Living and Walking in the Spirit

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

Paul writes and makes a distinction between living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. They are two different things. The verse implies that one can live in the Spirit and not walk in the Spirit. But to be sure, one cannot walk in the Spirit if one doesn’t live in the Spirit. What does all this mean?

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians writes, “But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.” (1Corinthians 2:12) We receive God’s Holy Spirit when we believe and come to Jesus Who is God the Son, Who was made flesh and gave Himself to be punished and took our death, the penalty of sin for us. It is not a process, but an immediate exchange that takes place in the spiritual realm. We are translated from the kingdom of sin and darkness to the kingdom of God. “For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14) In a nutshell, Paul tells us what happens when we believe and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are immediately translated to God’s kingdom (no longer in bondage to sin and the devil), receive redemption (paid for and reclaimed as belonging to God which was lost with the disobedience of Adam) and our debt and penalty for sin has been wiped clean through the shed blood of Jesus. And since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in those who receive Jesus.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27) The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus first to the disciples, 120 of them gathered in the upper room in obedience to Jesus Who told them to wait there for the Holy Spirit. I don’t know if they knew exactly who they were waiting for. Before the wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Spirit, they were still thinking in earthly terms. But they were obediently waiting maybe for someone in the flesh. Afterall, Jesus the Son of God had come in the flesh. But when the Holy Spirit did come, He came spiritually with such evidence of power that they ran outside to preach and prophesy to the crowds gathered from all over the known world to celebrate the Feast of Weeks or Feast of Harvest. “And in the fulfilling of the day of Pentecost, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly a sound came out of the heaven as borne along by the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And tongues as of fire appeared to them, being distributed; and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled of the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And dwelling at Jerusalem there were Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. But this sound occurring, the multitude came together and were confounded, because they each heard them speaking in his own dialect. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Behold, are not these who speak all Galileans? And how do we each hear in our own dialect in which we were born?” (Acts 2:1-8) And the Holy Spirit continues to indwell every believer.

If you believe in Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior, you receive the Holy Spirit. You can live in the Spirit. That means that the Holy Spirit dwells in you, but not necessarily that you are walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit entails obeying the Holy Spirit and walking righteously. This is the whole purpose of receiving Jesus, to be free from the bondage of sin and to be able to live in righteousness, each person individually at their level of maturity in Christ. Paul exhorts us. “I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) So walking in the Spirit means one lives a righteous life that does not perform the lusts of the flesh. The best description of what it is to perform the lusts of the flesh is given by Paul in Galatians. In Ephesians, Paul states, “And He has made you alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience; among whom we also had our way of life in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:1-3) In Galatians he describes it as doing the following, “Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) This is specific and explicit. They are things that rival the love of God, His nature and are things that are not pleasing to Him.

Briefly, a person may live in the Spirit, meaning has received Jesus and have the Holy Spirit indwelling, but may not walk in the Spirit lacking teaching, maturity and obedience to the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. Paul therefore in our Scripture of study exhorts us to not merely live in the Spirit, but to also walk in the Spirit. We are admonished and warned to leave the flesh. “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust for a day of judgment, to be punished, and especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise dominion. They are darers, self-pleasing; not trembling at glories, speaking evil.” (2Peter 2:9-10) Instead of growing in the Lord, they grow in doing the works of the flesh tormenting the soul of the righteous. But God will deliver the righteous from such men, much like God delivered Lot from the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah. (2Peter 2:7,8)

Let us pray:

Father God, I come humbly before You. You know my weaknesses, my failures and faults. You know the desire of my heart to follow You righteously. I submit to You, to Your Word and to the Holy Spirit. Help me to grow in righteous living in my body, in my soul (mind, will and emotions) and spiritually.  Keep me from falling into deceitfulness ignoring the wisdom of Your Word and Your Spirit. Help me to discern those things which will lead me to cater to my flesh. Help me to deny my flesh and to seek those things which are eternal and everlasting. My Father, I thank You for Your Spirit indwelling. Give me ears to hear His leading. Give me wisdom and strength to obey. Deliver me from those who follow their flesh. I pray Lord that You would open their eyes and ears of understanding and that they would realize the danger they are in. I thank You my Lord and my God that You are faithful to complete Your work in me. Help me to be open to the changes You want to make in me through the power of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in me and works in me, for me and through me. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.