Gary Hall
I was raised as a Roman Catholic and intended to become a priest after I left school, but the Lord had other plans for me. In 1973, at the age of 17, I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour at the headquarters of the Liverpool City Mission. This immediately caused problems regarding my family. My mother and father were against what they called my "change of religion". The situation came to a climax when I arrive home one evening from a Christian friend's house only to be met by my father on the doorstep with the words, "You don't live here anymore". So at the age of 18 I would have been homeless but for the kindness of friends. One cannot rely on the goodness of others for too long, so I decided to move into a local boarding house. What I saw and experienced there cannot be written here. Eventually, after spending time living rough and in the Salvation Army hostel, I found my own apartment. I had fallen away from the Lord for two years at this time. My thoughts went back to my childhood desire to become a Roman Catholic priest. I made enquiries and found that the only real option for me was to become a monk in the Franciscan Order. The Saturday before I was due to leave for the monastery in Guildford, Surrey, I pleaded with the Lord, asking, "Lord, is it your will that I should become a monk like St. Francis?" That evening I attended a tent meeting in a local park. A preacher from Northern Ireland, Derrick Bingham, was teaching from the book of Nehemiah. During the service the preacher turned to my direction (there were about 500 people present) and said, God does not want you to become a monk like St. Francis of Assisi." Here was my answer from the Lord. From that moment I made a complete break from the Catholic Church and have come to see it as the biggest cult that this world knows. In 1979 I joined a church, The Mission, in the neighbourhood where I was living. From the moment I walked through the door of that small building I knew that I was home. The godly lifestyle and inspired teaching of Pastor Charles Bolton (promoted to glory 12 December 2003) and his wife brought me back to my first love for Christ. The church had no young people, but I never once felt that I was out of place. These people obviously loved the Lord. In my desire to reach others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ I began to give leaflets out in Liverpool City Centre. Many a Saturday afternoon was spent witnessing to those willing to stop and listen. On one Saturday in late Autumn 1979 I was approached by a girl with an Irish accent. She asked if I was a Christian and where the church I attended was located. The next morning the same girl was found at The Mission. To cut a short story shorter, six months later on March 29 1980, we were married by Pastor Bolton at The Mission. Margaret, my wife, also comes from a Catholic background, but was soundly converted to Christ and from the errors of Rome whilst visiting relatives in New York in the summer of 1979. (You may find her personal testimony one day on these pages.) In 1986 Pastor Bolton retired from the ministry at The Mission. The leadership of the church was handed over to me. To be very honest I did not fully understand what this would entail, but the Lord has been good and has led me each step of the way. Through the Lord's power we have been used to reach many hundreds of people, though our fellowship is actually small in number. In 1988 we changed the name of the church to Living Word. I am convinced that God is about to pour out His Spirit in revival one last time before the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ (see my article on Revival on this site). This revival will not come via the charismatic movement, it will not come from Toronto or Pensacola, it will not come from the ecumenical movement or the so-called Churches Together - these movements are bankrupt of the truth and the Spirit of God. This final revival will come as a result of the true believers in Christ Jesus getting right with Him. The revival will include a return to the Authorised King James Bible. My great desire is to see people coming to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord, to see backsliders returning, and to see the church of Christ revived. Though I have many failings I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of my heart. I am willing to serve Him wherever and whenever He sees fit. The word of God is the delight of my life for I'm still amazed after all these years just how fresh and new The Holy Bible is each day!
View all articles by Gary HallGalatians 5:16-25
Introduction
Are we really walking in the Spirit? Can we recognise His activity in our lives? How do we know that we are on the right way? Many Christians endeavour to resolve their shortcomings by trying to imitate the earthly life of Jesus, but they soon discover the impossibility of the task. Imitation is shallow and lifeless. The Lord wants us to be identified with Christ instead. This means that, instead of trying to live His life, the Lord lives His life through us. As believers we have the privilege of receiving the resurrection life of Christ. Seeing that this is the only way we can walk in the Spirit, how does it work out in daily experience?
The contrary part
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Galatians 5:16-18).
The believer that seeks to honour the Lord by living in holiness will face opposition, not always from without, but especially from within. Since the believer is a “new creature” and all the “old things are passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17), Satan will do his best to coax him into operating according to the flesh. Once this civil war is raging in our souls he has achieved his objective, to get our attention off Christ. The world, the devil and the flesh have allied themselves against the one who desires to walk in the Spirit. They want to cripple us so that we cannot advance in the Lord.
a) The world
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).
Any affection we show the world will quickly destroy our faith in Christ. The world with its godlessness, immorality and antichrist spirit has been the cause of most Christians forsaking Christ. “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). While we must interact with it, we do not need to become infected by the world.
b) The devil
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Satan is on the prowl, not for the lost, but for the saved. He is ever seeking to destroy the faith of believers. At every step along the Christian pathway he will lay as many snares and traps as possible. While we are walking in the Spirit, he is walking too, to stop us!
c) The flesh
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Galatians 5:16-18).
By the flesh we do not necessarily mean the material body. The body is the vehicle sin uses to keep us from God. When the Holy Spirit is Lord of our bodies, then we will walk after His will and obey His guidance. If sin controls the body we will live according to fleshly desires. So by “the flesh” we refer to the fallen nature of man. Paul called this the “old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). This old nature was crucified with Christ, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6), but Satan will resurrect it the moment we begin to serve sin, for was it not he that put it in man at the first? The flesh constantly resists our new spiritual nature.
The contrasting part
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:19-23).
God has given us His Holy Spirit so that we can walk according to righteousness and holiness instead of by the standards of the world. As soon as we take our first steps in following the Lord we will notice the difference between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh.
In this passage Paul shows that the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh are diametrically opposite to each other. Works are manmade, but fruit is a product of creation. Man manufactures [notice the word 'man' in this word] good and evil works, but only the Holy Spirit can produce eternal fruit, the nature of Christ, in our lives. A believer who walks in the Spirit will glorify God with abundant fruitfulness.
The conquering part
“And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25).
The Holy Spirit’s ministry involves making the believer victorious in Christ and over the world, the flesh and the devil. Some do not accept the possibility of victorious Christian living and opt instead for being made overcomers at death. No wonder they reject the doctrine of holiness and sanctification too! Faith is only required of us on this side of eternity for as John says, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5). The Christian life can be victorious in this present world, or why did God send the Holy Spirit into the world? We need to remember that:
Christ died to set us free from sin, “For sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).
Conclusion
There is really no secret to how we can overcome temptation and sin, or how to live a victorious and fruitful life in Christ. All we need to do is walk in the Spirit, in other words, be dead to sin and alive in Christ. If we try to imitate Christ we will soon come unstuck, but if we die to self and allow Him to live through us then we will be victorious. “For to me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Remember, we face all the same hindrances to serving God as the backslider does, the difference is, he chooses to walk in the flesh, but by God’s grace we desire to walk in the Spirit. www.LWBC.co.uk
