Live the Golden Line -How to Live in the Spirit: Part 6

By Andre Eksteen

In Part 5 we tore away the veil from one of the most dangerous influences ever to strike the modern Church — the New Age deception that hides behind pretty words, soft music and “Christian” language. We saw how people say they follow the Holy Spirit, yet they actually live from their own soul — full of emotion, self-focus and worldly spirituality. I warned that the truth would cut deeply, and it did. The Spirit of God never brings comfort without confrontation, because truth cuts in order to heal. Many could not handle it. Because the soul hates truth; it exposes its deceit and rips the throne from its hands.

When I shared the Genesis to Revelation series on Facebook, the readership never dropped below thirty-two thousand per article. Everyone wanted to read, everyone commented, and I thought it was good — the people were interested again in what the Bible says. But then I started the Live the Golden Line series… and everything changed. The first four parts still averaged around twenty-two thousand three hundred readers

— still healthy. But when I posted Part 5, the part where I exposed the New Age deception, the readership dropped within the first twenty-four hours to just over one thousand five hundred people. That is not an error or coincidence — it is a spiritual reaction. It is only twenty percent of the original interest.

Why? Because humanity wants to hear what the Bible says, but they do not want to hear how to live according to the Bible. As long as it is knowledge, everyone listens gladly. But the moment the Word starts pointing to obedience, self-denial, or the cross, the crowds disappear. Forty percent of those who call themselves “Christians” drop off the moment you show what it truly means to follow Jesus. And if you then also show

that the New Age is really the worship of the self, then eighty percent of so-called “Christianity” disappears.

We live in a time where the world no longer asks, “What can I do for God?” The world asks, “What can God do for me?” That is the heart of modern spirituality — a self-centred religion that uses God as a servant, a means to personal peace and prosperity. It is not faith; it is manipulation in religious packaging. And this is exactly why I say: Satan’s cleverest plan is not open hatred of God — it is giving people a faith that feels good, so that they will never realise they are lost.

The simple, hard statistics of the readership show how people quietly turn away. Not hostile, just silent — as if the light became too bright. Not because they are evil, but because they are trapped in a faith built on feeling rather than obedience. They speak of God, but they mean their own emotion. They call their inner peace “the Spirit,” but it is merely the soul comforting itself. They have never felt the cross cut through their own will, because they have created a Jesus who suits them. It is disturbing to see how many of our own people today live in their soul — in a mixture of self-healing, positive thinking and human-centred spirituality that has nothing to do with the Bible. Satan’s plan is simple: give people a faith that feels good, and they will never realise they need salvation.

But our calling remains simple: do not judge, do not hate, do not be silent — pray. Pray for every person who turns away, for every one trapped in deception, for every one who thinks he is right but is dead in the spirit. They cannot pray for themselves, because the soul holds them captive. They do not hear the voice of the Shepherd, because the noise of the world drowns out their thoughts. It is our prayers — yours and mine — that break those chains. Your prayer makes the evil one uneasy. Your words in faith bring light into places you will never go. Someone you do not even know may meet the true Christ because you carried him before the throne of God. That is why we must never stop praying for those who walk away; they are not our enemies — they are our mission field. Not the pagans, but the lost within the Church. If we do not lift them up to Him in prayer they will one day hear: “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” And if we do not carry them, the blood of those people lies on our hands.

The path of the Spirit

But this is exactly where we must learn what it truly means to live in the Spirit.

To live in the Spirit does not mean you drift on a cloud of mysticism. It is not seeking

strange experiences or trying to achieve spiritual status. It is the opposite: it is simple, close, honest. It is being led by the Holy Spirit every day — in small decisions, in ordinary moments, in silence, in work, in conversations. Paul writes in Romans 8:14: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

To live in the Spirit means you begin to listen before you speak, wait before you react, and do what is right even when your feelings tell you you are wrong. Your soul always wants control; your spirit always wants to trust. That is the difference between people who say they believe, and people who walk in faith.

Most people live from the soul. They react. They speak quickly, forgive slowly, become discouraged easily, and are trapped in emotion. They say they believe, but they believe only when they feel good. They say they have peace, but they lose it at the first piece of bad news. They serve God according to their mood. It is not because they do not want to — it is because they have never let their soul die.

The soul is like a child behind the wheel of a lorry: much power, no control. That is why you see so-called believers explode in anger, belittle each other, attack each other, and then say, “I just felt like that.” That is the soul speaking, not the Spirit. The person who lives by the Spirit has peace, even in conflict. He does not need to win; he only needs to obey.

Submission: the key

To live in the Spirit begins with submission. It is not passive resignation; it is active trust. It is saying: “Lord, I do not understand, but I believe You are right.” It is not seeing the whole road, only the next step. The soul always asks: “Why?” The spirit answers: “Because He said so.”

The person who lives in the Spirit does not do things to feel better — he does them because they are right. He gives not because he is wealthy, but because he is obedient. He forgives not because others deserve it, but because Christ forgave him. He keeps peace not because he feels calm, but because he knows God is in control, even when nothing makes sense.

