Walking in the holy spirit

WALKING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Galatians 5:25, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."
gotquestions.org
Question: "What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?"
Answer: Believers have the indwelling Spirit of Christ, the Comforter who proceeds
from the Father (John 15:26). The Holy Spirit assists believers in prayer (Jude 1:20)
and “intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans
8:27). He also leads the believer into righteousness (Galatians 5:16–18) and produces
His fruit in those yielded to Him (Galatians 5:22–23). Believers are to submit to the
will of God and walk in the Spirit.
A “walk” in the Bible is often a metaphor for practical daily living. The Christian
life is a journey, and we are to walk it—we are to make consistent forward progress.
The biblical norm for all believers is that they walk in the Spirit: “If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25, KJV; cf. Romans 8:14). In
other words, the Spirit gave us life in the new birth (John 3:6), and we must
continue to live, day by day, in the Spirit.
To walk in the Spirit means that we yield to His control, we follow His lead, and we
allow Him to exert His influence over us. To walk in the Spirit is the opposite of
resisting Him or grieving Him (Ephesians 4:30).
Galatians 5 examines the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. The context is
freedom from the Law of Moses (Galatians 5:1). Those who walk in the Spirit
“eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope” (verse 5) and are free
from the Law (verse 18). Also, those who walk in the Spirit “will not gratify the
desires of the flesh” (verse 16). The flesh—our fallen nature under the power of sin
—is in direct conflict with the Spirit (verse 17). When the flesh is in charge, the
results are obvious (verses 19–21). But when the Spirit is in control, He produces
godly qualities within us, apart from the strictures of the Law (verses 22–23).
Believers “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (verse 24), and now
we walk in the Spirit (verse 25).
Those who walk in the Spirit are united with Him and the bearers of the fruit the
Spirit produces. Thus, those who walk in the Spirit walk in love—they live in love for
God and for their fellow man. Those who walk in the Spirit walk in joy—they exhibit
gladness in what God has done, is doing, and will do. Those who walk in the Spirit

walk in peace—they live worry-free and refuse anxiety (Philippians 4:6). Those who
walk in the Spirit walk in patience—they are known for having a “long fuse” and do
not lose their temper. Those who walk in the Spirit walk in kindness—they show
tender concern for the needs of others. Those who walk in the Spirit walk in
goodness—their actions reflect virtue and holiness. Those who walk in the Spirit
walk in faithfulness—they are steadfast in their trust of God and His Word. Those
who walk in the Spirit walk in gentleness—their lives are characterized by humility,
grace, and thankfulness to God. Those who walk in the Spirit walk in self-control—
they display moderation, constraint, and the ability to say “no” to the flesh.
Those who walk in the Spirit rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them in thought, word,
and deed (Romans 6:11–14). They show forth daily, moment-by-moment holiness,
just as Jesus did when, “full of the Holy Spirit, [He] left the Jordan and was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness” to be tempted (Luke 4:1).
To walk in the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit, and some results of the Spirit’s
filling are thankfulness, singing, and joy (Ephesians 5:18–20; Colossians 3:16).
Those who walk in the Spirit follow the Spirit’s lead. They “let the word of Christ
dwell in [them] richly” (Colossians 3:16, ESV), and the Spirit uses the Word of God
“for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Their whole way of life is lived according to the rule of the gospel, as the Spirit
moves them toward obedience. When we walk in the Spirit, we find that the sinful
appetites of the flesh have no more dominion over us.
Walking In the Spirit
By A.B. Simpson
1. To walk in the Spirit is to recognize the Spirit as present and abiding in us. Let
us recognize Him as having come, and address Him as a present and indwelling
friend.
2. It means to trust Him and count upon Him in the emergencies of life, to
regard Him as one who has undertaken our cause and expects to be called upon in
every time of need, and will unfailingly be found faithful and all-sufficient in every
crisis. The very name Paraclete means one that we can always call upon and find at
our side. We must trust the Holy Spirit, and expect Him to respond to our need as
implicitly as we expect the air to answer the opening of our lungs, and the sunrise to
meet us in the morning.
3. We must consult the Holy Spirit if we would walk in the Spirit. We shall often
find that the things that seem most easy will fail and disappoint us when we rely

upon their apparent probability and the mere promise of outward circumstances,
and we shall also find where we commit our way unto Him, and acknowledge Him
in all our ways, that He will so direct our paths that the things which seemed most
difficult and improbable, will become the easiest and the most successful. He would
teach us thus to trust in Him with all our heart, and lean not unto our own
understanding; in all our ways to acknowledge Him and He will direct our steps.
4. If we would walk in the Spirit we must obey Him when He does speak, and we
must remember that the first part of obedience is to hearken. It is not enough to say
we have done all we knew, we ought to know, and we may know, for He has said that
we shall know His voice, and if we do not it must be that we are to blame, or else
God is responsible for our mistake. But this cannot be.
5. Walking in the Spirit implies that we shall keep step with the Holy Ghost, and
that our obedience shall he so prompt that we shall never find ourselves a step
behind Him, and following Him at a distance which we may find it hard to recover.
In the ancient world of the 1st century there was a popular expression used by the
philosophers of the day: “If a Greek wanted to know what you thought, they simply
asked you. If a Jew wanted to know what you thought, they followed you around for
a week.” The implication? What we really believe is usually expressed by how we
really live. The walk of a believer implies that the Christian will give attention to his
or her spiritual walk. What we believe ought to affect the integrity of our character
and the pattern of our behavior. Ephesians 4:17 "This I say therefore, and testify in
the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their
mind,"/ KJV
Among other things, walking implies progress—going from where one is to where he
ought to be. As a believer submits to the Spirit’s control, he moves forward in his
spiritual life. Step by step the Spirit moves him from where he is toward where God
wants him to be.
The early 20th century poet, Edgar Guest, once said: "I’d rather see a sermon, than
hear one, any day!"
2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord." KJV
ILLUS. Louis Cassels, long-time religious editor for Untied Press International,
wrote: “Immediately upon our conversion, we set out on the path of Christian

pilgrimage. We will spend a lifetime walking it. There are no rest stops, no plateaus
at which we can flop down and say that we've gone far enough. At the beginning,
God accepts us in all of our sinfulness and selfishness. But this does not mean that
he is content to have us remain in that state. We are all, in the New Testament's
terrifying phrase, "called to be saints." Our Father knows our weaknesses even
better than we do, and he does not expect us to become saints overnight. But he does
demand that we keep moving in that direction, or as the good old Methodist phrase
puts it, that we continue "groaning toward perfection. At each step of the journey,
the question that really matters is not whether we are a little farther along than
some of our friends and neighbors, but how far we have progressed since
yesterday.”
through the Spirit’s transforming work in our lives, we learn to love to do what we
ought to do—glorify God with every part of our life
1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to
the glory of God." NASB95
"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3, NASB95)
how does the Spirit of God transform us?
God uses virtually every event and circumstance we encounter, and every person
with whom we come in contact to mold us and shape us into the image of His Son
ILLUS. In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells a story that illustrates
what I’m trying to teach. She writes: “It was a church service in Munich that I saw
him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the
processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had
seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there—the roomful of mocking men,
the heaps of clothing ...” He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming
and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said. "To think
that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!" His hand was thrust out to shake
mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to
forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled
through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to
ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried
to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest
spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot
forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing
happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed
to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that

almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any
more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He
tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."
we walk in the Spirit when we allow the Spirit to affect our affections
B. WALKING BY THE SPIRIT MEANS ALLOWING THE SPIRIT TO
ILLUMINATE OUR INTELLECT
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a
living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of
worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is
good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2, NASB95)
like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, we need to have our minds opened to the
Scriptures
ILLUS. William Law, an early 18th-century English author, wrote: “Without the
present illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God must remain a dead letter
to every man, no matter how intelligent or well-educated he may be ... It is just as
essential for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of Scripture to the reader today as it
was necessary for him to inspire the writers in their day.”
19th-century evangelist D.L. Moody said it like this: “The Bible without the Holy
Spirit is a sun-dial by moonlight.”
God uses His Word to conform our lives to His image, but it’s the Spirit who reveals
truth to us, and then enables us to bring our behavior in line with the written word
we walk in the Spirit when we allow the Spirit to illuminate our intellect
C. WALKING BY THE SPIRIT MEANS ALLOWING THE SPIRIT TO
CONFORM OUR CONSCIENCE
is the Spirit in control of your choosing?
when you feel convicted by the Spirit to do something, do you do it?
ILLUS. Peter Lord, Pastor of FBC, Titusville, Fl., says, “If we will give more
expression to our impressions, we will become more impressionable.”
this is—in my humble opinion—the most difficult area of the Christian life to bring
under control—our will
Paul speaks of this when he refers to the spiritual tug-of-war that goes on in the

