Welcome back to “Friday Feature!” Grab a cup of coffee, relax, and enjoy today’s devotion! If you missed last week’s devotion, you can read it here!
Quortney brings us today’s devotion titled, “Walking in the Spirit.” Quortney, a wife and mother of three beautiful children, lives in my home state of Georgia! Several weeks ago, we had the privilege of meeting through Instagram. As a Christian Blogger, Quortney writes such encouraging, uplifting posts! Give her IG page a follow! @running_redeemed
Walking in the Spirit
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:16-17
In our society today, it seems that walking in the Spirit has lost its place. It seems that the way Christians live has morphed from what the Bible deems appropriate, into what the world deems appropriate. Today, I want to take a quick look at what the Bible says about the “walk” of a believer and what it should look like.
What does walking in the Spirit even mean?
“Walk” in this way means to live, act or behave. To pursue a particular course of life. If we are saved, we have a new nature and an old nature. AKA the flesh and the Spirit. They are
in a constant battle with each other and you simply can not be walking in them both at the
same time. They are contrary to one another. They are opposites. They clash at every step. So,
if you walk in the Spirit, you won’t be walking in the flesh.
How can you successfully walk in the Spirit?
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:14
We can’t live a successful Christian life in our own strength! Jesus Christ is the key ingredient
and we must surrender our will to His! In order to live a successful Christian life the Bible tells
us we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ AND “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the
lusts thereof”. That means, its two fold. You have to do both things. In order to walk in the
Spirit, we can’t feed the flesh. We must feed the Spirit! We can’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh, we
must fulfill the desires of the Spirit! Our flesh has been crucified with Christ. We now live for
Him! Our old lusts should be replaced with a new desire to live for Christ! To follow after Him!
To please Him!
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another,
envying one another.” Galatians 5:24-26
What does the flesh desire?
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
How do we walk in the Spirit?
It is important to note that we DO NOT have to act a certain way in order to get saved. But,
once we are saved, we should want to act in a way that is pleasing to God. What do you think
the Spirit desires? How do you think we please God? Here are some ways that the Bible tells us we can “feed” our Spirit, some ways that we can “walk” in the Spirit.
{WALK BY FAITH}
“For we walk by faith, not be sight.” 2 For 5:7
{WALK WORTHY}
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” Eph 4:1
{WALK IN LOVE}
“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Eph 5:2
{WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY}
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,” Eph 5:15
{WALK IN THE LIGHT}
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
{IN TRUTH}
“For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.” Ps 26:3
(EVEN AS HE WALKED}
“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:6
What does walking in the Spirit look like?
Not doing evil things is different from doing good things. Walking in the Spirit will produce
certain fruits in our life. They aren’t necessarily things that we do. But, they are traits that we
will develop. Warren Wiersbe explains it like this…
“A machine in a factory works and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture
fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit.
When you think of works you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of fruit
you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life. The flesh produces dead works, but
the Spirit produces living fruit and this fruit has in it the seed for still more fruit.”
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
Do those traits seem like anything your life is producing? If not, it’s probably time to take a look at yourself and see what the hinderance is!