So, how do we walk affirmatively with the Lord?

Having established that the grace Christian lives under the new paradigm of pure grace, and that the believer is not under the Law, we are free to learn to walk in accord with the indwelling grace that we have by sense of Christ within us, as our life. Walking with Christ, we grow from “children of God” (Rom 8:16) to become the grown up “sons of God” (Rom 8:14).

Most often in my life I find that the Lord rarely tells me what He does want me to do, rather, most often, He only lets me know what He does “not” want me to do. I know His innermost restraint by the sense of His indwelling life. But then how do I know “what I am to do.”

We are to walk with the Lord somewhat in the way we formerly functioned as a sinner… quite naturally, spontaneously, and automatically. We as believers have a new nature. 2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Our affirmative doing now is to be our natural inclination - spontaneous. We have His life working within us automatically bearing His nature. Unless and until we hear Him intervene to say “NO,” we are free to walk in accord with our spontaneous new nature, as we feel free to walk. We are to walk automatically and unconsciously in the Lord.

I can best describe this way of walking in liberty until we hear His “No!” in this way?

Let me ask you; are you aware of your physical body when you are well physically? Of course not. You are only aware of your physical body when you are not well – you sense an inward bodily pain, as a “No!” from your body. You are aware when your leg, or arm, or foot hurts, but when you are well you are not aware of your body. And so it is when we walk in accord with the Lord.

The question then becomes, will we trust Him within to lead us by His indwelling life; will we trust Him to make us aware of His inner restraint when it is necessary? As Paul spoke; Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Being His children we bear His life; He trusts His life in us, shouldn’t we also trust Him in us. Do you believe Philippians 2:13?

Philippians 2:13 it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Some have a fear of letting go to follow Christ in their Spirit. To this I say; if we do not walk according to the indwelling spirit, then we walk alone – doing our own religious thing; even if a “good work” it is dead works in the sight of the Lord. Scripture tells us “our self-works are as filthy rags.” So, living by outer laws only lead to dead works because they are disconnected or separate from Christ’s doing – we are living remotely from Christ.

What if we fail? We must also see that failing is not a loss and our failures do not invalidate our relationship with the Lord. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus  We now, in fact, have Him as our life whether we succeed or fail in our doings from day to day. Allegorically, my own physical children are mine by my life which is irrevocably in them, be they good or bad.

We do have His life in this earthen vessel (2Cor 4:7). So yes, at times we, “as” a so-called independent self, leave who we really are in Christ seeking to have our way. We at times turn away from our Father’s life in Christ that is in our spirit, but we are still a child of our Father by His life in us, whether abiding with Him or apart from Him; just as the prodigal son left his father, while still possessing his father’s life in his veins. Christ’s life in and one with our spirit is irrevocably our only life (Gal 2:20). At times, what we may “do” has nothing to do with who we are, since we may live beneath our true status in Him – we are a work in progress so far as the renewing of our soul. Our inner man, our soul, is being “renewed day by day” (2Cor 4:16).

Sometimes we choose to disobey and violate what we know (James 4:17) by His spirit of life; nevertheless we remain still His children, by our new birth – being born in spirit of the Father’s spiritual loins.  Yet, our eternal salvation is always secure in Him because of what “He did” at the cross for us.

My being birthed never physically was dependent upon anything I did. It was the result of the procreative work of my earthly father, Joe Licursi, and likewise my heavenly Father brought me to be who I am entirely by His work. All I did was receive Christ (John 1:12), the Father’s seed (sperma, 1Pet 1:23, Gal 3:16) to be born anew within.

When we turn away to disobey Him, we should ultimately come to learn that we are free also to return to abide our soul in Him who is our life (John 15:1-4), just as the prodigal ultimately “came to himself” and returned to his father. Our Father’s life in Christ is now in our spirit and that is where we return (John 14:23, Rom. 8:9a). We ultimately return to who we are at our core – birthed sons of God; in our spirit we enjoy Him as the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2) as our life (Gal 2:20). At our rebirth His indwelling Spirit swallowed up our human spirit, such that we are now “one spirit” (1Cor 6:17), which Paul very often refers to as “my spirit” (Rom. 1:9) and “the spirit” (Gal 5:16). This then is the one eternally mingled spirit.

Imagine, Christ Himself dwelling within us, now living through us as the new us!