believer’s life—including his!
"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is
present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do,
but I practice the very evil that I do not want." (Romans 7:18-19, NASB95)
our will is our holy ‘want to’
it constrains us to bring our behavior in line with the Word’s teachings, and the
Spirit’s prompting
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of
every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but
understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15–17, NIV84)
Ephesians 5:8
for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as
children of Light
2 Corinthians 5:7
for we walk by faith, not by sight--
Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
1 John 2:6
the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He
walked.
Ephesians 5:15-16
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most
of your time, because the days are evil.
Galatians 5:25
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Colossians 1:10-11

so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all
steadfastness and patience; joyously
Philippians 3:16-18
however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to
the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell
you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
Ephesians 4:1-32 ESV / 52 helpful votes
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the
calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to
the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ...
3 John 1:3-4 ESV
For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed
you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are
walking in the truth.
Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 45 helpful votes
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Pastor Darryl Baker
Gal. 5:16 But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to
and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the
cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).
I talk with believers all the time who say they want to see God’s will done in their life,
but unfortunately are not. Too often we are letting our fleshly ways get the best of us and

in doing so missing out on what is God’s will for our lives. I recently asked a group of
men who were married if they knew what makes their spouse upset or mad. They all
responded that they did. I then asked, “Why then do we do things that we know will upset
them and make them mad? What is the benefit in that?”
So often we do things that we know are not going to reap good results. If we love the
Lord we don’t even do so with willful intentions, but yet we do things in the flesh, which
does not bring good results. As scripture reveals there is nothing good that dwells in the
flesh, for the flesh is opposed to God. So what can we do about this? Well as always God
has an answer. This is one of the most important things to learn as a believer. One of the
primary goals after getting born again is to become more and more spiritual. To be
spiritual means to be governed by the spirit, which is to be led by the Holy Spirit. The
more spiritual we become, the more we are walking in the Spirit. When we do this we do
not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
The desires of the flesh apart from the Spirit of God are not going to reap good results. If
we respond to people out of the flesh for example we will then often oppose what God
says we should do in that situation. This brings about results that none of us like. If we
face decisions in life and our response is founded off of what our flesh wants to do this
will result in us missing out on God’s will for our life. So if you want to totally change
your life and walk in the Spirit, which brings all the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), we
must learn to do so.
So the key as to how we learn to become spiritual and not respond according to our old
human fleshly nature is to walk in the Spirit. This is learning to live our life governed by
the Holy Spirit who will always lead us in what is God’s will for our life, and in turn will
produce godly fruit, which is far better than the fruit of the flesh. In Galatians 5:19-21
there is a list of the fruits of the flesh, and all you have to do is look over that list and I
can assure you those are things you do not want to live in. There are two primary things
associated with walking in the Spirit. That is what I want to teach you this week. So let’s
begin.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I
speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Here Jesus also states that the flesh is of no profit. Think about that. He declares it is the
Spirit who gives life, and that is the word for “Zoe”, which means the god-kind of life.
Now notice what He says at the end of this verse. The words that He spoke are spirit, and
they are life. Did you get that? You see the first and most important truth to walking in
the Spirit is one that is often overlooked. Jesus’ words are spirit. Therefore, if we will
learn to walk in light of and obedience to His Words, you will begin to walk in the Spirit.
This is where you see an immediate problem for far too many that are born again. To
walk in the light of and obedience to the Word’s of Jesus you must get into His Word;
primarily focusing on what Jesus said, and what His disciples said which they learned of
Him. If we don’t take time to get into His Word then how can we walk in the Spirit?
There are two aspects to walking in the Word. First and foremost is learning to walk in
the light of the Word of God, being obedient to what is says.
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Walking in the light of God’s Word is practicing the truth, which is the Word of God.
When we put God’s Word into practice in our lives then we walk in the light as He is in
the light, and we walk in the liberty that has come from the blood of Jesus, which
cleansed us from all sin. James tells us that we are to be doers of the Word and not
hearers only. One who hears but does not take the time to put application of the Word into
their life James said deceives himself. So don’t be self-deceived, walk in the light of the
Word by practicing what it says. Like anything you practice that means you are going to
get good at it because you are going to make an effort to practice.
2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a
new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual
condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
The second key to walking in the Word is to live with an understanding of who you are in
Christ Jesus. If you don’t take the time to meditate on and renew your mind to who you
are in Christ, you are going to continue to think with the old fleshly mindset. You are
NOT an old sinner saved by grace. You are a NEW creation. You can’t be both. You are a
spirit and your spirit is born again. You are a new creature all together made in the image
of God. You must learn this or the old fleshly nature will continue to dominate your life.
Rom. 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom. 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit…
To walk in life, the god-kind of life, you must also be led by the Spirit of God. But
whatever you do don’t put this before walking in line with the Word of God. When you
talk about walking in the Spirit this is what most people think of, being led by the Holy
Spirit, and it is included. But if you are not going to get into the Word and walk in the
light of the Word, you are not going to be able to accurately be led by the Holy Spirit.
Everything He tells us to do is in line with the Word of God.
In verse 13 above Paul is stating the same thing here that we started with in Galatians
5:16. When we allow our flesh to make our decisions and not walk in the Spirit, then we
are going to have the fruit of the flesh manifesting. But when we walk in the Spirit we are
going to have life for we will have the fruit of the Spirit manifested in and through us.
God wants to lead us by His Spirit. A key to this is that His Spirit is not going to speak to
our brain. Notice it says that His Spirit bears witness with our spirit. God is a Spirit, and
He is going to reveal Himself to us through our spirit. So we must learn to listen to our
spirit man within to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Let me share a key to how we
can learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
James 1:19 Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to
hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.
One of the simplest truths to being led by the Spirit is to quit reacting immediately to
what you hear, or to what goes on around you. Be quick to hear, a ready listener, and slow
to speak. It is our flesh that wants to immediately speak, and when we do so without
taking time to hear what God would say in that situation, we are not going to walk in the

Spirit, we are going to walk in the flesh.
If we are taking time to hear this not only refers to us listening to what someone is
saying, but also to what God is wanting us to say or do in that situation. I have by no
means perfected this, but I have avoided some arguments and created fewer problems to
deal with in my life when doing this. Think about how different your life would be if you
took the time before responding to any situation in your life to simply ask the Holy Spirit,
“What would God want me to say or do here?” If we will really learn this habit of
listening first to our spirit man, not our thoughts or what we think, but really zeroing in
on our spirit man within to hear from God, how different would our lives be? How
different would our relationships be?
God gave us a great Helper, the Holy Spirit. But how often do we take advantage of this
great Helper to really stop and listen to what He is trying to tell us to do or say? Walk in
the light of the Word and listen to the Holy Spirit within you. Doing so you will walk in
the Spirit and thus not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The results will be much better, and
you will experience more of God’s will for your life. You will walk in the fruit of the
Spirit, not the fruit of the flesh. It is a much more peaceful and joyful way to live life.
May God’s Best Be Yours!
Pastor Darryl Baker
SPIRITUAL WALKING BY DANIEL STEELE
"walking in the comfort of the holy ghost."
This is designed to be the normal life of the be¬
liever. The Holy Spirit has two distinct kinds
of activity in His earthly mission. His delight¬
ful work is to comfort, strengthen and cheer Christians.
His strange work is to convert sinners — I call it strange
because it is strongly allied to the wrath of God. It
has been well said that judgment is His strange work,
in which a God of love finds no pleasure. I cannot
think that the Holy Spirit finds gratification in admin¬

istering rebuke to those who sin against a holy God.
It is sad to think that even in the case of many who
have been born of the Spirit, He exercises toward them
more frequently the unpleasant office of conviction
than the pleasant office of approval and comfort. How
few disciples there are who know the Holy Ghost in the
latter office. What is His comfort? He brings into
our hearts, if we fully believe in Jesus, the glorified
Giver, above all, the consciousness that we are pleasing
the Father by the power of the Son; that we are rec¬
onciled children making glad our Father. “ How long,”
asks one, “ will Christians introvert the offices of the
Holy Spirit, and oblige Him to be in their daily walk
more convincing than comforting ? ” Of what sin does the
Spirit convict? Unbelief. It is only because of unbe-
lief that so many Christians, looking back a day, a week
or a year, have not the testimony in their souls that
their life has pleased God; and so the Spirit is obliged
again and again, in fulfilling the law of love by which
He acts, to take up His office of convicting of sin.
At last many children of God lose all faith in the pos¬
sibility that they may for any length of time live a
life pleasing to their heavenly Father. Then they
begin to look in the Bible for a justification of this
wretched lowering of the standard of holy living and

diminishing of the glorious privilege of living in cloud¬
less communion with the Father and the Son while
walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. This they
find in misinterpreting the seventh chapter of the Epistle
to the Romans and a few other perverted texts in Paul’s
Epistles, and one in I John, “ If we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves.” Having dragged the standard
down to the low level of “ necessary ” daily sinning, they
have exchanged the comfort of the Spirit for convic¬
tion— a worse bargain than Homer speaks of when a
certain man exchanged his gold for brass, or “ brassed
his gold.” Where the members of any church that
have thus exchanged their gold have become a majority
and their influence is preponderating, it is natural for
them to delight to see their degraded standard set up
in their pulpit. The old standard is now considered as
obsolete. It is an uncomfortable rebuke.
Thus, in many instances, the standard is changed.
The wishes of the church mould the preacher. Demos¬
thenes tells the Athenians that they make their ora¬
tors. They speak what the churches wish to hear.
In this way a generation of Christians is born into the
church who have never heard of the strange doctrine

of walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost under
cloudless skies, victorious over every wilful sin, and de¬
livered from the former intestine war — the flesh striv¬
ing against the Spirit. This answers our question why
so few, relatively, in modern times testify to a con¬
tinuous walk in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
But this is a blessing that is not dependent on the
majorities. The condition of its existence is not “ a
count of heads and a clack of tongues.” It rests on
faith in the promise of our ascended and glorified
Christ appearing in heaven for me to-day and sending
down the greatest gift that men can receive or heaven
can send.
It may be said that “ this style of life is practicable
for only a very few, such as ministers whose minds are
always filled with gospel truth and who are not jostled
about in contact with rough men, and for retired old
men and women living on the interest of safely invested
funds; these, having few perplexities and vexations,
may be able to live in serene and uninterrupted com¬
munion with God through the conscious abiding of the
Comforter. But this is impossible with merchants mak¬
ing hundreds of bargains every day; with operatives in

mills, in close contact with many who believe not in
Jesus Christ and obey not the moral principles of His
gospel; with mothers shut up with a troop of quarrel¬
some children, and with many other classes of people
who have a hard lot in life.” Can we quote any instances
of walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost amid
such perplexities? We find many such in church his¬
tory, but we will cite only two, one a clergyman and
the other a layman. The record of the first is this:
“ In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in
deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty
stripes save one [a hundred and ninety-five]. Thrice
was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I
suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in
the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among
false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watch¬
ings often, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness,
by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good re¬
port.” What is his testimony to his own interior life
while running the gauntlet through these perils and
sufferings? “ I have learned in whatsoever state I am,
therein to be content; in everything and in all things

have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be
hungry, both to abound and to suffer want.” From
whom did he learn this wonderful secret? Not from
the stoics, but from the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
For he says, “ I can do all things in him that strength¬
ened! me” (Phil. iv. 11—13, Revised Version).
The business of our illustrious layman, that of a
premier managing the vast, varied and conflicting in¬
terests of an empire of a hundred and twenty provinces,
would naturally be regarded as incompatible with a high
degree of spirituality. But Daniel, though living in the
pre-Pentecostal era and watched by eagle-eyed jeal-
ousy, “ three times a day went into his chamber, and
opened his windows toward heaven, to breathe the heav¬
enly air. The more business we have, the more we want
heavenly air.” As Dr. Bushnell believes that Socrates
and Plato were regenerated “ by a special mission of
the Holy Ghost,” so we believe that Daniel was sustained
in his unconquerable fidelity to the God of Abraham by
the special indwelling of the Third Person of the Trinity.
We live in an age when liberalists and agnostics
covertly undermine Christianity by the insinuation that
its principles are ideal and altogether too lofty to be

perfectly obeyed by men and women who have been
crippled and diminished in their moral capacity by sin.
This is the view from the plane of naturalism. The
supernaturalism of the indwelling Spirit declares that
“ where sin abounded grace does much more abound.”
Glory to God !
The doctrine of Jesus Christ respecting human re¬
sponsibility is that it is measured by our original tal¬
ents and favorable or unfavorable environment. Where
much is given, much will be required.
The patriarchal dispensation afforded little religious
knowledge. Contrasted with our privileges it was as
the light of the moon to the sun. We may discover
our responsibility in the study of a patriarchal charac¬
ter which adorned the earth more than three thousand
years before the day of Pentecost.
The phrase, “walked with God,” is in the Bible ap¬
plied to only two individuals of the human race whose
names are known, Enoch and Noah (Gen. v. 22;
vi. 9). “It must be distinguished,” says the cele-
brated commentator, Delitzsch, “from walking before
God and walking after God,” since both the latter

phrases smack* somewhat of the constraint of a legal
service. Yet they are used to indicate genuine right¬
eousness and blamelessness of life “ under the law” —
to use a Pauline expression for obedience prompted by
fear rather than love. Servility seems to be implied in
walking after any one as the servant follows his master.
The same feeling is implied in walking before a supe¬
rior under whose eye we act impelled by a sense of awe
and of espionage instead of the gladness and freedom
of filial affection walking hand in hand with a loving
Father. Walking with a person implies not only a kind
of social equality, but the most confidential intercourse,
each unbosoming himself to the other in the closest
communion. Enoch’s walk with God is recorded twice,
as something indeed extraordinary, but not impossible
to every man in every age. It is put on record for
universal imitation, not as a prodigy preternatural and
abnormal. It was designed to be the norm or model
of every human character. Let us now consider how
much walking with God implies.
i. It certainly evinces perfect harmony. “ How can
two walk together except they be agreed ? ” There
was a complete concurrence of the human will with the
divine will. Enoch could have used the words of Faber:

“ I worship thee, sweet will of God!
And all thy ways adore,
And every day I live I seem
To love thee more and more.”
There are some who insist that this delightful accord
of the believer s will with God’s will in all the allotments
of life, both painful and delightful, is only a beautiful
ideal which can never be realized on the earth. It cer¬
tainly never can be realized on the plane of nature, nor
can it be fully experienced on the plane of that initial
grace into which we are brought by the new birth. It
is possible only to that fulness of the Spirit which
sheds abroad the love of God in the heart, filling it to
the brim. It is easy for the child who perfectly loves
his parents cheerfully to surrender to their commands.
2. Enoch must also have had perfect trust in God.
If he who comes to God must have faith, much more
must he who locks arms and keeps step with Him
have the utmost confidence in this divine companion.
Mutual confidence is the root of friendship -and the in¬
dispensable requisite to the true wedlock of two souls.
This unquestioning faith settles the question of divine
guidance. In Enoch’s walk he left to God the choice

of the way. Thus he was relieved of a source of much
of the perplexity of life — painful solicitude respecting
the way he should take at every crossroad in the
journey of life, and often distressing regret for making
a wrong choice. Like Enoch we are all strangers on
the earth, walking in a path new to us and having
many pleasant but fatal by-paths. To those who wish
for unerring guidance there is an infallible Guide whose
services are gratuitously rendered to complete trust.
As perfect love casts out all tormenting fear, so perfect
confidence casts out distressing doubt.
3. Enoch must have had a very joyful sense of se¬
curity in his walk with God, being freed from all uncer-
tainties respecting the direction of his journey and all
fear of foes in ambuscade. By day and by night he
could say to his omniscient and omnipotent conductor,
“ Where Thou art guide, no ill can come.” Complete
confidence in Him can walk straight forward regardless
of the roar of the lion, the paw of the bear, the tooth
of the tiger and the fang of the serpent. Here we
have uncovered the secret of the fearlessness of Paul,
the courage of Luther, the calmness of Wesley facing
furious mobs from one end of England to the other,
and the heroism of “ the noble army of martyrs ” in all

the Christian ages.
4. Enoch was characterized by a holiness so perfect
as to need no finishing touch in death and no quaran¬
tine in purgatory preparatory to his introduction into
a holy heaven. Perhaps God translated Enoch and
Elijah to rebuke the Gnostic error that men cannot be
perfectly holy in the body, and that death by separat¬
ing the spirit from “ the vile body ” falsely so called
(see Phil. iii. 21, Revised Version) perfectly prepares
the believer for the inheritance of the saints in light.
We have searched in vain for any scriptural foun¬
dation of this doctrine, which discredits the blood of
Jesus Christ as the means of cleansing from all sin, and
discounts the Holy Spirit as the agent of entire sancti¬
fication in the present life.
5. He who is on so intimate terms with our evei-
blessed God will enjoy the highest possible degree of
happiness. The fact that this great world is too small
to satisfy the human soul demonstrates its likeness to
God, inasmuch as it has an infinite capacity which only
the Infinite One can fill. Fill this infinite capacity with
the illimitable and fathomless ocean, the pleroma , “the
fulness of him who filleth all in all,” and bliss will be

supreme and eternal. The vicissitudes of life, from
health to sickness, from riches to poverty, from ap¬
plause to abuse, may ripple the surface of this profound
happiness, but they cannot disturb its immeasurable
depths. The soul thus drinking from the fountain of
felicity is at home everywhere, and sings with Madam
Guyon in prison:
“ My Lord, how full of sweet content
I pass my years of banishment!
Where’er I dwell, I dwell with Thee,
In heaven, in earth, or on the sea.”
What valid excuse have we for not walking with God
as closely and as persistently as Enoch walked? Our
circumstances are not less favorable. He lived in a
pessimistic world rapidly degenerating and soon to be
overwhelmed in the deluge. We live in an optimistic
world that is on the up grade, steadily rising in moral
tone. He lived before the God-Man appeared on the
earth and left for our feet a shining path to an open
heaven. He lived before the dispensation of the Com¬
forter, who comes to abide in the believer in Jesus
Christ. His dispensation compared with ours is as the
light of the stars to the cloudless noonday sun.