The world says: “Listen to your heart.” God says: “Trust Me.” The world says: “Do what you feel.” God says: “Do what I say.”

When the Spirit leads, your soul will scream. Your flesh will resist. You will feel uncertain, even afraid. But every step of obedience breaks something of the old person. Every “Yes, Lord” is a nail in the cross of your own will.

Silence that speaks

To live in the Spirit means you learn to become quiet. Not quiet because you are tired, but quiet because you are listening. The world hates silence. That is why music, noise and busyness never stop — because silence forces the soul to hear itself. In silence a person is confronted with what is inside.

When you become still before God, the Holy Spirit begins to touch things you buried long ago: pride, hurt, guilt, fear. He brings it into the light, not to shame you, but to heal you. And that is why so many people flee from silence. They fill their lives with noise and activity, even religious things, just to avoid feeling.

But it is precisely in silence where the Spirit teaches you. It is where He reminds you of Scripture. It is where He warns you before you speak. It is where He restores your peace. It is where He shapes your heart so that you do not live from emotion, but from conviction.

Psalm 46:10 says: “Be still and know that I am God.” It is not a pretty quote for a wall — it is a command. It is God saying: “Stop now. Do not try to control. Let Me be God.”

The test of your reactions

If you want to know whether you are living in the Spirit, do not look at how much Scripture you know — look at your reactions. How do you respond when you are mistreated? How do you act when you are rejected? How do you speak when you are angry?

When Jesus walked into the temple and saw trade taking place in His Father’s house, He did not simply explode in anger. The Bible says in John 2:13–15 that He went out, sat down and braided a whip of cords. That takes time. Every cord, every twist, every moment was part of a process in which He waited for the leading of the Spirit. He did

not react out of emotion — He waited until God, through His Spirit, gave Him wisdom and authority to act righteously.

And when He stepped back inside, He did not shout or rant — He overturned the tables, poured out the money and drove out the traders with a proper whipping. Not out of rage, but out of holy conviction. That is not the action of someone driven by his soul — it is the calm, decisive action of someone led by the Spirit. He had control, yet He acted. That is what true authority looks like.

Galatians 5:22–23 gives the measure: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control.”

These are not emotions — these are results. You cannot imitate them; they live through your actions and behaviour.

When you live in the Spirit, you begin to hear differently. You no longer hear only words

— you hear intentions. You no longer see only faces — you see hearts. You look into people’s eyes and see what lies beneath. The eyes are the windows of the soul. A person may wear a smile and speak well, but his eyes always betray him — the pride, the fear, the pain or the darkness that drives him. You learn to see people as God sees them, and that is why you do not judge quickly. You understand who is fighting and who is trapped.

Living between two worlds

To live in the Spirit means you feel foreign in this world. You walk through shops, hear the music, see the chatter, but inside you there is silence. It is as if you are looking in from the outside. You know you belong here for now, but you do not belong here. It is not depression; it is awakening. Your spirit begins to call home.

Jesus said: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” Your spirit longs for eternity, while your soul still clings to the temporary. You feel your priorities shifting, your “normal” fading. You begin to live simply. You make less noise. You stop chasing. You choose what matters. You pray rather than complain. You ignore those who provoke you, because you know which spirit works through them.

You know to Whom you belong, and the attacks against you prove it. When people hate you without reason, when they mock your faith, you know: it is not you they oppose — it is Christ in you. And that alone is reason enough to continue.

The world’s spirit versus the Spirit of God

Satan has always had the same strategy: make the soul the centre. He does not need to destroy you — he only needs to keep you self-focused. He gives you nice words like “self-love,” “self-acceptance,” “inner peace,” but he steals your obedience. That is why so many people say they feel “spiritual,” yet they bear no fruit. They speak of light, but they live in darkness.

The modern Church has allowed this spirit in by placing emotion above truth. Services are designed to evoke feeling, not build faith. Music replaces Scripture. Light shows replace confession. The soul is fed, the spirit starved. That is why people say, “I feel so good after church,” but by Monday they live again in fear and anger. They only had a soul-experience, not a spiritual encounter.

To live in the Spirit is the opposite. It is living without excitement but with certainty. It is believing without proof, obeying without feeling, persevering without applause. It is choosing truth even if it costs you people, friends or status.

The old path

Jeremiah 6:16 says: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls.” That is exactly what the Holy Spirit is doing now. He is calling the remnant back to the old paths — to reverence, silence, truth, prayer and obedience. The path of the Spirit is old, yet always new.

This path requires you to live against the stream. Your spirit cannot grow in the shadow of your soul. You must stop feeding what pulls you down. You must let go of jealousy, pride, anger, guilt, even constant entertainment. It is not wrong to laugh or rest, but if your joy does not come from God, you have already begun to trade the holy for the temporary.

The practice of a spiritual life

How do you practically live in the Spirit?

