Walking In The Spirit
- Joe Henrickson
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
These past few weeks, the term; “walk in the Spirit” has been on my heart and on my mind. When I think about this phrase, I think about myself and what it would look like to be someone who actually walks in the Spirit. Even more so, have I ever done it before?
Ultimately, I get on the thought train and it leads me to the words of Jesus when speaking to his disciples he says; “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
John 14:12 NKJV
I find myself asking; “Why am I not seeing this in my life?” Should we be seeing healing like Jesus healed? Should we have words of knowledge like Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well? Should we be casting out demons?
This has been my prayer life as of late. God, how do I get to that place?
Our example of course is Jesus, but this same gift and/or indwelling was also given to the disciples as clearly portrayed in the book of Acts.
I also have to ask myself; “Am I truly walking in the Spirit?”
To me, through knowledge of His Word, walking in the Spirit has to do with pursuing holiness. We read in John 14 a very clear message straight from the mouth of Jesus; “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 14:21 NKJV
There is one thing to understand that God is present and always around because He is omnipresent, but it is another to know of His manifest presence. If we were to be walking in the Spirit, I truly believe we would know and understand His manifest presence.
God’s ultimate goal has always been to have relationship with us. He created us for real loving relationship. Sin separated us from Him and therefore the ultimate plan for reconciliation was for Jesus to come as a man and to not sin so that He could become our ultimate sacrifice and take on our sin on the cross. Even more, that he could defeat sin and the grave by raising Himself from the dead.
The relationship is our victory and is still God’s ultimate goal. However, God still abhors sin. We as His children should be running from sin and all too often we’re resistant to giving up certain things we know are sin because we’re institutionalized in our own transgressions. Instead of God hearing our confessions, He hears our concessions and we opt out of our contract of repentance and lean into our justifications.
Instead of God hearing our confessions, He hears our concessions and we opt out of our contract of repentance and lean into our justifications.
We know that God will always forgive us of our sins.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I John 1:9 NKJV
Do we know that we should no longer be justifying our sins? David was a sinner, but God called him a man after His own heart. Not because he was perfect, but because he abhorred sin as God did.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”
Psalms 51:17 NKJV
This was David’s psalm after sinning with Bathsheba. He was broken before God. Does our heart break over sin? We need to despise sin and resist the devil.
Walking in the Spirit should mean more than just striving after righteousness, it should also mean that we are seeking His kingdom. Jesus tells us that we should be seeking “the kingdom of God” and “His righteousness “.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33 NKJV
Follow up question here; “What is “the kingdom of God?”
Such a deep question and there are several different thoughts on this. Many would lead towards the answer of heaven. I myself could only attribute it to being heaven “IF” that heavenly realm existed right here and now. This aligns with so much but I’ll just point out Ephesians 6.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
We battle in the heavens currently. There is a spiritual realm that we do not see (at least most of us) that we are a part of. It’s this realm that we ate supposed to be aware of, a part of, working within. If we are seeking His Kingdom, I really believe we can gain access to this heavenly realm and walk in the Spirit.
It’s a lot. But if we truly desire to live like Jesus and do and see the things He did, we have to be set apart. We have to cast off sin and truly hate it. We have to be striving to know His kingdom and begin to be willing to walk with Him into a realm where we can see what the Spirit is doing all around us and want to be a part of it.
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