Walking In The Spirit

In order to have a successful walk with God, you must learn how to walk by the Holy Spirit. We can’t grow without him and our intimacy with the Father and the Son come by way of him. He is the one who forms Christ in us daily. He is the one who gives us revelation from the word. Without him, we don’t function. The power of God and his anointing come from him. The disciples and apostles had a robust relationship with the Holy Spirit. Acts 4:13-31

So what does it mean to walk by the Spirit? Why is it important to do so? How does one walk by and live in the Spirit on a daily basis?

To walk by the Spirit means, to live out of the life of the Spirit. This can only come by way of submission and surrender. We must subject or submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and his governing of our lives. We give him free rein of our lives. He has the right to dictate to us how to live. John 14:26, Ephesians 5:24, James 4:7. We no longer live for ourselves, but instead we live for Christ through him. 2 Corinthians 5:15. That means that we choose to be governed by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ. We submit our will to him, and allow him to direct our lives in whatever way that he chooses. Developing intimacy with him is vital.

A great example of how one can be governed by the Holy Spirit, is in the book of Acts 16:1-10. Paul and Timothy were traveling in what is now call Turkey. They went through the Phrygian and Galatian region and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; after coming to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus ie. (the Holy Spirit) prevented them from speaking there. They passed by Mysia, and came down to Troas. Paul had a vision in the night of a man from Macedonia. The man was standing and appealing to Paul, saying “come over to Macedonia and help us.” Paul understood that to mean that God had called them to go and preach the gospel to the Macedonians. Paul and Timothy didn’t just do what they wanted to do. If they were governed by themselves, they probably would have gone into Mysia or Bithynia to preach the gospel, but they were directed by the Holy Spirit to go and preach the gospel to the Macedonians, and that’s what they did.

It’s important to walk by the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit represents Christ Jesus and his life to and in the believer. He is the one who gives us eternal life, or God’s kind of life. The life of God can only come by way of the Holy Spirit. We can’t get this life anywhere else. We are to live an exchanged life. Our life for God’s. Another words, we give God our sinful natural life, in exchange for his supernatural holy life. That’s what Jesus meant by losing the lower life, to gain the higher life. Matthew 16:24-26. We only have natural life, God wants to give us supernatural life, or spiritual life, which comes only from him by the Holy Spirit. 

Walking by the Spirit enables the believer to overcome sin’s power and influence in his or her life. If we are not walking in the Spirit, then we are walking in the flesh. There is no in between in this matter. It is one or the other. Paul stated in Romans 8:2-9 that: “Those who walk in the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; and those who walk Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” He also stated that: “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” So we can’t continue to walk in the flesh if we don’t want to produce death. The word death here speaks of spiritual death, which is separation from God. Sin is the only thing that separates us from God. So walking in the flesh is yielding to sin. If we are walking in the flesh continually, then that means that we are practicing sin. No one who is born of God practices sin. We no longer live our lives to please ourselves, but instead to please Christ Jesus. 1 John 3:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:15.

So, how does one walk in the Spirit? Walking in the Spirit starts first by cultivating a prayer life, or a life of prayer. Start by asking God to meet with you each day and talk to him about what’s on your heart. While you are talking with him, ask him to take control of your life by his Spirit that day. Tell him, that you want to do his will and not your own; that his will trumps your own will. Tell him that you want to be in his presence throughout the day. Ask him to manifest his presence to you. Praise and worship is an act of intimacy, so practice praising and worshipping him. The second thing that you need to cultivate, is spending regular time in the scriptures with a seeking heart. You are not just reading the Bible, you are seeking God through it. You should practice the art of meditating on the word. By meditating, I mean, musing over a passage of scripture in order to hear what God is speaking through it. You chew on it, by running it through your mind over and over again. The idea of meditating on the word, is to get it down deep in your spirit man, so that it becomes a part of you. Use the scriptures as a point of prayer. The best way to do that, is to start with the Psalms, and use them as prayers to God. The third and final way to walk in the Spirit, is to pray to the Holy Spirit and ask him to walk with you and to govern your life. You want him to know that you want to submit to him, and that you want him to work continually in your life. He will start speaking to you through scripture and giving you impressions in your spirit of what he is saying. Really get to know the Holy Spirit personally and intimately. He is a person, and not a force or thing. He wants to fellowship with you and commune with you, if you will invite him into your daily life.

Walking in the Spirit is paramount in our personal walk with God. We can’t grow without the Holy Spirit, he’s the one who opens scripture up to us, and our power for service comes from him, so walking with him is extremely important. You don’t take anything away from God the Father and Christ the Son when you cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the one who represents Christ to us in the earth. He is the agency by which God does his work in the earth. Get to know him, and get to know him intimately!