How To Walk By The Spirit
Walking is a word picture found throughout Scripture that illustrates the journey of knowing God and, more importantly, being led by the Holy Spirit.
He guides us to a path, but until you put one foot in front of the other, you won’t experience the growth that comes from movement. It’s like viewing the purpose of a map as only to be admired instead of using it as a guide for taking steps into an unknown landscape.
“Walk by the Spirit,” Paul says. “And you won’t carry out the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16).
You can’t just walk away from something without knowing what you’re stepping towards.
Walking by the Spirit will lead us from carrying out the desires of our sinful nature toward being more like Jesus.
The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us so that we can know him, follow him, and obey what he taught (here’s how to live by the power of the Holy Spirit).
How do you walk by the Holy Spirit?
I want to highlight two books that provide practical guidance on how to apply this as followers of Jesus.
1) “Practicing The Way“ by John Mark Comer.
The premise of this book lays out what it means to be an apprentice to Jesus with three stated goals:
- Be with Jesus.
- Become like him.
- Do as he did.
Comer highlights that the night before Jesus’ death, he made a puzzling promise to his disciples. Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever” (John 14:16).
Understanding the two Greek words for “another advocate” helps us know what Jesus was saying.
The Greek word for “another” is allos, and it literally means “another of the same kind” or “another of me.”
The word for “advocate” is parakletos, which can also be translated as “helper” or “intercessor.”
Comer hypothetically asks, “So the Father will give us another one of Jesus? To be with us? To help us and intercede for us? Exactly” (page 36).
Jesus names this “another one of me” as the Holy Spirit and says, “This Holy Spirit will testify all about me” (John 15:26).
You can’t know Jesus without the active work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
You can’t do what Jesus did without the power of the Holy Spirit (discover what it means to have the power of the Holy Spirit living with us).
Comer continues, “Jesus gave us his Spirit to empower us with his capacities. To do his work by his power, not our work by our own very limited resources.”
“Jesus is looking for disciples he can trust with his power” (page 127).
2) “Whose Life Are You Living?“ by Curt P. Martin (a long-time member of Worship Center).
This book outlines a step-by-step path to finding and living your unique purpose in Christ.
It starts with laying a foundation that Christ knows the real you, but it’s important for you to know who you are in him.
Martin writes, “The abundant life, where Christ lives both in and through each of his children in the power of his Spirit, is to be the normal life for Christians. It results in each individual living as his masterpiece.
We learn to know him, to see ourselves and others through his eyes, and to honor others in the same way he honors us, as we surrender all of our self to Christ and learn to walk in his Spirit” (page 17).
An essential question to ask yourself is this: “Will you try to live the life God has for you by your human understanding, or by seeking spiritual wisdom and understanding through walking by the Spirit?”
Walking by the Spirit requires a daily decision of surrender and obedience to the authority of God’s Word and control of his Spirit.
These daily decisions throughout your lifetime are how transformation happens from the inside out, and they lead to discovering your unique journey with God!