How to Walk in the Spirit
Part 1 in a Series

By Dani’el Rendelman
www.emetministries.com

 

In 1987, new technologies were popping up all over the place. But computer manuals were dull and difficult to understand. A frustrated customer in a computer store, who knew nothing about computers, was looking for a simple, basic book about the difficult DOS operating system. "Something," he suggested, "like DOS for dummies." Thus, the For Dummies book publishing phenomenon began. In November 1991, DOS For Dummies initially met with skepticism — most bookstore chains didn't want to carry the book at all, claiming that the title insulted their customers and readers in general. But the publishers responded to the critics by calling the title a "term of endearment" that readers would immediately relate to and identify with. Immediately consumers agreed. Today, the For Dummies book series just keeps expanding. For Dummies now covers virtually all topics, including Dating For Dummies, Shakespeare For Dummies, National Parks of the American West For Dummies, and even Choosing a Dog For Dummies. For Dummies tackles any topic that's complex, confusing, intimidating, or conjures up any feelings of anxiety. What's more, For Dummies books are now translated into 39 languages and are distributed in more than 40 countries.

Too bad there’s not a Walking in the Spirit For Dummies. The Spiritual life could be so much easier if there was a guide for the rest of us! The absence of clarity regarding the Holy Spirit, in the life of the believer has resulted in some crazy doctrines and even crazier actions. One TV preacher says he wakes up every morning and has coffee with the Holy Spirit while some charismatic won’t tie their shoes without first getting a “witness in their spirit.” What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? How can a person produce the fruit of the Spirit? Does a person have to choose between the Law and the Spirit? The answers to these questions aren’t found exclusively in an idiot’s guidebook. Nor are the answers just in the KJV. To fully grasp how to walk in the Spirit pick up ANY book. There’s no secret here! Look past the words on the pages and focus on the paper pages themselves -paper comes from trees. And, believe it or not, trees hold the means for the believer to enjoy the sprit-filled life.

Trees, fruit, gardens, and seeds are planted throughout the Bible. The Savior gave His parable about the mustard seed. Adam fell because he tasted the forbidden fruit. The Scriptures even compare man to a tree:

- A person is like the tree of a field... (Deuteronomy / Devarim 20:19)

- For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people. (Isaiah / Yesha’yahu 65:22)

- He will be like a tree planted near water... (Jeremiah / Yermi’yahu 17:8)

Men Are Like Trees

Why the comparison between men and trees? A tree shows the purpose of every person – to produce fruit for the Almighty. In Mark 8:24, the Messiah heals a blind person. The healing takes two stages. First, the blind man can see, but he “sees people walking around as trees.” The Savior reaches out again and the man is given 20/20 vision. At first, the man saw the potential inside every person to grow and produce an abundant harvest of fruit. The Savior said, “this is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

The fruit that we are to bear is the fruit of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Holy Spirit (Ruach Hakodesh) is ahava (love), simcha (joy), shalom (peace), patience, chesed (kindness) , rachamim (goodness), trust worthiness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no true Torah (law)” Galatians / Galutyah 5:22,23. Man is a tree, planted in this world to produce fruit. People aren’t drawn to YHWH by laws and rules but by love, joy, peace, patience and goodness. This fruit is the result of walking in accordance to YHWH’s word as revealed in the Torah.

“Torah” is the Hebrew word for teaching and instruction usually poorly translated as “law” in English Bibles. It gives us YHWH’s will. Torah includes guidelines on every part of life, including how and when to worship, what to eat or wear, and how to get along with others. The Holy Spirit, or Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew, is the manifested power of YHWH. The Ruach HaKodesh leads, teaches, and guides the believer. The Spirit will always lead one towards obedience to the Scriptures, including the Torah / Law of Moses. The Torah and the Spirit are NOT at odds but are identical – “against such there is no true torah.” The Ruach HaKodesh aides the believer keep the Torah and manifest the kingdom of Heaven. The fruit we produce spreads the seed of the Gospel. This fruit is the most dynamic witnessing tool. A life devoted to yielding the fruit of the Spirit will reach many.

