If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
“God in resting, there in my working, God in my thinking, God in my speaking. Be my everything, Be my everything, Be my everything...”
If we are saved, we have received the Holy Spirit and He resides within us. Ephesians 1:13–14 (NIV) says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s
...”
However, walking by the Spirit implies more than having the Holy Spirit inside us. It implies an engagement with the Spirit. “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Walking together with someone implies companionship or friendship, agreement and mutual destination.
Eugene Peterson writes in his book, “Tell It Slant”, that “a kind of intimacy develops naturally when men and women walk and walk together, with no immediate agenda or assigned task except eventually getting to their destination and taking their time to do it... When we deal with God, we are not dealing with a spiritual principle, a religious idea, an ethical cause, or a mystical feeling. We are dealing personally with Jesus, who is dealing personally with us.”1
Paul says in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:...” We are first and foremost in a relationship with a living God who knows us completely and desires for us to know Him. He wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
As we develop a relationship with Christ and we discover more and more who He is, we desire to be more like Him. We begin to follow Christ, imitating Him, and putting off fleshly behaviors that are inconsistent with who He is.
Galatians 5:17-21 says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” To walk with God, one must choose to let go of all worldly idols and make a decision in their heart to follow after God alone.
We cannot walk with God and at the same time walk with the world. When our hearts are after what the world has to offer we move in the opposite direction of God. James confronts the church for worldliness in James 4:1-4 when he says to them, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”
Paul says to the Galatians in Ga. 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Thomas Nelson Bible Commentary notes about this verse that the only consistent way to overcome sinful desires of our human nature is to live step-by-step in the power of the Holy Spirit. It notes, “Walking each moment by faith in God's word under the Spirit's control assures absolute victory over the desires of our sinful nature.”2
Too often I struggle with worldliness. I desire to follow God, but then I find that I am following the world. I find myself frustrated and discouraged and realize that it is because my desires are out of line with God's Kingdom. Tears ran down my eyes yesterday when I told my spiritual director the desire of my heart to walk in companionship with Christ and share His heart continually. As we talked, she noted that I seemed to have a “but” in my tone. I told her that it sometimes seems beyond my reach to walk with Christ while living in the world.
The Word of God says it is a choice who our heart's will serve. In 1 Kings18:21 “Elijah came near to all the people and said, 'How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.' But the people did not answer him a word.”
And in Joshua 24:15, Joshua said to the people, "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Paul easily made this choice as his eyes gazed upon Jesus. He wrote in Philippians 3::7-8, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ...”
Paul kept his eyes on His destination. In Philippians 3:10-12 he says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and my share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me His own.”
Paul realized that what was earthly was fleeting and that he had an eternal destination. He said in verse 20-21, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
Lord, I long to be more like Paul and be able to say with Him, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21) Forgive me where I have complained that following You is too hard. There is nothing I desire more than to walk with You.
1. Peterson, Eugene. Tell it Slant. Win. B. Eerdmans Pulblishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2008.
2. Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson study Bible : New King James Version. Includes index. (Ga 5:16). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.
If we are saved, we have received the Holy Spirit and He resides within us. Ephesians 1:13–14 (NIV) says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s
...”
However, walking by the Spirit implies more than having the Holy Spirit inside us. It implies an engagement with the Spirit. “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Walking together with someone implies companionship or friendship, agreement and mutual destination.
Eugene Peterson writes in his book, “Tell It Slant”, that “a kind of intimacy develops naturally when men and women walk and walk together, with no immediate agenda or assigned task except eventually getting to their destination and taking their time to do it... When we deal with God, we are not dealing with a spiritual principle, a religious idea, an ethical cause, or a mystical feeling. We are dealing personally with Jesus, who is dealing personally with us.”1
Paul says in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:...” We are first and foremost in a relationship with a living God who knows us completely and desires for us to know Him. He wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
As we develop a relationship with Christ and we discover more and more who He is, we desire to be more like Him. We begin to follow Christ, imitating Him, and putting off fleshly behaviors that are inconsistent with who He is.
Galatians 5:17-21 says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” To walk with God, one must choose to let go of all worldly idols and make a decision in their heart to follow after God alone.
We cannot walk with God and at the same time walk with the world. When our hearts are after what the world has to offer we move in the opposite direction of God. James confronts the church for worldliness in James 4:1-4 when he says to them, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”
Paul says to the Galatians in Ga. 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Thomas Nelson Bible Commentary notes about this verse that the only consistent way to overcome sinful desires of our human nature is to live step-by-step in the power of the Holy Spirit. It notes, “Walking each moment by faith in God's word under the Spirit's control assures absolute victory over the desires of our sinful nature.”2
Too often I struggle with worldliness. I desire to follow God, but then I find that I am following the world. I find myself frustrated and discouraged and realize that it is because my desires are out of line with God's Kingdom. Tears ran down my eyes yesterday when I told my spiritual director the desire of my heart to walk in companionship with Christ and share His heart continually. As we talked, she noted that I seemed to have a “but” in my tone. I told her that it sometimes seems beyond my reach to walk with Christ while living in the world.
The Word of God says it is a choice who our heart's will serve. In 1 Kings18:21 “Elijah came near to all the people and said, 'How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.' But the people did not answer him a word.”
And in Joshua 24:15, Joshua said to the people, "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Paul easily made this choice as his eyes gazed upon Jesus. He wrote in Philippians 3::7-8, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ...”
Paul kept his eyes on His destination. In Philippians 3:10-12 he says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and my share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me His own.”
Paul realized that what was earthly was fleeting and that he had an eternal destination. He said in verse 20-21, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
Lord, I long to be more like Paul and be able to say with Him, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21) Forgive me where I have complained that following You is too hard. There is nothing I desire more than to walk with You.
1. Peterson, Eugene. Tell it Slant. Win. B. Eerdmans Pulblishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2008.
2. Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson study Bible : New King James Version. Includes index. (Ga 5:16). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.
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