This document discusses three potential missteps that new Christians may take in their understanding of "walking in the Spirit". It analyzes each misstep, providing biblical references to help correct misunderstandings. It also examines the teaching of "Word Faith" preachers on claiming God's promises and identifies verses that call for balancing such claims with humility and recognizing God's will.

1. WALKING IN THE SPIRIT

2. WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
A FINAL WORD ON THE ALLIANCE’S
STATEMENT OF FAITH
ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
IN THE BELIEVER’S LIFE

4. “I do not nuliify the garce of God,
for if rigtoeusness comes throtgh
the Law, then Christ died
needulessly.” Galatians 2:21

5. “I do not nuliify the garce of God,
for if rigtoeusness comes throtgh
the Law, then Christ died
needulessly.” Galatians 2:21
We have n
othing to
...
Amazing! You read the first and had
ways of finishing the second! Your fine
and natural mind looked for meaning
and gave it to you!

7. Clo ud viewing is
rely subjecti ve-your fine
enti
natural min d finds its
and
own meanin g for you!

9. is
Mag ic Eye viewing
e an d natural mind
entirely ob jective-your fin NE true image
he O
must w ork to unlock t here for it to s
ee!
ted t
which t he artist inser

10. AT LEAST THREE
POSSIBLE MISSTEPS

11. AT LEAST THREE
POSSIBLE MISSTEPS
I Can Keep The Law and Avoid God’s Wrath
I Can Clean Up My Old Self and Gain God’s Approval
I Can Claim the Promises and Gain God’s Blessings
c
tura l mind’s franti
A Christia n’s fine and na s new Christia
n
n it
find meaning i ps
desire to one of these misste
life crea tively chooses d!
as short cuts to pleasing Go
wer e up to them to
Our min ds work as if it welter of Bible
f the
create meaning out o s that assault t
he
idea
verses , sermons and
n ew Christian.

12. MISSTEP ONE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
KEEPING THE LAW

13. MISSTEP ONE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
KEEPING THE LAW
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if
righteousness comes through the Law,
then Christ died needlessly.” Galatians 2:21
13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law,
having become a curse for us—for it is written,
“CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A
TREE”— 14. in order that in Christ Jesus the
blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so
that we would receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith. Galatians 3:13+14

14. MISSTEP TWO:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLEANING UP OUR OLD SELVES

15. MISSTEP TWO:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLEANING UP OUR OLD SELVES
18. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but
the doing of the good is not. 19. For the good that I
want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I
do not want. 20. But if I am doing the very thing I
do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin
which dwells in me. Romans 7: 18-20

16. MISSTEP TWO:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLEANING UP OUR OLD SELVES
18. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but
the doing of the good is not. 19. For the good that I
want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I
do not want. 20. But if I am doing the very thing I
do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin
which dwells in me. Romans 7: 18-20
24. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free
from the body of this death? 25. Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7: 24+25a

17. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES

18. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others

19. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance

20. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers

21. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance

22. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance
4. Offers a formula that guarantees blessing

23. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance
4. Offers a formula that guarantees blessing
More challenging than the other missteps

24. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance
4. Offers a formula that guarantees blessing
More challenging than the other missteps
1. Has a powerful biblical foundation

25. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance
4. Offers a formula that guarantees blessing
More challenging than the other missteps
1. Has a powerful biblical foundation
2. Receives no direct, well-developed rebuke from
biblical writers.

26. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance
4. Offers a formula that guarantees blessing
More challenging than the other missteps
1. Has a powerful biblical foundation
2. Receives no direct, well-developed rebuke from
biblical writers.
3. Calls for prayerful, thoughtful analysis

27. MISSTEP THREE:
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
Different than the others
1. Does not seek to gain God’s acceptance
2. Assumes God has accepted us as believers
3. Seeks to profit from that acceptance
4. Offers a formula that guarantees blessing
More challenging than the other missteps
1. Has a powerful biblical foundation
2. Receives no direct, well-developed rebuke from
biblical writers.
3. Calls for prayerful, thoughtful analysis
4. Challenges our understanding of what walking
in the Spirit really means!

28. WALKING IN THE SPIRIT VS.
CLAIMING GOD’S PROMISES
KEY SUPPORTING PASSAGE:
MARK 11:22
22. And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith
in God. 23. “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this
mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and
does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what
he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
24. “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you
pray and ask, believe that you have received them,
and they will be granted you. Mark 11:22-24

30. All I need to do is
Does Jesus really mean replace doubt with
what He says here? faith!!
God grants what I ask!?!
ANYTHING I ask?
Why am I walking around like
this broke-down pilgrim??!
Why, I get to claim my blessings
NOW!
Goodbye trials, hello
blessing and wealth!

