Walking in the Spirit

We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. – 1 John 3:24

We all live in the flesh, so we will struggle with the desires of the flesh until we get to heaven. But we can bring these desires under the Holy Spirit’s influence. “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Notice that the apostle Paul doesn’t say we won’t have the desires of the flesh when we walk in the Spirit, but that we won’t carry out those fleshly desires. Walking in the Spirit is similar to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Walking implies that the Spirit is going somewhere—there’s a destination. He always goes to the same place, to that which brings God glory. In contrast, the flesh is always moving to that which will please itself.

Walking is continuous. Like the filling of the Holy Spirit, our walk in the Spirit is ongoing, so we must maintain our dedication. To walk is to continue taking one step after another.

A third aspect of walking includes dependency. The key to walking in the Spirit is to look to Him to give us the ability to do what we know we can’t do on our own. The moment we try to do it on our own, we reject the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our source to true power and victory.