He was not exempt from toil and care. While walk¬
ing with God, he did not dwell apart from society,
a celibate in monastic seclusion, but begat sons anJ
daughters, bore the burdens of a father in providing for
his family and in disciplining his children and com-
manding them to obey his precepts. It is quite prob¬
able that sometimes he had to secure obedience and
respect for his authority by the use of the birch.
In no respect was Enoch’s environment equal to ours
in promoting communion with God. We cannot agree
with Delitzsch that He walked in a visible human form
beside Enoch three hundred years, a chronic theophany.
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews enrolls Enoch
among the heroes of faith : “ By faith” — not by sight
— “ Enoch was translated.” His whole life was a life
of faith. There are on the earth to-day many Enochs
with whom God is walking and talking. The purpose
of this chapter is to encourage many others to spend
their lives in this glorious companionship in heaven¬
ward travel, “walking in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost.”

"I'll Walk with God" - Daniel Rodriguez
Lyrics
I'll walk with God from this day on
His helping hand, I'll lean upon
This is my prayer, my humble plea
May the Lord be ever with me
There is no death though eyes grow dim
There is no fear when I'm near to Him
I'll lean on Him forever
And He'll forsake me never
He will not fail me
As long as my faith is strong
What ever road I may walk alone
I'll walk with God, I'll take His hand
I'll talk with God, He'll understand
I'll pray to Him, each day to Him
And He'll hear the words that I say
His hand will guide my throne and rod
And I'll never walk alone
While I walk with God
Songwriters: NIKOLAUS BRODSZKY,PAUL FRANCIS WEBSTER
© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
WalkwithGod.com
If you are just beginning your walk with God and would like some background on
what this is all about, read on.
Long before humanity was created in the earth, God desired to have a family of
children who would share in His nature and who would express the glory of His
character. He began this process by creating Adam and Eve and placing them in a
beautiful garden where they would be given the opportunity to live peaceably while
learning responsibility. And each day, God came to them and would walk with them
and talk with them in the cool of the day. His desire was for Adam and Eve to get to
know Him as their Creator, their God and their Friend.
As we are so painfully aware, the disobedience of Adam and Eve brought sin into
the world. With sin came death, suffering, violence and a thousand other woes. All
seemed at a loss. But God, in His wisdom, had already prepared a plan to buy back
the loss of our relationship with the sacrifice of His own Son. It took thousands of
years and a long process of gradual revelation as He prepared the world to receive
the truth of His love for us, but at just the right time, Jesus came into the world.

The kind of life that Jesus lived while here on this earth is an example to each of us
as to just what God is looking for. Jesus lived a life of peace. He loved and blessed
others, even those who hated Him. He did good, healing the sick miraculously and
driving demons from the minds and bodies of those who were tormented by them.
Most of all, He lived in perfect harmony with God the Father. He prayed to God. He
talked about God’s Word with others. He listened to God speak back to Him.
Finally, in perfect obedience, Jesus was willing to lay down His life in behalf of
everyone else to pay the price of death for our disobedience. His death and
resurrection bring us forgiveness and allow us to participate in the life that He now
offers all who are willing to receive, a life that is just what God had planned from
the beginning: being His children and walking daily in fellowship with Him.
Throughout history there have been numerous people who have walked with God.
One of the first recorded stories is about a man named Enoch (Genesis 5). There is
very little said about Enoch in the Bible, but what is said is significant. He had his
first child, Methuselah, when he was sixty five years old. And after the birth of his
son, he walked with God three hundred years, having other children along the way.
Then one day, God simply took Enoch from this life and from this world — he could
not be found because God took him away.
Some of the encouraging aspects of the life of Enoch are that he was a man of
responsibilities, just like we are, yet he managed those responsibilities without losing
sight of his spiritual need for God. He was a father of at least four children (sons and
daughters imply at least two of each), but he did not let family demands pull him
away from serving God. And he served God without a Bible. He did not have a full
printed revelation to guide his daily steps. Still he lived in such a way that God was
very pleased with his life.
Another man who walked with God early on was Noah (Genesis 6). Noah lived in a
generation in which it seemed that everything had gone downhill — and it had.
Violence had increased to the point that it filled the earth. Sexual promiscuity was
rampant. But Noah did not allow the wickedness of those around him to distract
him from serving God. He was not a follower of God in name only. Rather, Noah
walked with God and God walked with him. They had a relationship that was so
important to God that He refused to destroy the whole earth without giving Noah a
chance to save his family by building an ark. Noah’s obedience did save not only his
life and the lives of his family members but also the hope of future generations.
Finally, a third example of someone who had a relationship with God was David (1
Samuel 16 and following). It is important to realize that long before the prophet
Samuel poured the oil over David’s heads to anoint him as king, God had already
referred to David as someone who was a man after God’s own heart (13:4). There
was something about David, even as a very young man, that God liked. David
possessed qualities of honesty, diligence and a heart that loved to worship God. The
many songs that he wrote are an evidence of this, and his willingness to let God be
the one that fought his battles evidenced David’s faith that God really was his
Shepherd. Even after David sinned with Uriah’s wife, his cry of repentance was that
God would not take His Holy Spirit from David and that God would restore the joy
of salvation back into David’s life. His walk with God was more important than the

kingdom.
There are many other examples of people who have walked with God. They are
found not only in the Bible but in the many books and biographies of church history.
But it is not enough for us to simply look in awe at the wonderful relationship
someone else had with God. We must pursue God for ourselves. We must walk with
God daily, or we have missed the message each of these people would try to tell us.
Questions that might run through your mind are, “What are some of the
components of walking with God? How do I get started in my walk with God? How
do I grow in my walk with God?” Let’s begin answering these questions with the
very basics.
Step One
Before beginning a walk with God, you must get to know Him. There is only one
way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ the Son of God. God set it up this way,
and nothing you or I can do will change it. Jesus is our Savior, and He is also our
example. As such, we must repent of our sins, telling God we are not only sorry for
breaking His laws but also that we wish to turn away from the life we have lived.
Then, we ask God to forgive us of all the things we have ever done which have been
contrary to His way of living. After we ask forgiveness, we simply believe that He is
Truthful when He says that He will forgive us (1 John 1:9). Then, we confess that we
believe that He is the Son of God, that God raised Him from the dead, and that He is
now the King of our lives.
Step Two
After you have come to know God through Jesus, you must realize that this is the
beginning of a new relationship in your life. Like any relationship, there is much to
learn about this new Person. At first you may be a bit hesitant to open up and share
freely because of a fear of being rejected. That’s ok. God made you, and He
understands how you feel. He is committed to a long term relationship with you. Let
us look at how God views you before going any further.
1. First of all, you are forgiven. God does not keep looking at you remembering what
you did to Him. He will not bring up your past to accuse you or make you feel guilty.
You really are forgiven, and the sins you committed are forgotten.
2. Second, you are clean. As 1 John says, you have been cleansed from all of your
unrighteousness. Picture yourself as someone wearing a very dirty, filthy and smelly
robe. God not only comes to you and says, “I forgive you for getting yourself dirty,”
but He also says, “Let me change your garment!” He takes off your old dirty robe
and puts on you a brand new (still has the tag on it) white robe. You are clean again!
3. Third, you are righteous. You are not just made clean from the bad, but God
actually makes you righteous. He does not leave you with an empty gaping hole
where He took out the sin. He fills you with His love, His peace, His goodness. You
are a different person than before you knew God.
4. Next, you are accepted. No one else may know how much rejection you have faced
in your own life. Rejection is very, very painful. Sometimes the people closest to us
hurt us the most with cutting words or even physical abuse. God will never do that
to you in this relationship. He has made a one hundred percent commitment to you.