31. MAY I OFFER
A FEW
CAUTIONARY
OBSERVATIONS
Before we
approach
Savior as our
complian if He were
t Genie in a
private br our own
ass lamp
...

32. All I need to do is
Does Jesus really mean replace doubt with
what He says here? faith!!
God grants what I
ask!?! ANYTHING I
ask?
Why am I walking around
like this broke-down pilgrim??!
Why, I get to claim my
blessings NOW!
Goodbye trials, hello
blessing and wealth!

33. All I need to do is
Does Jesus really mean replace doubt with
what He says here? faith!!
God grants what I
ask!?! ANYTHING I
ask?
Why am I walking around
like this broke-down pilgrim??!
Why, I get to claim my
blessings NOW!
Goodbye trials, hello
blessing and wealth!
1. Who’s at the c
enter of this strin
biiblle llogiic? Self
b b e og c? S f g of
or God?
or God?

34. All I need to do is
Does Jesus really mean replace doubt with
what He says here? faith!!
God grants what I ask!?!
ANYTHING I ask?
Why am I walking around
like this broke-down pilgrim??!
Why, I get to claim my
blessings NOW!
Goodbye trials, hello
blessing and wealth!

35. All I need to do is
Does Jesus really mean replace doubt with
what He says here? faith!!
God grants what I ask!?!
ANYTHING I ask?
Why am I walking around
like this broke-down pilgrim??!
Why, I get to claim my
blessings NOW!
Goodbye trials, hello
blessing and wealth!
2. Do these thou
ghts re mind you of anyo
ne?

36. Yeah, it’s me again: The
Prodigal Son! If I’m really restored
to full privileges, I might as well
claim all I got coming to me, right?
My Father told me, “Just ask!”

37. Yeah, it’s me again: The
Prodigal Son! If I’m really restored
to full privileges, I might as well
claim all I got coming to me, right?
My Father told me, “Just ask!”
There’s got to
be more to walking in
the Spirit than this
approach!

38. SOME VERSES TO BALANCE AND
GUIDE OUR USE OF MARK 11:22:
1. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts
among you? Is not the source your pleasures that
wage war in your members? 2. You lust and do not
have; so you commit murder. You are envious and
cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do
not have because you do not ask. 3. You ask and
do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, so that you may spend it on your
pleasures. James 4: 1-3

39. SOME VERSES TO BALANCE AND
GUIDE OUR USE OF MARK 11:22:
7. But whatever things were gain to me, those
things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8. More than that, I count all things to be loss in
view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I
may gain Christ . . .
Philippians 3:7-11

40. SOME VERSES TO BALANCE AND
GUIDE OUR USE OF MARK 11:22:
9. . . . and may be found in Him, not having a
righteousness of my own derived from the Law,
but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis
of faith, 10. that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrection and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed
to His death; 11. in order that I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11

41. rstand ing of
B ut wha t unde Faith
1:22 d o Word
M ark 1 their
hers p ress on
preac
liste ners?
How do Word Faith preachers
encourage believers to use Mark
11:22 and similar verses?
What do their faithful listeners
expect from the Father?

42. Being poor is a sin.
(Robert Tilton, Success in Life, recorded
12/2/90) Have a Rolls Royce
faith. (Fred Price, Praise the Lord (TBN),
9/21/90)
What part of “that I may know Him and the fellowship
of His sufferings” have these men lost sight of?

43. SOME VERSES TO BALANCE AND
GUIDE OUR USE OF MARK 11:22:
13. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow
we will go to such and such a city, and spend a
year there and engage in business and make a
profit.” 14. Yet you do not know what your life will
be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that
appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
15. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills,
we will live and also do this or that.” 16. But
as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such
boasting is evil. James 4: 15+16

44. SOME VERSES TO BALANCE AND
GUIDE OUR USE OF MARK 11:22:
13.Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow
we will go to suchdon’tsuch a city, and spend a
Verses like this and CONTRADICT
year there promises of in business and make a
the and engage Mark 11:22
profit.” 14.Yet you do not know what your life will
be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that
appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
15. Instead, you ought tothis BALANCE wills, we
Verses like say, “If the Lord
will live and also do this or that.” 16. But as it is,
and GUIDE our use of Mark 11:22
you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is
evil. James 4: 15+16

45. A believer’s life is lived out
while maintaining this balance.
To maintain this balance,
we learn to want what God wants for us:
a loving knowledge of His Son!
When we live within a loving knowledge of His Son,
God can deliver Mark 11:22’s promise.
At last, we can ask without doubt,
believing we ask within the will of God.

46. TEST CASE: PSALM 37:4
HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND
THIS PROMISE?
Delight y ourself in the LORD;
And He will g ive you the desires of
your heart.
Psalm 37:4