Question: Can we stop doing what we don’t want to do?
Answer: Yes, if we learn to rely on the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 8:4, Paul introduced his readers to the concept of living “according to the Spirit” in contrast to living “according to the sinful nature.” This is an important concept to understand. Let’s look now at what Paul meant by living “according to the Spirit.” And then we’ll look at how we can do this.

 

We need to focus on what the Spirit desires. This is what it means to live “according to the Spirit.” It is to be “in step” with the Spirit —to follow His lead and remain under His control. If you are a believer, He is already in you for the purpose of leading and lovingly controlling you. Paul wrote:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace…. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (8:5-9).

Many who belong to Christ have a lifestyle that does not appear to be very much under the control of the Holy Spirit.

According to Paul, then, every person is either under the control of the Spirit or under the control of the old nature—either on the road that leads to life and peace or on the road that leads to death. Walking in step with the Spirit, therefore, is living with Him as the controller of our lives.

Now, this raises a problem. Many who belong to Christ have a lifestyle that does not appear to be very much under the control of the Holy Spirit. At times this is true of all of us. But if we truly received Jesus as our Savior, we did acknowledge Him as our Master, and our bodies became temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). And we are glad that we have been delivered from the tyranny of sin and death. However, we are having problems with ourselves. Some of our old ways still keep us from being what we know we ought to be.

So how do we live under the Spirit’s control? How do we stop doing what we don’t want to do?

 

We need to consciously yield to the Spirit. Paul addressed this issue many times in his letters. Again and again he stressed the matter of fully yielding ourselves to God. He did so in the 6th chapter of this letter to the believers in Rome. He said we are to consciously look upon ourselves as dead to our old way of life and offer every part of our lives to God (6:11-14). He said we must remember that we are under new management—that we were once “slaves to sin” but have been set free and are now “slaves to God” (6:15-23).

When Paul told the Ephesians not to get drunk with wine, but to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18), he was repeating this same theme: Yield to the Holy Spirit; consciously and continually give Him control of every area of life. As we do this, the fruit of the Spirit will become evident. Our lives will be marked by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control” (Gal. 5:22).

In fact, the more we grow in likeness to Jesus, the more conscious we will become of our many continuing imperfections.

We will never in this life reach the place where we will be perfectly satisfied with ourselves. In fact, the more we grow in likeness to Jesus, the more conscious we will become of our many continuing imperfections. But our imperfect way will end in victory. Our bodies, these weak tents that are so often the vehicles of failure, will one day be replaced by glorified bodies completely under the Spirit’s control. Paul wrote this:

If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you (8:10-11).

Living in step with the Spirit is walking on the path to life and peace— temporarily on earth, forever in heaven.