As a person walks is submission to the Torah, the fruit of the Spirit is able to develop. “I am the Emet Vine, and My Abba is the Gardener. Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, except it stays in the Vine; neither can you, except you remain in Me. I am the Vine, you are the netsarim (branches): He that stays in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing,” John / Yochannan 15:1-5. Here, Y’shua identifies Himself as the Vine. In Yochannan Chapter 1 the Messiah is called the “Torah made flesh.” So, if Y’shua is the Torah made flesh and Y’shua is the Vine, then… the Vine is the Torah!

The Torah is “a tree of life (eytz chayim) to them that take hold of her: and happy is everyone that takes hold of her,” Mishlei / Proverbs 3:18. To walk in the Spirit is to eat from the Tree of life and produce much fruit. Torah explains how we abide in Y’shua and produce the fruit of the Spirit.

What's In Your Tree?

The story is told of a man who walked into his backyard one morning and found there was a gorilla in a tree. He called a gorilla-removal service, and soon a serviceman arrived with a stick, a Chihuahua, a pair of handcuffs and a shotgun.

"Now listen carefully," he told the homeowner, "I'm going to climb the tree and poke the gorilla with this stick until he falls to the ground. The trained Chihuahua will then go right for his, uh, sensitive area, and when the gorilla instinctively crosses his hands in front to protect himself, you slap the handcuffs on"

"Ok, got it." the homeowner replied. "But whats that shotgun for?"

"If I fall out of the tree before the gorilla," the man said, "shoot the Chihuahua."

Many preachers argue that they are no longer obligated to do Torah because they are now “led by the Spirit.” However, a walk in the Spirit will be a walk in accordance with the Word that the Spirit has inspired. The results of being filled with the Spirit or filled with the Torah are the same:

LIFE IN THE WORD
Colossians / Qolesayah 3:16-20

“Let the word of the Moshiach dwell in you richly in all chochmah; teaching and admonishing one another in the Tehillim and with Ruach-filled shirim, singing with unmerited yourselves to your own husbands, as it is fit in the Master. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to YHWH.”

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
Ephesians / Ephisiyah 5:18-22

“And be not drunk with wine, in which there is excess; but be filled with the Ruach; Speaking to yourselves with the Tehillim and shirim of tehilla and spiritual shirim, singing and making melody in your lev to the Master YHWH; Giving hodu always for all things to Abba YHWH in the Name of our Master Y’shua ha Moshiach; Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of YHWH. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as you would to YHWH.”

To be led by the Spirit is to be led by the Word. One cannot separate the two. “The Torah is spiritual and to be spiritually minded is life and peace, “ says Romans / Romiyah 7:14,8:6. Torah was given by the Ruach. Therefore when we are exhorted to “walk in the Spirit,” Scripture is telling is to conform our lives to the Torah. This is illustrated vividly with the creation account.

In the beginning, YHWH told Adam to “be fruitful and multiply.” He allowed Adam to eat from the Eytz Chayim, the Tree of Life. But, Adam sinned by eating from the WRONG tree. Instead of following the instructions (Torah) of YHWH, Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because of the fall, he harvested the fruit of the flesh. “Now the works of the flesh are well known, among which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, indecency idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, quarrels, jealousies, rage, strife, selfish ambition, stubbornness, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild indecent parties, and all such things,” Galatians / Galutyah 5:1-21.

Adam failed to eat from the Eytz Chayim and was cast from the Gan Eden. As a result of the fall, man is born with the Adamic nature –the desire to produce the fruit of the flesh and NOT the fruit of the Spirit. Those who walk according to the desires and lusts of the animal soul produce the fruit of the flesh. Natural desires lead to a natural crop. We’ve all heard horror stories of people who hired a Christian contractor to do repairs or remolding in their homes and were taken advantage of. Many folks are more worried about playing the part, without allowing the Spirit to change them.

Once a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard is tailgating an honest man. Suddenly, the light turns yellow, just in front of him. He does the honest thing, and stops at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hits the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection with him.

As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer orders her to exit her car with her hands up. He takes her to the police station where she is searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell and opens the door. She is escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer is waiting with her personal effects.

He says, "I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the "Choose Life" license plate holder, the "What Would Jesus Do" bumper sticker, the "Follow Me to Sunday School" bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. "

" Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car."

