“Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau,
who … sold his birthright.”
(Heb 12:16, NKJV)
In the previous teachings and from 2 Pet 2:10 we learnt that walking in the spirit and not in the flesh is a precondition of you governing or receiving your inheritance. If you receive it you have become part of “the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Heb 12:23), who are already on mount Zion (verse 22), the place where the Bride governs with Christ in the third dimension.
In 1 Cor 6 Paul discusses this matter of believers who operate “in the Spirit”, but who are actually guilty of idolatry. He uses the example of physical fornication or infidelity to clearly state that “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites” (verse 10) will inherit the Kingdom of God. But you have cleansed yourselves, he declares in verse 11, and are thus holy. In the rest of the passage Paul then compares between physical fornication and spiritual fornication (verses 12-19). Then he concludes in verse 20 – “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
There is not only fornication of the body, but also fornication of the spirit.
Spiritual fornication takes place when the believer walks according to the flesh; in this way idols enter you life. This process is explained in the first part of Rom 8. We love quoting Rom 8:1 but we never include the precluding second part of the verse – “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” From verses 5-8 he describes the process – “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God”. Verse 13 strongly states – “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Death here does not point to physically dying, but on being distanced from the presence of God, as happened to Adam and Eve after the fall.
It is possible to start off walking “in the Spirit” but to later, through religiosity and human tradition, lose your way and end up walking “in the flesh” (Gal 3:1). Remember that walking in the Spirit does not imply that you are perfect and without any transgressions, or that you act otherworldly, with an attitude of “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” (Col 2:21) – it merely means that you are led by the “promptings of the spirit” (Rom 8:13, AMP). You see things from a spiritual perspective, in other words not understanding things in a natural manner (Jud 1:10). A very important facet of walking in the flesh is the lack of knowledge that it implies (Isa 5:13; Hos 4:6). You enter the third dimension by first understanding certain things (Eph 1:18). If you cannot perceive, you cannot receive.
- Sela: Do you walk in the spirit? (See today’s Scripture – Isa 31:9).
- Read: Jos 15 Est 8; Isa 31
- Memorise: Isa 31:1
