Alphabet Soup: Walk in the Spirit

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. — Galatians 5:16 (NIV)

As God’s children, the Holy Spirit lives in us to empower us to do great things for God. While we have the holy nature of God residing in us, the old sinful nature in us continually seeks to assert itself. When we walk in the Spirit, we make ourselves available to experience the fullness of God’s power and manifestation in our lives: The power to save, the power to heal and the power to deliver. While these victorious results are manifested in the physical realm, they are outcomes of battles that are won in the spiritual realm.

When we walk in the Spirit, we also develop and manifest the fruit of the Spirit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. As we continue to walk in the Spirit, we ready ourselves to align with God’s will by allowing His love and life-giving power to flow out from us as we work alongside Him.

What does God say about this?

These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2: 10-12 (NIV) 

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 8:27 (NIV)

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25 (NIV)

What does this mean for practical living?

We are living in the last days when anything that can be shaken will be shaken. We need to discern God’s will. We need to discern good and evil. We need to wage war against the evil one to save the lost. We need to keep in step and move with the Holy Spirit. God’s eyes are upon the righteous. He is looking for the man or woman who cares, so that He can reveal His will to His people and accomplish His purpose.

Walking in the Spirit means to be filled with the Spirit, to be sensitive to His voice and bidding. It means not walking by sight, but by faith. It means to pause and be sensitive to what God is saying and where He is leading us to. What we see in the physical realm may lead us to reason and conclude in certain ways. But we should be seeking spiritual wisdom. The wisdom from above, which God gives through the Spirit without reservation to those who ask Him.

Reflect and respond to God’s Word

• Do you seek to be filled with the Spirit daily? Why?
• What do you need to do to follow and keep in step with the Spirit’s leading?
• How can you differentiate between the Spirit’s leading and your own voice?