The sixteenth in a series of 16 blogs answering anticipated (or actual) objections to material set forth in A Way of Escape, i.e., the sixteenth in a series of 16 blogs answering anticipated FAQs.
OBJECTION #16 (of 16)
The reader cries out, “Galatians 5:16 says that I can escape lusts of the flesh by walking in the Spirit. But how to walk in the Spirit? I have tried, but I cannot find any places of Spirit-filling.”
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
RESPONSE
Building a library of Spirit-anointed, flesh-diffusing apps does take time. For me, on two different occasions, months-long searches were required to find apps with the right mix of limbic-laced (think emotional/visual), Spirit-saturated content to trigger a filling of the Spirit.
OCCASION #1: THE 5-1/2 MONTH SEARCH FOR APPS 1-12
It was while watching A Few Good Men [1] over the 2017 July Fourth Weekend, and experiencing its Spirit-filling effect, that I was first inspired to write A Way of Escape. I would then spend the next 5-1/2 months screening for more candidates to include in my library of Spirit-anointed apps. On my Kickoff Date for the start of data collection (December 15, 2017), I had added only 12 of the 23 apps that would eventually comprise my finished library.
OCCASION #2: THE 3-4 MONTH SEARCH FOR APPS 17-23
Fast forward to early 2021. My library of Spirit-anointed apps had grown from 12 to 16. All from the Gaither Homecoming concert series. A pastor friend then suggested that I might lose younger readers if my library consisted of only Gaither music videos from the late 1990s and early 2000s. A valid point. I began to screen for more candidates to add to my library of Spirit-anointed apps. Apps with “more modern” video footage and “more modern” music. It would require another 3-4 months just to add the last seven (7) apps to what is now my finished 23-app library.
TAKING SPIRITUAL INVENTORY
Yes, building a library of limbic-laced, Spirit-saturated apps that trigger a filling of the Spirit does take time. But what if I still cannot find any places of Spirit-filling, even after months-long searches?
I can walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) only if I have first been born of the Spirit (John 3:3-8). If I am unable to find any places of Spirit-filling, even after months-long searches, I would begin to question whether I have ever been truly born of the Spirit. It is my hope and prayer that readers finding themselves in a similar position will do the same. Better to take spiritual inventory now, and discover that I have never been born of the Spirit. Better to make that discovery today, rather than when it is forever too late.
Appendix H is the spiritual inventory chapter of A Way of Escape. It walks the reader through God’s Born-of-the-Spirit Plan of Salvation. Have I been born of the Spirit? Am I truly in the faith (II Corinthians 13:5)? Appendix H walks the reader through the self-examination process.
A GAME-CHANGING BOOK HAS ARRIVED
In A Way of Escape, readers learn how to take spiritual inventory. Once certain that they have indeed been born of the Spirit, readers then learn how to overcome the flesh by stepping up the degree to which they “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). They learn how to build a library of Spirit-anointed, flesh-diffusing apps. Apps that are uniquely fitted to them, and their unique Spirit-filling triggers (Ephesians 5:18b-19).
The still-struggling now have another option. The still-struggling now have fresh hope for discovering that long-sought-after way of escape from temptation and resulting sin (I Corinthians 10:13). A way that—because it is wholly Spirit-powered—does not require enlisting the aid of an accountability partner or group. Truly, a game-changer!
THANK YOU, HOLY SPIRIT!
REFERENCES
1. Jennings, S., and B. Jennings (Townsend and Warbucks Music), A Few Good Men, Track #19 on Let Freedom Ring (DVD), Spring House Productions, Inc., Manufactured by Gaither Music Group, Alexandria, IN 2002