He opens His arms wide to embrace you. The proof of His acceptance of you is the
great price He paid to win you back — the death of His Son Jesus. You never need
fear rejection from God because of that price.
5. Fifth, you are free. God does not forgive you and clean you up only to leave you
bound in chains that would keep you captive to sin. The death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus liberate us from sin. You have a new power working within you
that will prompt you not only to want good things but also give you the strength,
courage and willpower to do them.
6. Sixth, the life that is ahead of you is filled with purpose, because God views you as
a partner in the great work He is doing in the universe. He does not merely point
you to the bleachers to watch the game, He intends for you to put on your uniform
and get involved. He has a key play with your name on it.
7. Finally, God views you ultimately as His child. Romans 8:14-17 describe you as
being a joint heir with Jesus Christ in God’s family. All that God has to offer is
yours as His child. He wants you to believe that. He wants you to experience that.
This is what walking with God is all about.
Step Three
Knowing how God views you will help you in your willingness to open up to God
with your own heart and life. It’s always easier to be open with someone whom you
know really, truly loves you. But commitment in any relationship is a two way street.
If you want to walk with God, you must be committed to Him. The way you express
your love for God is by obeying Him. Jesus said, “The one who has my
commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).
Since we show our love for God by obeying Him, we have to learn what His
commands are. This is really very simple to do. Start by reading the Bible, especially
the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), in a translation that you can
clearly understand. As you read, you will be able to learn firsthand what Jesus said
to His followers two thousand years ago. Jesus’ main concern was not to teach
people how to make money or how to amass material wealth. He came, in His own
words, to give us life, abundant life (John 10:10). This abundant life is one in which
love governs our actions and thoughts. We learn to forgive instead of strike back.
We learn to care for the needs of others instead of being selfish. Jesus even teaches
us how to communicate with God.
Sometimes you may be faced with a choice, and you may not understand exactly
what it is that God wants you to do in the situation. In such times, we have to learn
to listen to the voice of God as He speaks to us inwardly by the Holy Spirit. Now
everyone has a lot of thoughts and ideas that go through our head on any given day.
How do you tell which is God’s Spirit? The more you read God’s Word, the more
you will be able to distinguish His voice when He speaks to you through the Holy
Spirit. If you hear a voice telling you to retaliate in anger at someone who is hurting
you, but you have just read Jesus’ words when he said to love you enemies and do
good to those who hurt you, you can quickly realize that the voice you hear is not
God’s Spirit. If in the same situation you hear a voice saying that you should pray
for the person, you can realize that this is God’s Spirit speaking to you a specific

direction for you to obey right then.
Obedience is really the central part of our walk with God. Without obedience, we
cannot walk with Him at all. When we do obey His commands, His richest blessings
become a natural part of our lives. His life becomes our life, and the peace, joy, love,
exuberance and hope which only Jesus can give will fill our lives.
Step Four
One of the first things you will naturally want to do after you begin walking with
God is to share the joy of your experiences with others. You do this mainly in two
ways. The first way is to tell those who have not yet met Jesus. Many people in the
world have been approached by others who are offering them some type of religion,
even religion in the name of Jesus. What is often misunderstood is that following
Jesus is not a dead religion. He is alive! If you can convey to others the hope, joy and
peace you have found by showing them love and kindness, you will be sowing seeds
of righteousness that God can bring to fulfillment. Don’t worry if people who have
not yet met Jesus do not understand your excitement. Just focus on being consistent
and faithful in your walk with God, and the life you have within you will be clear to
them.
The second way of sharing your joy is to meet regularly with others who also are
walking with God. The camaraderie and fellowship that comes from sitting down
with another believer or a group of believers and talking about God, His Word and
what He is doing in our lives is unmatched. When you do this, you have an
opportunity to see how other believers handle problems. You can learn from the
more mature believers. You can be an encouragement to the younger believers. And
best of all, you can worship God together freely. Jesus Himself made this statement
about how special it is for more than one person to be in His presence: “For where
two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there with them” (Matthew
18:20). If there are no other believers in your city, then use the telephone, the
Internet or pen and paper to communicate with another Christian. Remember that
a stream that is dammed up becomes stagnant over time. We want our walk with
God to be fresh, real and living.
By following these simple steps, you will be on your way to a lifelong walk with God.
I speak a blessing upon you in your walk, that you will be encouraged, that you will
know the right paths and that you will remain devoted to Jesus, the One who loves
you most.
Oh, walk with God in modesty;
Show loyal love, and be true.
Stay close to Jehovah, leaning on him,
And let his strength sustain you.

Keep holding tight to his faithful Word;
You’ll never drift away.
So let God lead you by the hand
As you listen and obey.
2. Oh, walk with God in holiness;
Consider things that are pure.
No matter how great temptations may be,
He’ll help you to endure them.
Whatever praiseworthy things there are,
Whatever things are true,
Continue to consider them,
And our God will be with you.
3. Oh, walk with God in happiness;
Rejoice that he is your Friend.
Be thankful for all the gifts that he gives
And blessings that are endless.
Oh, walk with God, let your heart be glad;
Express your joy in song.
Your joy will show, and all will know,
To Jehovah you belong.
Unknown author

STEVE HIXON, "Keeping in step, or walking by the spirit, implies a conscious
dependence upon God. Since the Spirit is to be our source of power, life, joy, and
freedom, then keeping in step means staying in touch with His presence. Whatever
keeps us in touch with our need for Him, combined with a heart that is willing to
follow Christ, keeps us in step with Him. Therefore, prayer, Bible reading, honest
relationships, communion, worship, taking spiritual risks, authentic ministry –
anything that surfaces our weakness and causes us to cry out for His strength –
keeps us in step with the Spirit. And then the results of that kind of lifestyle become
evident as the fruit of the Spirit – recognizable as qualities that only God can
produce.
This kind of walking / keeping-in-step lifestyle also produces what Paul calls for in
Ephesians 5 when he tells us to “be filled with the Spirit.” As we depend on Him, he
graciously and generously fills our lives in a way that eventually becomes noticeably
Christ-like. For example, in Acts 6, when the apostles looked for good men to wait
tables, they looked for 7 men who were “known to be full of the Spirit”. What did
they look for? They looked for men whose lives, although imperfect, nevertheless
consistently exhibited a willingness to follow Christ and to depend on the Holy Spirit
and not their own strength. Being filled with the Spirit, therefore, is a lifelong
process of conscious dependence – the same kind of lifestyle that Jesus led.
Keep in Step with the Spirit by J.I. Packer
Wed, 10/31/2012 - 12:26 — C.S. Lewis Institute
To start with, some people see the doctrine of the Spirit as essentially about power, in
the sense of God-given ability to do what you know you ought to do and indeed want
to do, but feel you lack the strength for. Examples include saying no to cravings (for
sex, drink, drugs, tobacco, money, kicks, luxury, promotion, power, reputation,
adulation, or whatever), being patient with folks who try your patience, loving the
unlovable, controlling your temper, standing firm under pressure, speaking out
boldly for Christ, trusting God in face of trouble. In thought and speech, preaching

and prayer, the Spirit’s enabling power for action of this kind is the theme on which
these people constantly harp.
What ought we to say about their emphasis? Is it wrong? No, indeed, just the
opposite. In itself it is magnificently right. For power (usually dunamis, from which
comes the English word dynamite, sometimes kratos and ischus) is a great New
Testament word, and empowering from Christ through the Spirit is indeed a
momentous New Testament fact, one of the glories of the gospel and a mark of
Christ’s true followers everywhere. Observe these key texts, if you doubt me.
“ . . . Stay in the city,” said Jesus to the apostles, whom he had commissioned to
evangelize the world, “until you are clothed with power from on high.” “But you
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Luke 24:49; Acts
1:8). When the Spirit had been poured out at Pentecost, “with great power the
apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus . . .” (Acts 4:33);
and “Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs . . .” (Acts 6:8;
see also Peter’s similar statement about Jesus, who was “anointed . . . with the Holy
Spirit and with power . . .” (Acts 10:38). In these verses Luke tells us that from the
first the gospel was spread by the Spirit’s power.
Paul prays for the Romans that “ . . . by the power of the Holy Spirit you may
abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). Then he speaks of “what Christ has wrought
through me . . . by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power
of the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 15:18, 19). He reminds the Corinthians that at
Corinth he preached Christ crucified “ . . . in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power, that your faith might. . . rest . . . in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4, 5;
see also 2 Corinthians 6:6-10; 10:4-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2:13). Of his thorn in the
flesh he writes that Christ “said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power
is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses,” he
continues, “that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9; see also
4:7). He emphasizes to Timothy that God has given Christians” . . . a spirit of power
and love and self-control,” and censures those who are “lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it” (2
Timothy 1:7; 3:4, 5). Christ, he says, gives strength (endunamo, dunamoo, krataioo),
so that the Christian becomes able to do what left to himself he -never could have
done (Ephesians 3:16; 6:10; see also 1:19-23; Colossians 1:11; 1 Timothy 1:12; 2
Timothy 4:17; see also 2 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Peter 5:10). And his own triumphant
cry from prison as he faces possible execution is: “I can do all things [meaning, all
that God calls me to do] in him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
There is no mistaking the thrust of all this. What we are being told is that
supernatural living through supernatural empowering is at the very heart of New
Testament Christianity, so that those who, while professing faith, do not experience
and show forth this empowering are suspect by New Testament standards. And the
empowering is always the work of the Holy Spirit, even when Christ only is named
as its source, for Christ is the Spirit giver (John 1:33; 20:22; Acts 2:33). So power
from Christ through the Spirit is a theme that should always be given prominence
whenever and wherever Christianity is taught.
For more than three centuries evangelical believers have been making much of

God’s promise and provision of power for living, and we should be glad that they
have. For not only is this, as we saw, a key theme in Scripture, it speaks to an
obvious and universal human need. All who are realistic about themselves are from
time to time overwhelmed with a sense of inadequacy. All Christians time and again
are forced to cry, “Lord, help me, strengthen me, enable me, give me power to speak
and act in the way that pleases you, make me equal to the demands and pressures
which I face.” We are called to fight evil in all its forms in and around us, and we
need to learn that in this battle the Spirit’s power alone gives victory, while self-
reliance leads only to the discovery of one’s impotence and the experience of defeat.
Evangelical stress, therefore, on supernatural sanctity through the Spirit as
something real and necessary has been and always will be timely teaching.
From Keep In Step With The Spirit, J.I Packer, pp 21-24
victoryfellowship.net
STEP BY STEP
Intro - STEP BT STEP IN THE SPIRIT
Gal. 5:25 ESV ¶ If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
I love the way this verse reads in the ESV translation of the New Testament. This
verse describes living in the power of the Spirit to a step by step endeavor. It’s not
being filled somewhere in the past or in a recent church meeting, this verse describes
being continually filled with the Spirit so that our steps are empowered by the Lord.
Now some will say if you are a Christian the Spirit is always in you. Technically and
theologically that is true. The problem is this, what we have legally doesn’t find its
way into our lives consistently. The remedy? Continual fillings, daily walking by the
Spirit, is the only way to realize the victorious Christian life. Without His power
daily we stumble into di erent versions of ungodly behavior. As a result, many willff
alter their definition of grace to fit their experience. We must be filled and filled
again to walk in Christlike holiness. Holiness is not a legalistic word, it is a
description of one who is in step with the Spirit. Here are some thoughts from the
Life in the Spirit NT Commentary.

