Living in the SpiritSample

If our identity in Christ is the foundation of the Christian life, then walking in the Spirit is the engine that runs it. Trying to live the Christian life in the flesh is a bit like a Jedi going into a fight and deciding not to use the Force. The reality is that New Age practitioners often do a better job of recognizing the necessity of the spirit world than Christians. Many of us function as if the Spirit world (demons, angels, or the Holy Spirit) is an afterthought. But one of the core concepts of the kingdom is that we are but branches attached to the vine (John 15:1–8). On our own, we can bear no fruit. The fruit God desires comes from walking in the Spirit. The more we grow in our capacity to recognize the Spirit’s guidance, the easier this gets.

We have emphasized two main ideas on what it means to walk in the Spirit: Scripture and Spirit. In the New Testament, the group best known for their focus on Scripture without the Spirit were the Pharisees. These religious leaders were so focused on the objective that they could not be persuaded to recognize the Holy Spirit’s work that was happening through the ministry of Jesus. No miracle or teaching of Jesus could open their eyes to the work of the Spirit.

In the same way, the Bible without the Spirit is not a recipe for success in the Christian life for us today. Throughout history, there have also been groups that got so focused on hearing God’s voice experientially that they stopped caring if it was biblical. I have a friend whose wife divorced him and married someone else because the pastor at her church got a “word from the Lord” that she was supposed to disobey Scripture. People can fall into serious errors on either extreme, which is why we need to walk in balance, as we talked about in the last chapter.

As you grow in biblical wisdom and focus on your walk with God today, I would encourage you to remember to SLOW down and take some time to connect with Him as you seek, listen, obey, and watch what happens.

This plan has been taken from A Deeper Walk by Marcus Warner. If you’d like to continue learning about living a spirit-filled life, please check out the rest of the book!