Walking After the Spirit: New Identity and Position in Christ

Walking After the Spirit is a chapter from my E-Book: Buddhist Monk Saved by Jesus. You can download it for free on my Home page ⟶ Buddhist Monk Saved by Jesus

Walking After the Spirit

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk after the flesh but walking after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.” — Romans 8:1–2

This truth is the foundation of the believer’s walk. In Christ, we are free. Sin no longer has power over us, because “we are not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

Walking after the Spirit does not mean asking, “Spirit, lead me and speak through me,” as if spirituality depended on feelings or mystical experiences. Rather, it means walking in the knowledge of the truth revealed in God’s Word. True spirituality begins with a renewed mind built on sound doctrine. When we understand who we are in Christ, the fleshly mind loses its power.

Our new identity and position in Christ are not results of effort or long prayers but gifts of grace. At salvation, we received blessings in Christ that cannot be earned by human work. These blessings are not based on feelings, circumstances, or performance. If we are in Christ, our identity, position, and blessings are unchangeable.

This understanding allows us to walk after the Spirit — not striving to become something, but living from what God already made us in Christ.

“If you then have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
— Colossians 3:1–3

In Christ we have become a new creation: “Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are clothed in “the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). God made us His righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), and in Him we are complete (Colossians 2:10).

We are God’s children, for we have received the Spirit of adoption: Through Christ we have access to the Father; we are no longer strangers but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:17–19). “And if we are children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.”— Romans 8:15–17

“According as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he had made us accepted in the beloved.” — Ephesians 1:4-6

Paul writes: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
— Galatians 4:6

This means we are safe in our relationship with the Father—no longer slaves, but beloved sons and daughters. Christ Himself has become for us “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Therefore, we are more than conquerors in Him, and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:35–39).

When Paul was beaten, imprisoned, or stoned, he remained more than a conqueror in Christ. His circumstances could not change his identity or separate him from God’s love. Likewise, no matter how we feel or what we go through—in Christ, not in the flesh—we are always more than conquerors and forever loved.

Carnality vs. Walking in Spiritual Knowledge

Many believers seek spiritual experiences, emotional highs, or altered states of mind. To reach or maintain them, they devote themselves to routines of fasting, prayer, and worship — yet this is carnality disguised as spirituality. From such practices, people often receive visions or “revelations” from seducing spirits and proclaim them as if God were speaking to them (1 Timothy 4:1).

But God no longer speaks through people today, for the Word of God was completed through the apostle Paul (Colossians 1:25). Those who pursue mystical experiences are not established in the Gospel of grace and therefore lack true faith — for genuine faith comes only through understanding the truth revealed in Scripture. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17) Instructions how to study the Bible we find in (2 timothy 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Focusing on “spiritual exercises” to maintain good feelings or achieve mystical states is not freedom in Christ — it is bondage. It turns the believer’s eyes from Christ to self. Such people quickly begin to trust in their own experiences and teach them to others, without ever learning to rightly divide the Word of truth. Yet without sound understanding of God’s Word, no one can come to the full knowledge of the truth, even if you pray, worship and fast the whole life.

Seated with Christ: Our Spiritual Position in Heaven

God, rich in mercy, has made us alive together with Christ, raised us up, and seated us with Him in heavenly places:

“That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” — Ephesians 2:4–7

This is not something we earn or achieve; it is a gift of grace. Our position is secure — already blessed, already accepted, already seated with Christ.

Spiritual Blessings, Not Carnal Gains

Many believers mistakenly expect earthly rewards — wealth, health, or worldly success — as a sign of God’s favor. Paul warns that if we seek Christ for these things, we become “the most pitiable of all” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

In reality, all our blessings in Christ are spiritual:

Forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7)
Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14)
Adoption as God’s children (Romans 8:15–17)
Access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18)
Eternal inheritance (Colossians 3:24)

We are crucified to this world (Galatians 6:14) and our conversation is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1–2). These blessings are unchanging, regardless of life circumstances or emotional states.

Rightly Dividing Our Program

It is vital to understand that our blessings are spiritual, not earthly. Misunderstanding this leads many to pursue worldly benefits, which are part of Israel’s prophetic program, not the Body of Christ today. By rightly dividing God’s Word, we recognize that our heavenly position is fixed and our focus must be on the eternal rewards Christ has prepared for us (2 Corinthians 5:15–17; Romans 8:18).

This understanding allows believers to walk after the Spirit, fully embracing their identity and position in Christ, without being enslaved by the desire for temporary, earthly gains.

Living Out What We Are

Paul reminds us of our responsibility:

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
— 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

But even as we walk in this responsibility, our assurance remains firm:

“That their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
— Colossians 2:2–3

We do not walk in our own righteousness, “which is from the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ—the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:9).

Walking after the Spirit begins not with effort but with understanding. It is not driven by feelings or experiences, but by knowing what God has already given us in Christ. When we accept the doctrine according to Paul’s epistles for our church Body of Christ that we are complete in Him and that Christ is our life, our mindset shifts from the earthly to the heavenly — from the carnal to the spiritual.

And then this becomes true:
“To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” — Romans 8:6

Walking After the Spirit is a chapter from my E-Book: Buddhist Monk Saved by Jesus. You can download it for free on my Home page ⟶ Buddhist Monk Saved by Jesus