“Paul’s mandate for holy living is not a new legalism. On the contrary, true holiness
can only be wrought by the Spirit of holiness. Hence in Galatians 5:25, Paul exhorts,
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”….Holiness is a
lifestyle that is completely governed by the dictates of God’s Spirit. The word
translated “keep in step” (stoichomeri) is derived from stoichos, meaning a “row” or
a “line.” So those who submit to the Spirit literally have their steps ordered by the
Spirit.”
Soooooo, let’s be ﬁlled with the Spirit on a daily basis. Spirit ﬁlled living is what the
New Testament describes. Rather than comparing our behavior to the culture
around us, let Christ Himself be formed in us by the Holy Spirit. How can we do
that? STEP BY STEP.
JOHN PIPER
This is the second in a series of messages on the Holy Spirit. Last week, we dealt
with the cause of the new birth. I argued from John 3:5–8 that human nature, with
which all of us are born, will not enter into the kingdom of God unless it is changed.
This change is called being born again. And what this means is that the Spirit of
God creates something new; he takes out of us the heart of stone that rebels against
God, and he puts into us a new heart which trusts God and follows his ways. Or to
put it another way, the Holy Spirit establishes himself as the new ruling principle of
our life. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
In other words, that which is begotten by the Spirit has the nature of the Spirit, is
permeated by the character of the Spirit, and is animated by the Spirit. This change
is owing wholly to the Spirit’s work of free grace, prior to any saving faith on our
part. The new birth is not caused by our faith; on the contrary, our faith is caused
by the new birth. “No one can come to the Son unless it is granted to him by the
Father” (John 6:65). Therefore, the life we have in Christ is owing wholly to the
work of God’s Spirit, and we have no ground for boasting at all. We live by the
Spirit.
Now what? Galatians 5:25 states concisely what our next step should be. “If we live
by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Paul is in full agreement with Jesus that
it is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we have been given new life. “Even when we
were dead through trespasses God made us alive together with Christ . . . We are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5, 10; Colossians 2:13). Just as
God once said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, so he “has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2
Corinthians 4:6).
Now Paul, in Galatians 5:25, draws an inference from how our new life in Christ
began: if it began by the Spirit, then all our subsequent life ought to be carried out
by the Spirit (see Galatians 3:1–5). If it was by the free and sovereign power of the
Spirit that our new spiritual life came into being, then the way that new life should

be lived is by that same free and sovereign power. “Walk by the Spirit” means do
what you do each day by the Spirit; live your life in all its details from waking up in
the morning until going to sleep at night by the enabling power of the Spirit. But
what does that mean, practically speaking? How do we “walk by the Spirit”?
Let’s observe a few things in the immediate context of Galatians 5 and then bring in
some other Scriptures in order to get as full an answer to this question as we can. I’ll
conclude by describing five things involved in walking by the Spirit.
How Do We Walk by the Spirit?
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The phrase “walk by the Spirit” occurs not only in verse 25 but also in verse 16,
“But I say, walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” So here we
see what the opposite of walking by the Spirit is, namely, giving in to the desires of
the flesh. Remember, “flesh” is the old, ordinary human nature that does not relish
the things of God and prefers to get satisfaction from independence, power, prestige,
and worldly pleasures.
When we “walk by the Spirit,” we are not controlled by those drives. This is what
verse 17 means: the flesh produces one kind of desires, and the Spirit produces
another kind, and they are opposed to each other. Walking by the Spirit is what we do
when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the
flesh. This means that “walking by the Spirit” is not something we do in order to get
the Spirit’s help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the
enablement of the Spirit.
“The life we have in Christ we owe wholly to the work of God’s Spirit.”
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Ultimately, all the good inclinations or preferences or desires that we have are given
by the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Spirit we are mere flesh. And Paul said in
Romans 7:18, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” Apart
from the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires is
holy or good, “for the mind of the flesh is hostile to God’s law and does not submit
to it because it cannot” (Romans 8:7).
The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new
array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are
stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are “walking by the Spirit.”
For we always act according to our strongest desires.
Therefore, “walking by the Spirit” is something the Holy Spirit enables us to do by
producing in us strong desires that accord with God’s will. This is what God said he
would do in Ezekiel 36:26, 27:
A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will
put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.
Thus when we “walk by the Spirit,” we experience the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The Holy Spirit produces in us desires for God’s way that are stronger than our

fleshly desires, and thus he causes us to walk in God’s statutes.
Led by the Spirit and Not Under Law
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This, then, explains the two parts of the next verse in Galatians 5, verse 18, “But if
you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” It is easy to understand, in
view of what we have seen, how Paul could shift from the phrase “walking by the
Spirit” in verse 16, to “being led by the Spirit” in verse 18. The phrase, “being led by
the Spirit,” simply makes more explicit the initiative of the Spirit in the life of a
Christian. We don’t lead him; he leads us. We are being led by him through the
stronger desires he awakens within us. “Walking by the Spirit” and “being led by
the Spirit” refer to the same thing. “Being led by the Spirit” stresses the Spirit’s
initiative and enablement. “Walking by the Spirit” stresses our resulting behavior.
The Spirit leads us by creating desires to obey God, and we walk by fulfilling those
desires in action.
This explains, then, why we are not “under the law,” as verse 18 says. “If you are led
by the Spirit (i.e., led by him to obey the law), then you are not under law.” You are
not “under law” in two senses. First, you are not under the law’s condemnation
because you are fulfilling the just requirement of the law. That’s what Paul meant in
Romans 8:4 where he said that Christ died “in order that the just requirement of
the law might be fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit.” When you walk by
the Spirit, you fulfill the basic requirement of the law and so you are not under its
condemnation.
The second sense in which we are not under law when we “walk by the Spirit” or are
“led by the Spirit” is that then we don’t feel the pinch or burden of the law
demanding of us what we have no desire to do. When the Spirit is leading us by
producing godly desires, then the commands of God are not a burden but a joy. So
in that sense too, walking by the Spirit frees us from being under the law. “Where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Works of the Flesh and Fruit of the Spirit
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Now, if we look at verses 19–24, which follow, we will find one more expression
about the Spirit which confirms and expands what we have seen so far about
“walking by the Spirit.” In these verses, Paul contrasts the “works of the flesh” (19–
21) with the “fruit of the Spirit” (22–23). The opposite of doing the “works of the
flesh” is “bearing the fruit of the Spirit.”
This is exactly the same contrast we saw in verse 16: “Walk by the Spirit and do not
gratify the desires of the flesh.” The “works of the flesh” are what you do when you
“gratify the desires of the flesh.” The “fruit of the Spirit” is what appears in your
life when you “walk by the Spirit.” Therefore what we have in these verses are three
images of the Spirit’s work in our life: “walking by the Spirit” in verse 16, “being
led by the Spirit” in verse 18, and bearing “the fruit of the Spirit” in verse 22.

