I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18
To Walk in the Spirit is to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. You have everything within you to walk in the spirit. Do whatever is required and allow the lifestyle of the spirit in you to manifest consistently!
Walking in the spirit is allowing the Holy Spirit influences your actions and decisions. Someone may ask how can I allow the Holy Spirit to influence my actions and decisions.
The Bible contains the nature, character and personality of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, some things in us identify with the Holy Spirit, something like the fruit of the Spirit!
God should not be the one always prompting you to manifest the fruit of the spirit when the situation calls for it. You have it within you, bring it out and see yourself walking in the Spirit.
Decide within yourself to always respond with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and self-control at all times! Manifesting the fruit of the spirit is also in the line of walking in the spirit. Wherever the fruit of the spirit is manifested, the spirit of God is always there!
Any life that is engulfed by the fruit of the spirit is a life walking in the spirit. The influence of the spirit of God in that person has grown to the extent that he/she is completely sold out to God.
God has not called us to struggle in achieving purity, holiness or obedience to Him. You should be able to know where you are with God; know the level of your relationship with God. In your heart, you should know if your relationship with God is healthy or not!
Come to an agreement with yourself on the level of your relationship with God. It will be a sincere foundation to build on, going forward. This will help you set a target for yourself by improving your relationship with God and walking consistently in His spirit.
The day your actions don’t meet up with the standard of God’s word, you can tell yourself, you will do better next time. Moreover, whenever you want to take any decision or do anything, you can always ask yourself, will these actions of mine glorify God? Choose to do what will give glory to God at all times, it’s an avenue of walking in the spirit. Become conscious of the mind of God concerning any decision you may want to take or execute.
One of the major challenges of some Christians in walking by the spirit is that though they have everything about the Holy Spirit in them to walk in the spirit, they have not allowed everything about the Holy Spirit to have them. Most times, it’s caused by the works of the flesh.
The power of the flesh has been conquered by Jesus on the cross. It’s no longer the time of the law where the law rules over man’s decisions and body. You are no longer under the law but under grace. Instead of being very careful not to fault the law, you should rather manifest the lifestyle of the spirit to walk in the spirit.
For example, instead of responding with a justified hatred towards an action against you or trying to manage your response to any act done against you, show love and allow the love of God to take over the situation. Refuse to allow yourself to be at the receiving end of bad treatment even when it’s done against you rather make them at the receiving end of God’s love. You may not be able to control how people behave towards you but you can control how you react to their behaviours. It’s in the mind!
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 corinthians 13:4-7
Love for God and love for your neighbours is walking in the spirit. This verse describes other branches of the fruit of the spirit. You can not have one fruit of the spirit without having others. That’s why it’s called the ‘fruit’ of the spirit (singular) and not the ‘fruits’ of the spirit (plural) because it’s a cluster of a bunch. They all go together! Where one is, others definitely will be present.
One of the reasons none Christians can not walk by the spirit is that they don’t have the fruit of the spirit. You may see them exhibiting something similar to patience, kindness or love, it is not the fruit of the spirit! You must have the Holy Spirit to have the fruit of the Spirit.
Another important way to walk in the spirit is through the voice of God. We all may have different ways God speak to us. As far as you are a child of God, He speaks to you in a way you understand! Sometimes, you just know that God is giving you a word or direction about something! This is the voice of the spirit of God within you. “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” John16:13
He will also prompt you about something right or wrong but He will never force it on you, that is where walking in the spirit is manifested, responding swiftly to the voice of the spirit. Responding to God’s voice is doing something on behalf of God! Allowing Him to influence our decisions and actions at all times is walking in the spirit.
In conclusion, walking in the Spirit is to walk in the new life of Christ. It is walking away from the old life of bondage to any idea, person, system, or religious ritual.
Christianity was first called “the Way.” It is not surprising that the Bible instructs believers to “walk” a certain way. Even today we hear others ask us about “our Christian journey so far.” Walking the journey means living as disciples of Jesus, following Him on “the Way” that leads to abundant and eternal life.
We can do this as we are baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and are sanctified; increasingly formed into the life of Jesus through the power of His Spirit.
May the grace to always walk in the spirit never cease in your life in Jesus’ name. (Amen)
