The fifteenth in a series of 16 blogs answering anticipated (or actual) objections to material set forth in A Way of Escape, i.e., the fifteenth in a series of 16 blogs answering anticipated FAQs.
OBJECTION #15 (of 16)
In your book, you describe how men can renew their minds by simply stepping up the degree to which they “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). But most Christian men don’t know how to walk in the Spirit.
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
RESPONSE
A curious objection. I say curious because, by definition, all genuinely born-of-the-Spirit Christian men are already walking in the Spirit (see the Section to follow). I can only speculate, but, in all likelihood, the individual raising this objection has incorrectly interpreted Galatians 5:16 to be saying:
Since most Christian men are unable to consistently “not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16b), most Christian men must therefore not know how to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16a).
(Galatians 5:16 is correctly re-interpreted in the Section to follow)
ALL CHRISTIAN MEN ARE ALREADY WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
By definition, all genuinely born-of-the-Spirit Christian men—even those that are still struggling to break free from a porn/sex addiction—are already walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Those still struggling to escape an addiction are just not walking in the Spirit regularly enough to have their minds renewed (left-hand side of the figure below).
How can I make such a bold statement, and know it to be true? Because I was walking in the Spirit [e.g., experiencing Spirit-fillings (Ephesians 5:18b-19)], while still in my addicted state. I just wasn’t walking in the Spirit regularly enough to have my mind renewed (see KEY REGULARITY at www.wileygrafbooks.com/news/six-keys-to-escape-v9).
To accomplish mind renewal, the still-struggling Christian man may need to do nothing more than drop the passivity (see www.wileygrafbooks.com/news/drop-the-passivity-v9),and step up the degree to which he walks in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). In the Way of Escape Battle Plan, the scales are tipped (right-hand side of the figure below) and the addict’s mind is renewed by regularly feeding his brain a steady diet of limbic-laced (think emotional/visual) apps from the addict’s library of custom-fitted, Spirit-anointed, flesh-diffusing apps (Ephesians 5:18b-19).
... be filled with the Spirit, Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:18b-19),
A GAME-CHANGING BOOK HAS ARRIVED
In A Way of Escape, readers learn how to renew their minds 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!
