What it Means to Walk in the Spirit

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What it Means to Walk in the Spirit

13 November 2009 No Comment

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I’ve been studying what it means to walk in the spirit. As I sought to have a better understanding of this concept, I looked to two great bible teachers, pastors John Mac Arthur and John Piper.

Walking in the spirit only begins when someone has been born again (John 3:5-8). To be born again means that God changes us on the inside and gives us new life. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” God made us alive on the inside.

Walk by the Spirit and you won’t fulfill the desires of the flesh
To walk in the spirit means that we are to continually live in the consciousness of his presence and to have our thoughts dominated by Christ.
John Mac Arthur states:
In Galatians, it says “if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” Then there’s an easy conclusion, walking by the Spirit is the same as putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. For years I have said and I say it again and it’s in the little book on the will of God that the Spirit filled life or walking by the Spirit is the very same thing as living a Christ like life. It is the saturation of my life with the person of Christ so that He dominates my thought patterns. So that I live in the consciousness of His presence. That is walking by the Spirit. For the work of the Spirit hasn’t changed one bit from when Jesus said He would send the Spirit. His work is to point to Christ. And walking by the Spirit means that my life is patterned after the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we walk by the spirit?
We walk by the spirit when we yield our desires to the spirit. The spirit produces desires in us that are according to his will.
John Piper states:
Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh. This means that “walking by the Spirit” is not something we do in order to get the Spirit’s help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit.
Piper states again:
The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are “walking by the Spirit.” For we always act according to our strongest desires.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Piper points out that when we walk by the spirit we experience the fulfillment of this prophesy.

Walking by the Spirit is similar to being filled with the Spirit
What does it mean to be filled by the Spirit?
Being filled with the spirit involves a moment by moment yielding to the leading of the Spirit.
John Mac Arthur states:
An understanding of the Greek for “be filled,” plerousthe, quite clearly reveals the correct meaning of Paul’s command in Ephesians 5:18. A literal translation of the verb would read something like “be being kept filled.” The idea is one of keeping yourself constantly filled, as you yield moment by moment to the leading of the Spirit. It fits perfectly with the process of walking by the Spirit. He also says this about being filled with the Spirit: “It involves a surrender of your will, your intellect, your body, your time, your talent, your treasure everything to His control, it’s the death of self, it’s the crucifixion of self, it’s the slaying of your own self‑will, it’s the mortification of the members of your body, as it says in Colossians 2.”

How can we practically be filled with the spirit and walk in the spirit?
We are filled with the spirit when we know the mind of Christ. And how do we know the mind of Christ?
Mac Arthur says:
The Apostle Paul says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” One can be filled with the Spirit only when controlled by the Word. It is knowing truth and obeying it.

When we walk in the spirit we are not subject to legalism
And Mac Arthur states:
But I’ve learned in the new covenant what holiness is and holiness for me is not a list of outside rules. Holiness for me is simply walking by the energy of the indwelling Spirit who empowers me to do the things that I couldn’t force myself to do no matter what the outside rules were.

Piper gives 5 steps towards walking by the spirit
1. Acknowledge that we are unable to do good apart from the enabling work of the Spirit in our lives.
2. Pray that God would allow us to obey him through the power of his Spirit.
3. Trust by faith that since we have come under the power of God’s Spirit, sin will no longer have dominion
over us.
4. Act and do what we know is right. We do this after we have appealed to the Spirit to enable us to obey.
5. Thank God for helping you to obey him.

Sources:
Walking by the Spirit (John Mac Arthur)
Be Filled With the Spirit (John Mac Arthur)
Let us Walk by the Spirit (John Piper)

Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,