The concept of walking by the Holy Spirit is similar to being filled with the Spirit, but the imagery of walking may make it easier to picture the ongoing nature of the Spirit’s work. Walking is something we do every day, and we do it continually. Walking has three components we don’t usually think about, but it is helpful to consider them when we’re talking about our spiritual walk.
First, walking involves a destination. When you walk, you’re going somewhere, even if it’s just across the room. Walking by the Spirit involves a destination too, because He is ever and always moving us toward a destination, which is God’s glory.
Second, walking also requires dedication. Most people don’t just take a few steps and then quit for the day. Anyone who does that will not get very far, because walking must continue if we are to make progress. It’s like the Holy Spirit’s filling, which must be renewed regularly. It must be ongoing.
The third component of walking is dependence. You have to put your weight down on one leg and then another to walk. Or if your legs aren’t working properly, you have to depend on something or someone else to get you where you’re going. Either way it demands dependence.
The exciting thing is that when you learn to depend on God, you get stronger and not weaker. The Holy Spirit gives you the power to say no to Satan and the flesh when they try to trip you or try to lead you astray. You discover that you don’t have to carry out the desires of the flesh and the devil because you are energized by the Holy Spirit’s power.
Read Galatians 5:16-17. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Reflect: Why is the residence of the Holy Spirit important to Christians?
Suppose you go to the store one day and see the most incredible refrigerator you can imagine. It costs thousands more than a normal refrigerator, but you buy it anyway because of all of the bells and whistles!
Hours after stocking it full of groceries, you discover that the milk has spoiled, the ice cream is running out the bottom of the freezer, and the vegetables are changing colors. Your new refrigerator is not working. So you call the store for help and the employee tells you, “Put your ear up close to the refrigerator and tell me if you can hear the hum of the motor.” You do that, and there’s no hum. So he says, “There’s a cord at the back of the refrigerator. Please check to see whether it has been plugged in.” And there you have it—the cord has not been plugged in.
The thing is, appliances are dependent in nature. Although your refrigerator has all the parts necessary to cool all the food you put in it, it was manufactured in such a way that it will not operate without an invisible power source called electricity. Unless you plug in that cord, your food will continue to spoil.
Now that’s an obvious truth. No matter how much you paid for it, your refrigerator won’t work the way it was designed to work unless it is plugged in to the power. Neither will your spiritual life work unless it is plugged in to Holy Spirit power.
Read John 14:25-26. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Reflect: In your own words, describe the Holy Spirit and discuss how He works in the life of a believer.
When God saved us, He gave us all the component parts necessary for spiritual growth in our new nature. God has given us a new mind, new heart, new conscience, and new emotions—all of this through the new covenant that was put into effect for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But we are dependent creatures. We have not been designed to work on our own. The Holy Spirit is God’s supernatural gift to make experiential, alive, and real the new beings we have become. The Spirit is the heart and soul of a growing, flourishing Christian life.
Read Ephesians 5:17-21. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Reflect: According to Ephesians 5:17-21, how do you stay plugged into the Spirit?
Reflect: Have you made worship a lifestyle (Ephesians 5 17-21)? Explain.
For His Kingdom,
Tony Evans
Prayer: Lord, help me not to exhaust myself with a rowboat when I have a high-powered speedboat at my fingertips! Teach me how to yield control to the Spirit so that He can take care of the transformation and release His power and influence in my life. Amen.
