Walking in the Spirit is a difficult thing for human beings to maintain. We find ourselves all the time doing things we know we should not do. The more we try to take on the nature of God the more we realize we are in no way like him. We know we are to work at being holy like God, but how do we attain holiness when it is so easy to commit sin? Jesus taught to crucify the flesh (Luke 9:23) daily, denying yourself, and then you are able to follow him. Our human nature is what the Bible calls the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21, 26). By dying to our flesh, we experience the difference between human nature and the nature of God. Crucifying the flesh is dying to self. Something that is dead cannot respond, thus dead flesh can’t respond nor can it commit the evil nature inside man. Salvation that comes from receiving Jesus Christ as your savior, renews your spirit, allowing you to choose daily to die in your flesh. Then you are capable of not responding to things of the flesh, but live in the things of the Spirit of God.
When we realize that we can walk in the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19); that we can “be” dead to our flesh (Gal. 5:20; Luke 9:23); that we can receive his spirit through spiritual baptism and that with this baptism comes power through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5,8); that we can have the full nature of God dwelling in us as our power (2Peter 1:3-4); we are then doing as Jesus said and crucifying the flesh (Luke 9:23) daily, denying our self, and following him.
The most common way we think of crucifying ourselves is to keep from committing sin. Dying to the desire of anything sinful, gives you the ability to overcome any sin that is in your human nature. Crucifying yourself to passions of lust, lying, uncleanness, idolatry, hatred, outbursts, selfishness, envy, murder, madness, drunkenness, revelries (Gal. 5:19-24), allows you to live more holy (2Cor 7:1).
Another way of crucifying yourself is dying to your own ambitions, and giving yourself over to the will of God. To do this you must be hearing what God is saying to you so that you know his will. This is a special place in relationship with God that demands committing all to him. The Apostle Paul showed us this can be done in Philippians 3:7-10, when he said he count all things loss for Christ. He died to self that he might gain the things of Jesus Christ in himself. The more you grasp this concept the closer you are to God in your relationship. You start asking God to show you what he wants done each day to fulfill his will on the earth. You begin living day-by-day to see God using you to bring about the Kingdom of God upon the earth. This was the first desire in the heart of Jesus, to do what the Father had sent him to do. The main theme in the book of John is Jesus’ desire to fulfill the Father’s will upon the earth. There is no greater love than to love God so much all you want to do is God’s will for the kingdom. If you are doing these things you will be a blessing to yourself, your family, your work, your school, and anyone you come in contact with. You will be a success in all you do and you will overcome anything that is not of God.