WALKING IN THE SPIRIT

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, NKJV)

Several phrases have been employed in the Bible to describe the Christian life. However, “walking in the Spirit” in this context depicts the Christian life as a journey. It equally shows us that this journey is “in the Spirit”. Hence, for anyone to be able to walk in the Spirit, they must first of all be in the Spirit.

For instance, if you wish to take an evening walk in a garden around your house, you would first of all have to get into the garden. Similarly, to be able to walk in the Spirit, one must at first be in the Spirit.

At this juncture, we may ask the question, how can one be in the Spirit? Or, what does it mean to be in the Spirit? Is “being in the Spirit” just about those somewhat special moments when one could feel like “Oh, yeah? I’m in the Spirit right now!”? Those could be certain times during Church services, times of worshipping God in songs, times of praying fervently to God, etc.

These are all beautiful, but, being in the Spirit, is far more than such subjective, varying experiences. There is an objective criterion in the Bible to determine whether one is in the Spirit or not. And what is that? Apostle Paul reveals it to us in his epistle to the Romans.

Romans 8:8 – 9 (NKJV)

8    So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

9    But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

In other words, if the Spirit of God dwells in a man, then the man is in the Spirit. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of God is never a part of Him. It is by the Spirit of God that we have a vital union with God. That is how a man gets to be in the Spirit.

Our Lord Jesus Christ equally taught this when He was addressing Nicodemus, as recorded in the third chapter of Saint John’s Gospel.

John 3:5 – 6 (NKJV)

5    Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

6    That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Anyone who is born of the Spirit of God is no longer of the flesh, but of the Spirit. Such a one has the Spirit of God, and is therefore regarded as being in the Spirit.

This crucial spiritual truth is the reality of every believer in Christ Jesus. They are in the Spirit because they have the Spirit of God in them. It sounds so simple, right? Yes, it’s simple but true.

But then, for us to vitally experience this reality, we have to walk in the Spirit. That is the “realm” in which we are able to live as those who are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit. We have received the Spirit of God so we can experience the “Spirit-life” — the divine life.

This is what Apostle Paul stated in the 25th verse of Galatians 5: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” As such, walking in the Spirit is indispensable to us as believers.

It is by walking in the Spirit that we will no longer live according to the dictates of the flesh. This is what we have in our opening verse: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, NKJV)

Do you remember the illustration of a garden that was mentioned earlier? Being in the garden is not enough; one has to walk around in the garden, to fully explore the amenities there. Similarly, for us to maximally enjoy what it means to be in the Spirit — to be a child of God — to have the Spirit of God, we have to walk in the Spirit.

Beloved, we have to be fully yielded to the Spirit of God. It requires being given totally to the things of the Spirit. This is not just based on certain activities we do in Church once in a while; it is about how we live the whole of our lives — in Church, at home, at work, with family members, with friends, etc.

The Holy Spirit is our Helper and Guide; He’s here to see us live the life which God has called us to live. We cannot live the Christian life successfully, without the Holy Spirit. It cannot be done in our own ability or power. We must never put confidence in our own “flesh”, we should rather walk in the Spirit — do things by the Spirit.

Hence, as we give ourselves continually to prayer, we are walking in the Spirit. In devoting ourselves to the word of God, we are walking in the Spirit. As we obey the Spirit of God in every circumstance, we are walking in the Spirit.

Let us allow the Spirit of God to transform us completely. We should not “quench the Spirit of God” (1 Thessalonians 5:19, NKJV), but we should give the Holy Spirit a free course in our lives. Since we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Author: Sam Oladosu