Why does Paul refer to the “fruit of the Spirit” instead of the “works of the Spirit”
to match “works of the flesh”? In view of what we have seen so far, I think the
reason is that Paul wants to avoid giving any impression that what the Spirit
produces is our work. It is not our work; it is his fruit. What we do when we walk by
the Spirit is simply fulfill the desires produced by the Spirit. And what better way is
there to describe the ease of following our strongest desires than to say it is like
having the Spirit’s fruit pop out in our attitudes and actions? Therefore, just like the
phrase “led by the Spirit,” so also the phrase “fruit of the Spirit” stresses the
Spirit’s initiative and enablement to fulfill God’s law.
Love Your Neighbor
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The last thing we want to notice in these verses about “walking by the Spirit” is that
it refers basically to one kind of behavior: loving behavior. The first thing mentioned
in the fruit of the Spirit is love in verse 22. This is emphasized even more in verses
13 and 14:
You were called to freedom, brethren, only do not use your freedom as an
occasion for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the
whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Just as the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are contrasted in verses 19–
23, so here giving in to the flesh and serving each other through love are contrasted
in verses 13 and 14. This shows that love is the all-encompassing lifestyle of one who
bears the fruit of the Spirit, is led by the Spirit, and walks by the Spirit. This is
confirmed by the reference to the law in verse 14 and verse 18. In verse 18, “If you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” In verse 14, “If you love your
neighbor, you fulfill the whole law.” Therefore, loving your neighbor and being led
by the Spirit (or walking by the Spirit) are almost synonymous.
“Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires of the Spirit are
stronger than the desires of the flesh. ”
Almost. But there is a crucial difference which should make us very grateful that
Paul taught what he did about the Holy Spirit. If all we were ever told was, “Love
your neighbor,” we probably would have set about trying to do it by ourselves and
would have turned love into a work of the flesh. We know this happens because of 1
Corinthians 13:3 where Paul says:
If I give away all that I have and if I deliver my body to be burned but have
not love, I gain nothing.
Nothing! Listen carefully now. This is utterly important for your life. Yet it is
understood by so few. It is possible to undertake the most sacrificial acts imaginable
for other people and still not please God. Give away all your goods and your own
life, too, and come to nothing in God’s eyes. It is possible to be eulogized by the
world as the greatest philanthropist or the most devoted martyr and still not please
God. Why? Because what pleases God is walking by the Spirit and being led by the

Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit!
The great problem in contemporary Christian living is not learning the right things
to do but how to do the right things. The problem is not to discover what love looks
like but how to love by the Spirit. For Paul, it is absolutely crucial that, if we came to
life by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit, we learn to walk by the free and
sovereign work of the Spirit. In view of the sovereignty of the Spirit who leads us
where he wills by the stronger desires he creates within us, what should we do?
What, very practically, is involved in obeying the command, “Walk by the Spirit”?
Five Steps Toward Walking by the Spirit
Let me conclude by mentioning five things that I think we must do so that it can be
truly said that we are walking by the Spirit.
1. Acknowledge
First, we must acknowledge from our hearts that we are helpless to do good apart
from the enablement of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “I know that
in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” What did Jesus mean when he said
in John 15:5, “Without me you can do nothing”? Of course, we can do something
without Jesus: we can sin! But that’s all we can do. So, the first step of walking by
the Spirit is: Admit this fact and let it have its devastating effect on our pride. We
cannot do anything pleasing to God without the constant enablement of the Spirit.
2. Pray
Second, since it is promised in Ezekiel 36:27 that God will put his Spirit within us
and cause us to walk in his statutes, pray that he does it to you by his almighty
power. Many of you know the glorious, liberating experience of having an
irresistible desire for sin overcome by a new and stronger desire for God and his
way. And as you look back, to whom do you attribute that new desire? Where did it
come from? It came from the merciful Holy Spirit. Therefore, let us pray like Paul
did in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 for that chief fruit of the Spirit: “Now may the Lord
make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men.” And let’s pray
like the writer to the Hebrews did in Hebrews 13:21:
And now may the God of peace . . . equip you with everything good that you
may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through
Jesus Christ.
If it is God alone who works in us what is pleasing in his sight, then above all, we
must pray. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit
within me” (Psalm 51:10).
3. Trust
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The third step involved in walking by the Spirit is faith. We must believe that since

we have come under the gracious sway of God’s Spirit, “sin will no longer have
dominion over us” (Romans 6:14). This confidence is what Paul meant by
“reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God” (Romans 6:11). We simply count
on it that the Spirit who made us alive when we were dead in sin wills our holiness
and has the power to achieve what he wills. You may remember in one of my
sermons on prayer I said that one of the things we believers can pray for with
undoubting faith that God will do it is our sanctification, which is the same as being
led by the Spirit.
The reason we can is that we know that God will cause his children to be led by the
Spirit. And the way we know this is because of Romans 8:14, where Paul says you
can’t even be a child of God unless you are led by the Spirit. “For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” If you are a child of God, you have
a solid and unshakable promise that God will give you victory over those powerful
desires of the flesh. One word of caution: do not prejudge the timing of the Holy
Spirit’s work. Why he liberates one person overnight but brings another to freedom
through months of struggle is a mystery concealed for now from our eyes.
4. Act
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The fourth step in walking by the Spirit after you have acknowledged your
helplessness without him, prayed for his enablement, and trusted in his deliverance
is to act the way you know is right. Notice: this is not step number one. If this were
step number one, all our actions would be works of the flesh, not fruit of the Spirit.
Only after we have appealed for the Spirit’s enablement and thrown ourselves
confidently on his promise and power to work in us, do we now work with all our
might. Only when we act with that spiritual preparation, will we be able to say with
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10:
By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in
vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I,
but the grace of God which is with me.
Or in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me” (see also Romans 15:18, 19). A person who has
acknowledged his helplessness, prayed for God’s enablement to do right, and
yielded himself confidently to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit has this astonishing
incentive to do righteousness, namely, the confidence that, whatever righteous act he
does, it is God almighty who is at work in him giving him the will and the power to
do it. It is a sign of hasty prejudice when a person says, “Well, if the Spirit is
sovereign and I can’t do any good without his enablement, then I may as well just sit
here and do nothing.”
“The great problem in contemporary Christian living is not learning the
right things to do but how to do the right things. ”
There are two things wrong with that statement: it is self-contradictory, and it is
unbiblical. It is a contradiction to say, “I’ll just sit here and do nothing.” If you

choose to sit in your chair while the house burns down, you have chosen to do
something, just as much as the person who chooses to get up and save himself and
others. Why should you think the one choice any more inconsistent with the
sovereignty of God than the other? And such a statement is also unbiblical because
Philippians 2:12 and 13 says,
Beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling [get out of the
chair, the house is on fire!] because [not “in spite of” but “because”] God is at
work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
It is a great incentive, not discouragement, that all our effort to do what is right is
the work of almighty God within us. At least for myself, I am greatly encouraged
when the going gets rough that any effort I make to do right is a sign of God’s grace
at work in me. “Let him who serves serve in the strength which God supplies, that in
everything God may get the glory” (1 Peter 4:11). To God be the glory!
5. Thank
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The final step in walking by the Spirit is to thank God for any virtue attained or any
good deed performed. If without the Spirit we can do no right, then we must not
only ask his enablement for it but also thank him whenever we do it. Just one
example from 2 Corinthians 8:16. Paul says, “Thanks be to God who puts the same
earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.” Titus loved the Corinthians. Where did
that come from? God put it in his heart. It was a fruit of the Spirit. So what does
Paul do? He thanks God. And Titus should, too. Thanks be to God who puts love in
our hearts!
“If we live by the Spirit, then let us also walk by the Spirit.” Let us acknowledge
from our heart that we are unable to please God without the Spirit’s constant
enablement. Let us pray for that enablement. Let us trust confidently in the Spirit’s
power and promise to give that enablement. Then let us do what we know is right.
And having done it, let us turn and say with all the saints, “Not I, but the Spirit of
Christ within me.” Thanks be to God! To him be glory forever and ever! Amen.
Kenneth Berding
Romans on Living Life in the Spirit
Life in the Spirit is a journey, and while there are many great passages throughout
Scripture that discuss the role and person of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8 is perhaps
one of the most insightful. Here are 7 suggestions that will fuel a passion for the
things of the Spirit and further educate how to live a life directed by him.
1. Walk in the Spirit (Rom. 8:4)
There is no shortcut to learning how to walk with the Spirit. It's not just for ultra-

spiritual people nor is it reserved for charismatic Christians. Life according to the
Spirit is not simply trying to do the right thing, nor is it trying to live according to
God's Law. Walking in the Spirit is the central metaphor for describing what it
means to live as a Christian. The person who walks according to the Spirit will in
fact have the essence of the Law fulfilled in his life.
2. Set your minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5)
The question "how does one overcome the pull of the flesh?" sounds like an old
riddle: How can someone extract all of the air out of a drinking glass? The most
direct way to get all the air out of a glass is by filling it with something else. You
cannot extract thoughts that displease God from your mind. Like [the solution to the
riddle], you need to be filled up with thoughts—indeed with an entire mindset—that
is oriented toward the things of the Spirit (e.g. Gal. 5:22–23).
3. Put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Rom.
8:13)
The person who has been regenerated by the Spirit is not stuck in sin. By the Spirit,
the pull of the flesh can be resisted. To "put to death the deeds of the body" is pretty
much the same thing as "saying no to sin," but unlike the anti-drug campaign
among youth many years ago, just say no by itself will never be successful. Just
saying no will never allow you to consistently overcome sin. Then what must you do?
You must say no by the Spirit.
4. Be led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14)
The Holy Spirit leads us broadly (always) and more specifically (sometimes). He
always leads us through his written Word, which was revealed to the prophets by
the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20–21). We are to prayerfully, carefully, and humbly apply
broad biblical wisdom to the situations we face in our lives.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us directly. The Holy Spirit can choose to act in any
way and according to any timetable that he wishes; we do not dictate to him how or
when he will move. Since the Bible gives many examples of him acting more
specifically, we should anticipate that he will sometimes choose to lead us directly if
we are open and available to his guidance.
5. Know the Fatherhood of God by the Spirit (Rom.
8:15–17)
Without the Holy Spirit, we would never know our freedom and identity as God's
adoptive children. Thankfully, God has freely given us his Holy Spirit, and these
verses from Romans 8 display three amazing things the Spirit does:
1. He acts as the go-between who takes us out of a place of slavery and fear and
brings us into a place of adoption and acceptance.
2. He helps us to cry out to God as Father.
3. He testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

