Walking in the Spirit: Following God’s Leading

If you’re a Christian, the Holy Spirit took up residence in you when you believed. He lives in you now with all his power. He doesn’t come and go based on what you do or how you live. The Holy Spirit lives within you and does so permanently. One of his purposes, one of the reasons he’s in us is to lead us through life. The Apostle Paul says this:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

Every Christian has two natures: a sinful nature inherited from Adam and a new nature we received at salvation. Both natures have their desires: our old nature, or “flesh” as Paul says in this verse, desires evil, and our new nature desires holiness. Paul is saying that if we surrender to the Holy Spirit’s control, he’ll keep us from giving in to the desires of our sinful nature. We’ll never be completely free of those desires, not in this life, but we have all we need to refuse to cave into them.

But what does Paul mean when he says to “walk by the Spirit”? Paul is stressing a point, because across ten verses he says we’re to “walk by the Spirit” (v. 16) “be led by the Spirit” (v. 18), “live by the Spirit” (v. 25), and “keep in step with the Spirit” (also v. 25). All of those statements mean the same thing. Paul is describing a Spirit-controlled life. The Holy Spirit wants to lead us. For him to make a difference in our lives, we must follow him. That means going where he’s going, listening to his voice, and following his leadership. Walking with the Holy Spirit means surrendering to him, which, Paul says, includes allowing him to lead us into holiness.

Our surrender, though, doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax and expect the Holy Spirit to do all the work to change us. Spiritual growth is a two-way street. The Holy Spirit will lead and guide. Our work is to trust and follow. 

Paul says the only way to overcome the desires of our flesh is by surrendering to the Holy Spirit. He calls us to day-by-day, or even minute-by-minute, dependency on the Spirit and submission to his will. If we do that, Paul says we won’t give in to the desires of our sinful nature. That part of you is full of self-destructive desires, things that hurt you and others. Paul lists some sins that unrestrained human nature can produce in Galatians 5:19-21. That’s what your life will look like if you are controlled by your sinful nature.

On the other hand, if you’re living in surrender to the Spirit, your life will be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). When you allow the Holy Spirit to become the controlling influence in your life, you’ll look, act, talk, and think differently. As you submit to him, the Holy Spirit will lead you into holiness. 

The Holy Spirit also wants to guide us through all the twists and turns of life. Walking by the Spirit, though, doesn’t mean sitting around doing nothing while you wait to hear the voice of God. It’s about learning to be aware of the promptings of the Holy Spirit and knowing they aren’t just from the pizza you had the night before. It’s about recognizing God’s leadings and then acting on them. 

When our children were small, we made our third visit to a restaurant, and for the third straight time, one child ordered a hamburger with no onions. For the third time, she got onions. I can handle someone making a mistake, but three straight times? I was livid. Ugly thoughts came to mind as I approached the counter with that hamburger, onions and all. I was ready to use some choice words. I was going to make those workers regret the day they put onions on my daughter’s hamburger. But I didn’t say them. I remembered Proverbs 29:11, which says, “A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.” 

I’m kidding. That would have been super holy of me to recall Scripture at such a time, but the Bible was the last thing on my mind. What happened was that as I was heading to the counter, I suddenly realized that my t-shirt had the name of our church printed in large letters across the front. That stopped me cold. When I got to the counter, I calmly made my case with all the Christian love I could muster, and I got a new hamburger – without onions. 

I have no doubt it was the Holy Spirit who stopped me. This is what I mean by a prompting of the Holy Spirit. Maybe there are times when you get a real sense of peace about something, and you sense the Lord affirming that you’re going down the right road. Other times you feel a real sense of frustration or restlessness, which could be God reminding you that you’re going in the wrong direction. Perhaps you feel a heavy burden about some situation and an overwhelming desire to make a difference. Part of keeping in step with the Holy Spirit is learning to recognize and follow his promptings.

Of course, any of those feelings might very well be the pizza. One thing we must realize is that the Holy Spirit’s promptings will always, always match up with the Bible. God will never lead us to do anything that violates what he’s already told us in his Word. After all, it’s the Holy Spirit who led the authors of the Bible to write what they wrote in the first place.

Keeping in step with the Spirit isn’t about waking up each morning paralyzed with the fear of deciding something without knowing how God is leading. It’s about having a lifestyle of constant unconditional surrender to the Spirit and his leadership. It’s about waking up each morning asking God to direct your steps that day and offering the day to him. It’s about recognizing his promptings throughout each day. It’s about listening to his voice as you read Scripture, hearing him as he opens your eyes to the truth and applies what you’re reading to your life. Those are what it means to keep in step with the Holy Spirit moment by moment. 

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25). 

Back in this post, we discussed how it’s the Holy Spirit who made us alive, who brought us to life when we were dead in our sins (John 3:5-6). The Holy Spirit is the source of our life. He’s the one who gives us the strength to surrender and obey. Since he’s done all that, because we live by him, let us surrender to him and obey as he leads. Let us keep in step with the Spirit.

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