Not through rituals, but through choices.

When you wake up, say: “Lord, today You lead me, not my emotion.” When you become angry, say: “Lord, I give this feeling to You.” When you are afraid, say: “Lord, I trust You.”

When you become proud, say: “Lord, remind me who I am.”

This is the daily dying of the soul. It is not dramatic, but it is holy.

To live in the Spirit is to surrender your reactions to Him. Your work becomes worship, your silence becomes conversation, your struggle becomes growth, your pain becomes instruction, and your waiting becomes obedience.

When you start seeing every situation through His eyes, the need to judge disappears. You see people as lost, not as enemies. You begin to pray for those who persecute you, forgive those who hurt you, and bless those who mock you. It is not weakness — it is strength. Because only the Spirit can do that.

The war within

The greatest war today is not outside; it is inside the person. It is the battle between soul and spirit. The soul wants to rule; the spirit wants to worship. The soul wants control; the spirit wants surrender. The soul wants to feel; the spirit wants to believe.

That is why Jesus said: “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.” The cross is where the soul dies and the spirit begins to live. That is why Paul could say: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”

When you go through difficult times, you must understand: it is not punishment; it is shaping. God uses pain to break your soul so your spirit can lead. Every trial is a lesson in obedience. Every disappointment is a chance to exercise your faith. Every loss is an invitation to draw closer.

Satan knows this, and that is why he will always try to pull you back into the soul — into emotion, fear, self-pity. He will say to you: “God has forgotten you.” But the spirit answers: “I know my Redeemer lives.”

The peace of the Spirit

When you live in the Spirit, you learn another kind of peace. It is not quietness without noise — it is certainty in the midst of noise. It is not that everything goes right — it is that you know He remains faithful.

Jesus said: “My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives.” The world’s peace depends on circumstances. God’s peace depends on His presence.

When the Spirit leads you, you become calm in storms. You speak more gently. You move more slowly. You react with wisdom. Your faith becomes simple. You begin to live with an inner certainty that does not come from yourself. It is the Spirit living through you.

Pray for the lost

And therefore, while the world grows darker, our calling remains the same: pray.

Pray for those who are blind, for those who walk away, for those who consider themselves spiritually wise but are dead in their spirit. Pray especially for those who worship themselves. They cannot pray for themselves. Their soul rules too strongly, their eyes are blinded, their ears blocked.

When you intercede for them, you enter the spiritual battle. Your prayers cut through darkness. Every name you mention, every tear you shed, every word that says, “Lord, save him” — it makes an impact in the unseen world. That is how God works: He uses His children to call others home.

Remember, you may never meet them. You may never see what your prayer has done. But one day, in eternity, someone may come to you and say: “Your prayer saved my life.”

So do not stop praying. Not for your own comfort, but for souls. Forget your own comfort, because you will be persecuted and despised because your light exposes people’s falsehood. The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And if He lives in you, He will teach you to pray as He prays — with compassion, with fire, with truth.

The choice

In the end it remains simple: you must choose. The soul or the spirit. The world or the Kingdom. Noise or silence. Control or surrender.

You cannot serve both. You cannot say you follow Christ yet still obey the desires of your soul. It is impossible. This is not the path of the world versus the Church — it is the path of Christian versus Christian. It is the division Jesus Himself described: the broad road and the narrow road. Both look like faith at first, both use the Name of Jesus, but only one leads to life.

The broad road is full of believers who talk about Jesus, but live according to their own soul — they choose comfort, feeling and acceptance over obedience. It is the road on which the eighty percent walk that we spoke of earlier: the road of pretty words without surrender, of religion without the cross. It is the road of “I feel,” “I think,” and “I want.”

The narrow road is for those who have chosen to die — not only to sin, but to self. It is for those who understand that the cross is not about pain, but about surrender. The cross demands dying, not excuses. The Spirit demands obedience, not emotion. And that is why only twenty percent can and will carry it. Because it is easy to sing about the cross, but it is another thing to carry it.

Every morning He gives you a new chance. Every breath is an invitation to say again: “Lord, not my will, but Yours.” That is how you live in the Spirit — not in great revelations, but in small obedient moments.

Conclusion

The world is growing darker, but the Light within those who live in the Spirit grows brighter. We see it everywhere: where fear increases, faith brings peace; where chaos

grows, obedience brings stability; where people hate, the Spirit brings love.

To live in the Spirit is not a state you reach — it is a choice you make every day. It is saying: “Lord, I choose You above my soul.”

It is living with eyes that look upward, ears that hear His voice, and a heart that says: “Use me.”

And when you feel tired, remember: you are not alone. The Spirit of God lives in you. He comforts, He leads, He warns, He strengthens. You no longer have to try — you only need to obey.

Live simply. Live honestly. Live gently. Live in the Spirit.

And when the world becomes too noisy, remember: it is not you who is breaking — it is your soul becoming quiet so your spirit can hear.

Deep calls to deep. Answer Him.