Walk in the Spirit of the Lord and unlock victory in your life today
When Jesus left the Earth, He exchanged himself for someone far more potent, The Holy Spirit.
Jesus was God, yet he was also man. He could only be in one place at a particular time. Not to mention, before Him, people were ruled by the law using insufficient sacrifices to atone for their sins. So God sent the perfect sacrifice.
With this sacrifice, the spirit of a Holy God could inhabit a sinful earth made right through Jesus.
No longer is God’s spirit confined to a building. No longer would the Spirit of God “come upon” people. The Spirit of the Lord now dwells within us–an ever-present help ministering to us 24/7.
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 14:25-26 NIV
This comes with numerous benefits. The power of Spirit of the Lord allows us to destroy strongholds, fulfill our God-given tasks here on Earth, and wage spiritual warfare against our true enemies-the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Thus, God instructs and advises us to walk with and in His Spirit every day of our lives. He is our bread of life and the well we can draw from that will never run dry.
But, what does it mean to walk in the spirit of God and how exactly do we do it? I’ve been studying this recently and I want to share with you what God shared with me.
What does it mean to walk in the spirit of God?
Walking in the Spirit of the Lord means operating in God’s strength, wisdom, and courage. This is done with faith and obedience to His guidance.
It requires you to be in sync with God’s Spirit dwelling inside you. This involves a close connection with God, knowing His word, His will, and His heart, which He graciously shares with those who love Him.
As you grow closer to God, learning and becoming sensitive to His voice and His tuggings at your heart, you give the Holy Spirit freedom to coach, encourage, guide, and caution you along your spiritual journey.
This is why any Christian walking in the Spirit of God is extremely powerful and a threat to the kingdom of hell. As a consequence, you may feel like you get tested more than others as trials and tribulations seem to be waiting one after the other on your doorstep.
But do not be afraid. Sometimes this could be a tactic of the enemy to discourage you and throw you off your path. And it’s also God allowing it so He can continue to help you build those spiritual muscles while teaching you more about His kingdom.
There’s evidence throughout the Bible of Christians walking in the Spirit of God just like you and me. Let’s take a look a few.
Examples from the Bible of walking in the Spirit of God
Jesus
Jesus was the first to ever truly walk in the Spirit of God. And it’s because of Him that we can too.
Jesus walked this Earth perfectly and fully man with all the temptations, emotions and trials that life has to give. But, He is also God.
Jesus walked in the Spirit of God casting out demons, healing the sick and teaching people the ways of the Lord. And He’s called us to do the same.
Tell people your testimony as God leads you to and be generous to those around you. This is the will of God for every Christian no matter what else He’s called you to.
Instead of arguing with that person, speak to the spirit behind it stirring up chaos. Remember, our fight is not against flesh and blood.
And always be a seeker of peace as God’s peace lies heavily on you.
The Disciples of Jesus
In the Bible, Acts 2 describes the Day of Pentecost, aka the day the Holy Spirit came to the Earth. Enabled by the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus started speaking the word of God in different languages.
Peter spoke to the crowd telling them of the resurrection and new freedom they had in Christ. Thousands repented and were saved.
Paul
Paul was actually born Saul and was a persecutor of Christians. That is until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.
During that encounter, Paul converted to Christianity and preached the Gospel of Jesus wherever he traveled. He is responsible for many of the letters to the churches seen in the New Testament teaching people the ways of Jesus.
Through persecution, beatings, shipwrecks, hunger, harsh environments, and prison, Paul persevered drawing strength, his words, and his wisdom from God.
What are the benefits of walking in the spirit of the Lord?
The benefits of walking in the Spirit of the Lord is immense and invaluable.
As you walk with God you learn His ways and start to develop more of His character. It becomes easier to do what is right and pleasing in His sight instead of walking in the likeness of the world.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Roman’s 12:2
This world fancies self-pleasure and things that are temporary and meaningless in the eyes of God. Nothing the world offers has the capacity to bring us true joy and peace. Solomon knew this and this is one of his biggest takeaways in the book of Ecclesiastes.
On the other hand, those who walk in the Spirit of God are granted treasures from the Kingdom of Heaven while still here on Earth. Paul calls them the fruits of the Spirit.
As you walk with the Spirit of the Lord allowing him to water, prune and nurture you like a delicate plant, you begin to grow. And as you grow in the Lord, you start to bear fruits of righteousness instead of fruits of chaos and sin.
Paul talks about these individual fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
This is God’s will and delight for His children.
7 godly ways you can walk in the Spirit of the Lord every day
Avoid sin
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
Galatians 5:16-19
When sin entered the Earth, this world fell. There was no more access to the Garden of Eden. No longer would God walk among His people (until Jesus). The consequences of sin, death, and suffering, started to reign.
Sin has the same effect on our lives. Sin stifles your spiritual growth by blinding you to what God is doing. It makes your ears deaf to his gentle whispers and hardens your heart to His convictions.
The spirit of pride will have you in situations you were never meant to be in and holding on to things that you should let go of. Lust and fornication will have its victim defiling the very temple of God. The spirits of envy and jealousy are bred out of comparison and will have their victim in an identity crisis.
Sin makes its victim a slave which is why Jesus came to set us free from its grasp. He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice to atone for everyone’s sin once and for all.
Although Jesus gives us the choice of freedom from sin, it’s up to us to grasp it and walk in that freedom.
Be obedient to God
More than sacrifice, God requires obedience. Saul, the first king of Israel, learned this the hard way.
Saul was given the responsibility and privilege of shepherding God’s people. Yet, Saul succumbed to the sin of pride which led to disobedience towards God.