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of YHWH. Our souls need to be delivered from the aftertaste of the forbidden fruit. The first Adam failed to tend and keep the Garden. He chose knowledge of evil over the tree of Life. The second Adam, Y’shua, gave his life upon a tree to give us access once more to the Eytz Chayim. “For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Moshiach shall all be made alive,” 1 Corinthians 15:21,22.

Y'shua, the Master Gardener

After the resurrection of Y’shua a strange event involving a gardener occurs. “Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away,” said Miriam / Mary in Yochanan 20:14. Miryam is looking directly in the eyes of Y’shua but she doesn’t recognize Him. All she sees is a Gardener. All she sees is the original purpose of creation. All she sees is the first Adam. In Yochannan 20:16, “Y’shua said unto her, Miryam. She turned herself, and said unto Him, Rabbi.” Miryam is standing, looking at the face-to-face with the Gardner, an image of the first Adam. Then, she hears a voice from BEHIND call her name. She turns and sees around Y’shua! The fall of the first gardener was transformed to life by the second gardener, Y’shua!

Y’shua has provided us an opportunity to eat from the Eytz Chayim once more. This opportunity is the indwelling power of the Ruach HaKodesh. “After you believed, were then sealed with the Ruach Hakodesh of promise, who is the pledge from YHWH of our future inheritance,” Ephesians / Ephisiyah 1:13. The Ruach empowers the believer to choose the tree of life over the tree of the flesh. Don’t be fooled, salvation does not take away the craving for the Tree of Knowledge. But it does endow the saint with the Ruach and the Word to fight the urge to sin. Life today is no different than it was during creation. Man must still choose between two trees. Will we eat from the Tree of Knowledge, feed our ego, and produce the fruit of the flesh? Or shall we daily eat from the Eytz Chayim through submission to the Torah?

In Luke 13 Rabbi Y’shua tells a short parable about a fig tree that didn’t produce much fruit. “He spoke also this parable; A certain man had a fig eytz planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit on it, and found none. Then he said to the dresser of his vineyard, See, these three years I came seeking fruit on this fig eytz, and found none: cut it down; why should the ground be wasted? And he answering said to him, Master, leave it alone this year again, until I shall dig around it, and cast manure on it: And if it bears fruit, well: and if not, then after that You shall cut it down,” Luke / Luka 13:6-9

This story teaches us three main points:

1) To recognize the value of time

2) To recognize our fruit bearing

3) To take responsibility

Y’shua is telling this parable not for the sake of understanding trees, but to understand spiritual life. In this story, the tree is given ample time to mature and produce fruit. Yet, the tree remains barren. The Master gives the plant one more year to prove itself. For this eytz and for us, time is of essence. Time is never recovered, so we should stay busy producing fruit or else face the judgment. The gifts of the Spirit are often instant, while the fruit of the Spirit grows and takes hard work. Like a growing sapling, our spiritual life should show progress. Yes, there is a lot to learn. And yes, this walk can be frustrating at times, however we should still be progressing towards fruit bearing. The eytz was planted to bear fruit. Is it un unreasonable to expect a fruit tree to produce fruit? Is it unreasonable to expect a believer to mature into the deeper things of YHWH? Is it unreasonable to expect a disciple to walk in love, joy, or peace?

Notice too, that this parable is unfinished. We don’t know from the text what happened after one more year? Did the tree flourish and become fruitful? Did the fig tree reward the caretaker’s investment in it? Or was it still barren and ordered to be removed? The call of responsibility commands today’s believer to finish the story. Will we be fruitful? Will we satisfy the Savior? Will we walk in the Ruach or will we waste time?

To walk in the Spirit is to develop like a tree. One is to have deep roots of faith, high branches of obedience, the sap of the Ruach HaKodesh, and the trunk of Charity and Justice. Walking in the Ruach is more about obedience and relationship than living in a spiritual daze. It concerns making Torah-based choices that are rooted in the Vine. The fruit of the Ruach abound as one pursues growth in their relationship with the Master Gardener. Learn more in part two, soon to be released from Emet Ministries.

To contact the author or for questions or comments email Rabbi Dani’el at ravemet@comcast.net