Walk in the Spirit Daily
The Holy Spirit is the child of God’s pipeline to the Father; it is the enabling power to fulfill the law of righteousness. All over the New Testament, we are exhorted to “live according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).
Now, I am more of a practical kind of girl, rather than theoretical. After giving my life to Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit, I knew that I needed to walk in Him as the Bible instructed me to, but I didn’t understand how this was supposed to (realistically) be done on a daily basis, especially as a fourteen-year-old.
I’ve since learned that walking in the Spirit is not an abstract concept – it is simply surrendering to the indwelling life of Christ in us. I diligently sought the Lord on how to do this in my life, and He faithfully taught me. While I know that there is more to learn on the subject, I have discovered four essential keys to walking in the Spirit Daily that I’d like to share with you here.
4 Keys to Walking in the Spirit
1. Pray About Everything
Praying should be our first instinct in all situations (Philippians 4:6). Not only does prayer keep our focus on the mind of Christ but it allows the Spirit to have full access to every area of our life – including the regular things we do every day. I was recently having a chat with a friend about a technical issue she was having with her laptop during lunch break. Nothing very significant was said in our discussion, but I became somewhat overwhelmed by it.
I didn’t want to let my temper control the situation or the atmosphere so in that very moment I prayed and I gave the agitated feeling I had in my heart to God. It may sound irrelevant but if I hadn’t prayed, I would have been overwhelmed by the stressfulness of the conversation and could have reacted out of impatience towards my friend. Because I brought that ordinary, little moment to Him, I was able to continue listening to my friend with an attitude of cheerfulness, alert in the knowledge that God perhaps wanted to help her through me.
To put it simply: walking in the Spirit on a daily basis means talking to Him about every little thing in your day!
2. Don’t Stop Him
Allowing fleshly behaviors or selfish ambitions to motivate how we act and what we do in a day can quench the Spirit’s outflow in our life – both in us and coming out of us. It isn’t that the Spirit has a power switch that we can turn on and off. But He can be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We must remember that the Spirit is able to grieve (Ephesians 4:25) which means we have the ability to offend Him. According to God’s Word, our flesh is contrary to the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). If we allow our flesh (that selfish part of us) to dominate our thoughts and our conduct, we will silence the Spirit’s gentle flow in our life and stop Him from showcasing His fruit in us. Hence, we must be vigilant in how we interact with people and the activities we allow ourselves to participate in at all times.
3. Spend Time with Him
It’s important to know the thoughts and interests of the Holy Spirit so that we can heed His guidance. He’ll direct us in His still small voice but if we aren’t about to recognize it (and don’t bother enough to listen for it), we will miss His plans entirely. This is why we must cultivate daily intimacy with Him. We will not only hear the Spirit clearly when we spend time in His Presence, but we will become more familiar with how He speaks and be in tune with the way He operates. After I made quiet time a daily habit, it became easier to detect His voice and sense His inspiration throughout the day.
4. Just Say Yes
The Holy Spirit has plans for our lives and He’s sure to reveal them to us. In order to walk in the Spirit throughout the day (and night), we must be constantly giving the “not my will, but yours be done” response when He speaks.
At around 9 o’ clock the other night, I decided to wind down by reading a couple of interesting blogs. But after a few minutes, I stopped myself, wondering if that’s what I was meant to be doing. Apparently, it was not, for I suddenly heard the Spirit say, “[Your sister] needs your assistance.” Then I remembered that my sister had asked me to work on a graphics project for her, and I had given my word that I would help.
Yet His gentle reminder had come and gone so quickly that I wondered if it had just been my own mind. But as I had just been searching out the will of God in my heart, I knew I couldn’t lay the instruction aside. Despite how late it was, I surrendered my exhaustion to the Lord and immediately went to text my sister about her project. Before I had even gotten the page to load, there was a knock on my door and in walked my sister, saying, “So, I need your help!”
I’m always dumbfounded by the practical and mysterious ways that the Spirit works in my ordinary life. He will always show us the way and His desires no matter where we are or what we’re doing – we just have to say yes to Him every time. So let the Holy Spirit have the reins to your life and you we will find yourself truly harnessed to the will of God.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)