walking by the spirit requires dependance upon God’s ability and faith. All good actions of the flesh exhibit an attitude of independence towards God.
The very nature of the soul is independence.
Should believers act in accordance with their thought, feeling and desire of the soul, they have no need to spend time before God, to wait for His guidance.
Those who follow “the desires of body and mind” (Eph. 2:3) need not rely upon God.
Except Christians realize how useless, how undependable, and how utterly weak they are in their soul; in seeking to know the will of God, they shall never cultivate a heart of reliance upon Him.
To receive God’s guidance in their spirit they must wait upon Him soon or immediately after they sense something in their spirit, they must cease from taking just their feeling or thought as a guide.
Let us remember that whatever we do without trusting, seeking, and waiting upon God will be done in the flesh.
With fear and trembling we must rely upon God for guidance in the inner depths (spirit). This is the only way to walk according to the spirit.
To walk in the spirit requires the faith of God. The opposite of physical sight and feeling is faith.
Now it is the soulish person who gains assurance by grasping the things which can be seen and felt; but the person who follows the spirit lives by faith, not by sight.
The believers will not be troubled by the lack of human assistance, nor will they be moved by human opposition.
They trust God even in utter darkness because they have the faith of God imparted to their spirit.
Because they do not depend upon themselves, they can trust the Holy Spirit to strengthen their spirit, and do not rely on human power (the power of soul independent of God).
Walking after the spirit involves both the revelation of God to our spirit and the outworking of it through the Lord’s strength in our spirit.
Frequently believers ask God for spiritual power to do a work which has not been revealed to their spirit, and the faith of God has not yet been imparted to their spirit.
So, they seek to do it themselves, without the leading of the Holy Spirit and do it in the flesh. But what is born of the flesh is flesh.
On the other hand, believers frequently know the will of God through revelation and the intuition of their spirit but use their own strength to perform it. This likewise is impossible, for how can they begin with the Holy Spirit and end up doing it through human works, which is legalism?
Those who follow the Lord must be brought to a place of no confidence in the flesh. They must confess they can originate no good ideas and must admit they are powerless to fulfill the Holy Spirit’s work.
All thought, cleverness, knowledge, talent and human gifts, which the world worships: must be set aside in order to enable one to trust the Lord wholly.
The Lord’s people should persistently acknowledge their own unworthiness and incompetence in the flesh.
They dare not initiate anything before receiving God’s mandate nor attempt to execute God’s command in self-reliance.
To live by the spirit, we must move in accordance with the senses of the spirit and depend on the Holy Spirits enabling us to accomplish the revealed mandate or commission.
We begin to follow the senses of our spirit instead of just thoughts, opinions, feeling or the tendency of our soul; and rely on the Spirit’s power and not on our human talent, strength or ability.
The moment we cease to follow our spiritual senses at that very moment we begin to walk after the flesh and end up minding the things of the flesh. This in turn ministers’ death instead of life, because we are not under the law, but grace. Only if we “walk not according to the flesh” can we walk “according to the spirit.”
Our aim is to be a spiritual man or woman.
The angels are spirits; they have neither a physical body nor soul.
But the new creation possesses both. We are to be spiritual men and women.
The spiritual man or woman shall continue to retain their transformed soul and glorified body; otherwise, they would be reduced to being just a spirit.
Now, what is meant by being a spiritual man or woman is that they are under the control of their spirit which has become the highest part of their whole person.
A spiritual man or woman keeps their soul and body; being spiritual does not annihilate our soul and body nor their respective functions, because these make the new creation what God has intended.
So, although the spiritual man or woman does not live by the soul or body, they will always be a three part being.
Their soul and body will be renewed through death and resurrection so that they are perfectly united to the spirit, becoming a whole person and the soul and body will become instruments for the spirits expression.
The emotions of a spiritual man or woman become God’s emotions. The soul no longer blocks their spirit nor resist its movement because it does not insist upon its own affection and feeling.
The emotion now rejoices solely in what the spirit likes, loves only what the spirit directs, feels merely what the spirit permits. The spirit has become their life: when the spirit moves, emotion responds.
The mind of the spiritual man or woman becomes the mind of Christ.
The mind cooperates fully with the spirit in advancing on the spiritual journey.
If the spirit unfolds any revelation the mind discerns its meaning. It will assist the spirit to maintain its proper place.
If the Holy Spirit desires to teach any truth, the mind will help the spirit to understand. The spirit has the authority to stop the mind’s thinking as well as to initiate it.
The spiritual man or woman also retains their will, yet it is no longer independent of God but now decides according to the dictate of the spirit, having abandoned self as its center.
The will does not insist upon its desire as before. It becomes fit to obey God.
When the spirit receives revelation and apprehends God’s desire, the will decides to follow. It stands at the spirit’s door like a messenger, awaiting its every command.
The body of a spiritual man or woman is subjected to the spirit as well.
Because the body has been cleansed by the blood and has had its passions and lusts dealt with by the cross, it can serve today as an obedient servant to the spirit’s order as that order is communicated to the body from the spirit through the soul.
No longer does the body entice the soul into many sins by its passions and lusts as it formerly did.
Instead, the body now answers swiftly all the spirit’s directions. The spirit through the renewed will has complete authority over the body.
Gone are the days when the body pressured a weak inner spirit. The spirit of a spiritual man or woman has grown strong, and the body is under its power.
The Apostle Paul has described the condition of a spiritual man or woman in 1 Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 5: 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
The spiritual man or woman have God dwelling in their spirit, sanctifying them totally. The spirit’s life floods their entire person so that their soul and body live by the spirit’s life and function in the spirit’s strength.
They do not live by soul life. Their every thought, imagination, feeling, idea, affection, desire and opinion is renewed and purified by the Spirit and has been brought into subjection to their spirit. These no longer operate independently.
They still possess a body, for they are not a disembodied spirit; yet physical weariness, pain, and need do not propel the spirit to fall from its ascended position. Every member of the body has become an instrument of righteousness.