6. Hope in the Spirit (Rom 8:22-25)
The biblical concept represented by the English word hope is so strong that it is
almost a synonym for "eager expectation." The focus of the expectation isn't that
life will get better here; it is absorbed with the glorious life to come.
What is the role of the Holy Spirit in all this? Rom 8:23 says: "We ourselves, who
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as
sons, the redemption of our body." Paul claims that it is because we have the Spirit,
not despite it that we groan. In this passage, it is precisely the presence of the Spirit
within you that causes you to feel this particular kind of suffering—the longing for
final redemption in the midst of a fallen world. In this way, the presence of the Holy
Spirit in our lives reminds us of the stark contrast between the wonderful things
God has prepared for us who believe and this fallen world that is so full of sin,
suffering, and futility.
7. Pray in the Spirit (Rom. 8:26–28)
These two verses (Rom 8:26–27) are so rich and helpful in our lives in the Spirit.
4. We learn that we are weak when we come to prayer. We often don't know
what to pray for in any given situation. The concern is not about the manner
of prayer (the "how"), but rather the content of our prayers—what do we
actually pray about?
5. We learn that the Spirit joins to help us when we are struggling to know how
to pray by interceding for us with wordless groaning. It is not, as some
propose, that we should just pray whatever we want since we don't have any
idea how to pray, and that the Spirit fixes them up and prays on our behalf to
the Father. Rather, the verb often translated as "helps" has a preposition
attached to the front of it, which suggests that it really means "joins to help."
6. The Spirit is searching our hearts and knows that we have a mind-set that is
focused on him, even if we do not know exactly what we are supposed to
pray.
7. The result is that our prayers are prayed "according to the will of God"
because the Holy Spirit is moving us thus to pray and is presenting the
prayers that he is guiding us to pray to the Father.
This article is adapted from Walking in the Spirit by Ken Berding.
Kenneth Berding (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is professor of New
Testament at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, and the director of Bible
Fluency. He is the author of numerous books and articles and was previously a
church planter in the Middle East. He has written many worship songs and served
as a worship pastor in local church ministry. He regularly blogs at The Good Book
Blog. Ken is married to Trudi and has four daughters.

BRIAN BILL
Here then are some ways we can keep in step with the Spirit.
1. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s so easy to fill our lives with things that don’t
satisfy, isn’t it? Some of us are drinking deeply of substances that end up controlling
us. Check out Ephesians 5:18: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is
debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” This is a command that literally means,
“Keep on being filled with the Spirit.” I’m reminded of what the great preacher
Charles Spurgeon did before he climbed the stairs to the pulpit every time he
preached. For every step he would take, he would say these words, “I believe in the
Holy Spirit.” Ask Him to fill you every day and many times during the day.
2. Be purified by the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit should have a
purifying affect in our lives. Before Christ came God’s Spirit dwelt in the tabernacle
and now He dwells inside His people and within His church. If you are born again,
your body is now the temple of God!
God displays His beauty and glory today through believers, and as such, we must
treat our bodies carefully and make sure they are dedicated to His purposes. This is
spelled out clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are
not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God’s.” The way we live should declare to the world
that the Holy Spirit is present within us. Or to say it another way, the world will
learn about God based upon the way we are living. That’s a weighty responsibility
and a holy charge.
God also dwells in His church according to 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Do you not know
that you [plural] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
Listen to this quote from Francis Chan: “If it’s true that the Spirit of God dwells in
us and that our bodies are the Holy Spirit’s temple, then shouldn’t there be a huge
difference between the person who has the Spirit of God living inside of him or her
and the person who does not?” By the way, if you want to go deeper into living by
the power of the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan has some video teaching on the
“Forgotten God” on Right Now Media.
3. Serve according to the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given you. According to 1
Corinthians 12:7, every believer has been given at least one spiritual gift that is to be
used to build up the body of Christ: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good.” Discover the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you and then
unleash them for God’s glory and the growth of His church.
I saw some servants here on Thursday setting up for the Parenting on Purpose
seminar (BTW, over 60 attended!). I went up to Ruth McAnally and asked, “Were
you just serving?” Her answer was quick, “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?”
She got me there.
I’m told that we had over 23 babies and toddlers last weekend! Suzy Crosby, who

heads up the Nursery, tells me that we’ve had a “baby boom” and there’s more
babies that were just born and others still to be born that are headed to the Nursery
soon. Would you consider serving in this way?
4. Demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit. Those things that naturally flow out of us are
found in Galatians 5:19-21: “…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions and envy…” Sounds like the presidential debates, doesn’t it?
It’s important to distinguish between the gift of the Spirit which happens at
salvation; the gifts of the Spirit, which have to do with service; and the graces of the
Spirit, which relate to Christian character. Unfortunately we have sometimes
elevated the gifts of the Spirit over the graces of the Spirit. Building Christian
character must take precedence over displaying special abilities.
Is the Fruit of the Spirit ripening in your life right now? Galatians 5:22-23: “But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.”
5. Pray in the Holy Spirit. Before you get nervous and think I’m talking about
something that only charismatics practice, consider Ephesians 6:18: “Praying at all
times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all
perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” To pray in the Spirit means to
follow His lead and to pray in His power.
I was very moved recently when I received an email from Pastor Kyle that he sent to
the staff and to the deacons. I have his permission to share it. The heading is, “Can’t
sleep.” Here’s what he wrote: “Hey all, I woke up a little after 2 this morning and I
couldn’t go back to bed. I began to pray for the church and students in particular
that God would reveal Himself and pour out His Spirit on them. With the high
school retreat coming up, I threw out some of the other ideas I had and prayed for
what God wanted to share. I feel like He showed me Psalm 24 that focuses on a
generation seeking after Him. He also showed me the connection with Psalm 51 and
how this begins with confession. I need to understand this first and foremost and I
desperately want students and singles to understand this as well.
Would you prayerfully consider fasting and praying for the next few weeks up until
and during the retreat that God would come down and reveal Himself to students,
especially on the retreat? There are different things we can fast from. I will fast
from food one day a week and any social media that is not connected to work or
ministry in order to have more focused prayer. If anything, please just pray with
me.”
The students are having (had) an “Exile Night” on Saturday in which they put
themselves in the place of persecuted Christians. They learned what it’s like to live
knowing you could be killed for your faith at any time.
6. Go with the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s fascinating to me that
Jesus held his disciples back from witnessing until they had the Holy Spirit. We see
this in Luke 24:48-49: “You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending
the promise of my Father [the Holy Spirit] upon you. But stay in the city until you
are clothed with power from on high.”

The cool thing is that when we witness, the Holy Spirit is at work. When we
proclaim Christ, we do so with the power the Holy Spirit gives us.
Invitation
Could you bow your heads? I want to speak to two different groups of people.
1. Christians who need to surrender. If you’re saved, you have all of the Holy Spirit.
But here’s a question: “Does the Holy Spirit have all of you?” Have you been living
in your own might and do you think you’re always right? Have you been saved by
grace but now you’re trying to do everything in your own grit or through you own
wit? Paul addressed this in Galatians 3:3: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the
Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
• Surrender everything to Him right now.
2. Non-Christians who need to get saved. If you’re not saved, you are in a very
precarious position. There will be a final exam one day and you will fail it if you
don’t put your faith in Jesus Christ. Listen to what the Holy Spirit is doing right
now according to John 16:8-11 and be open to respond to Him: “And when he
comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
The word “convict” means to prove one is wrong and He does it in three main areas.
• Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Admit you are a sinner.
According to this verse, the biggest sin is to not believe in Christ.
• Concerning righteousness, because I go the Father. Jesus is our standard for
righteousness. Admit that you are unrighteous.
• Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Where sin
and unrighteousness meet, judgment follows. If you do not believe in and
receive Jesus Christ, you will be judged forever in a place called Hell.
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ paid the price for all of your sins
and when you repent and receive Him into your life you will be declared righteous
and will avoid the judgment you deserve.
God doesn’t grade on a curve but He does grade on Christ. He aced the exam and
when you accept Him, His score of perfect righteousness will be credited to your
report card. How cool is that?
Listen to these words of Jesus from John 3 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is
born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you,
‘You must be born again.’”
Ask Jesus to save you right now so you can be born again of the Spirit.
Lead in Prayer of Salvation.
If you surrendered or were saved just now, would you raise your hand so we can
rejoice with you?
Doxology - The word doxology comes from the Greek doxa, (“glory” or “splendor”)
and logos, (“word” or “speaking”). We’re going to conclude by declaring a doxology
to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Walking in the holy spirit

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Walking in the holy spirit