As a consequence, God’s Spirit and anointing were removed from Saul. God’s anointing went to David, aka the man after God’s heart.
Like any of us, David was an imperfect man. However, his desire to obey, trust, and worship God allowed God to use him in powerful ways.
We can all learn lessons from both David and Saul on obedience. Only God can see past, present, and future. And He doesn’t have only your interest in mind. He has the entire kingdom’s.
Thus, it’s important to recognize God’s will for your life and do that with all your heart. Your actions today can influence generations to come.
As you walk in the spirit of God with obedience, remember this scripture no matter how tough it may seem to get.
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:9
Surrender your will for God’s. I promise you won’t regret it.
Guard your heart
Our world today can be fast-paced, chaotic, and described as a hustle culture. Instant gratification, the desire for luxury, and overconsumption dressed as self-care wage war on our everyday lives.
Social media acts as an illusion of who our flesh wants to be flaming the fires of comparison, discontentment, and for some depression. Movies created to entertain us are laced with demonic activity. Music meant to move us is packed with violence, derogatory words, and food for the flesh.
The fact is what we watch, what we listen to, and how we spend our time and resources is not only important to our physical well-being. It’s also important to our spiritual life.
If you spend more time on social media than you do with God, your flesh is being fed, not your spirit. If you spend more time in environments that partake in things that go against the knowledge of God this is also providing nutrients to a sinful flesh. As the flesh continues to be fed and the Spirit is deprived, you’ll find yourself heading towards dangerous territory.
This is because our adversary is also a strategist. He knows that all he has to do is move a few pieces into place and he gets a domino effect. As your starved spirit moves further away from God, it becomes easier to sin and justify things that God doesn’t like.
Do not starve your spirit to feed your flesh. You must guard your heart at all costs.
Your spiritual heart is the temple where the Spirit of God dwells—it’s where your most precious treasures lie. We can agree that none of us would let a thief walk in and steal our treasures. We will guard it with all of our might.
We must do the same in the spiritual realm.
To learn more on what the spiritual heart is and how to guard it, check out my article by clicking the link.
Feed your spirit
Above we discussed a little of what not to feed our spirits. Now let’s talk about what we should be feeding it. You are what you eat.
The best nutrition that we can give our souls is a diet packed with God’s word, prayer and worship. These are powerful tools used by Jesus himself when He walked the earth.
Jesus often went away to a quiet place to pray (i.e. connect with God). Prayer allows you to weed out all distractions and become one with your Father. It’s a high level of intimacy with God.
It’s in your prayer and quiet time with God that you can fight some of your most challenging battles without even lifting a finger.
Worship is another powerful weapon that allows connection with God. Worship cannot coexist with fear, worry, and shame just like light cannot coexist with darkness.
Anytime those feelings come, a worship session is an antidote to their intoxication of the spirit.
And last but certainly not least is your sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. While Satan tries to plant lies and weave webs of deception, it’s God’s word that is the key to true freedom.
When the enemy tries to steal your joy, the word of God which is truth (because God cannot lie) tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
And when He tries to destroy your dreams, Romans 8:28 tells us He works ALL things for our good no matter the “failure” staring us in the face.
Be a seeker of peace
Jesus left us his inheritance of peace as we trek through a fallen world. To truly understand this peace, we can examine Jesus’s example of true peace. The Bible tells the story of Jesus being sound asleep at the bottom of a boat during a violent storm. Meanwhile, the other passengers ran around terrified trying to save the boat and themselves.
Though the waves crashed into them and the wind howled at them, Jesus was unmoved knowing who He was and to whom he belonged. We are to operate under the same premise in our daily lives.
We weren’t created to worry. Yet this world brings plenty of it. Money, relationships, health, careers….you name it.
No matter the storms crashing through our lives, we’re to remember our true purpose. It’s not to worry, fear, and walk in defeat. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, God’s special possession. (1 Peter 2:9).
And as such we were created to worship God which includes fulfilling our God-given tasks and loving others. As we do our part in fulfilling our roles, the Prince of Peace will do His.
Seek control of your thoughts
It cannot be emphasized enough how extremely powerful our thoughts are. The Bible says as a man thinketh, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).
I remember as a newlywed, God showed me the power of my thought life. In full transparency, I found myself thinking about something my husband had said or did that offended me as I drove home from work.
Thus, when I walked into the house, I was angry and quickly started an argument and my husband had no clue what was going on.
This all started because I had allowed the enemy to cause chaos in my thought life and now it was coming to a head in my marriage. God is teaching me how to protect my thought life which protects every other area of my life.
The way to do this is to walk with the Spirit of God so that you bear good and not rotten spiritual fruits.
Embrace godly friendships
The saying birds of a feather flock together reigns true here. It’s easier to avoid sin when you‘re surrounded by others on the same mission who can also hold you accountable. This is not to say that Christians should be your only friends.
Your lifestyle with obedience to God could be the arrow that points someone else to Jesus. Your lifestyle is your ministry whether you hold the title of leader of a church or not. The point is that you should avoid relationships that influence you to turn away from God and His commandments.
Thus, walk in the spirit, but with others. If you would like to discuss godly friendships and what to look for in one, click the link to check out my other blog post on it.
Final thoughts on walking in the spirit of God
We’re called to be ruled by the Spirit and not our flesh. Walking in the Spirit of God is the backbone of our Christian journey. It’s my hope that this article has provided you with an understanding of what it means and how to do so. And with this knowledge, I hope you are better equipped to conquer your giants and weather the storms of life. God is in you and with you.
Until next time,
-Dr. Jay
If you enjoyed this blog post on walking with the Spirit of God, take a look at some of our related articles below.
Related articles
Do you know what it means to guard your heart? Find out here.
