Sign in Subscribe

Walking in the SPIRIT

Jan Oosthuizen

• 8 min read

Lord, You want to partner with us in our prayers with Your answers. Our works, Your grace. Our possessions, Your blessing. Our obedience, Your call. Our weakness, Your strength. This is a great mystery. I pray, help us to make this sacred partnership more seamless and flowing, reciprocal, intimate, and natural.
In the same way, Jesus could do nothing without the Father; we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit.

  • Jesus could do nothing without Him
  • seeing the Father do it (John 5:19-20, 30)
  • only doing His will (John 6:38)
  • doing only what the Father taught (Joh 8:28);
  • according to what the Father commanded (John 12:49).

In order for us to live and move by the way of the Spirit, or as Ap. Paul put it: “walking in the Spirit” (Gal 5:16) we must learn to be wholly devoted and dependent upon the Holy Spirit. We literally can do nothing without Him!

In the OT, people lived by the Law, in the NT believers live by the Holy Spirit.

It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. (Zech 4:6)

ALL LIFE IN THE New Testament IS BY THE SPIRIT

Know God by the Spirit: No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:11)
Walk according to the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh. It is the power of the Spirit life, that frees you from the gravitational downward pull of the flesh and sin (Rom 8:2-4; Gal 5:16). A new power is in operation.The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death, and empowering you to be walking in the Spirit. . The Message: (Rom. 8:2).
Set your mind on the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:5-8).
Put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Rom 8:13).
The main characteristic of BEING A CHILD OF GOD is being led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14):

  • Know the Fatherhood of God and subsequent sonship by the Spirit (Rom 8:15-17).
  • Hope in the Spirit (Rom 8:23-25).
  • Pray in the Spirit (Rom 8:26-27). In other passages Paul mentions — (Jude 20)
  • Be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18).
  • Serve in the Spirit (Rom 7:6; 15:16).
  • Love by the Spirit (Rom 15:30; Gal 5:22-23; Col 1:8).
  • Know one-another by the spirit.

The way of the spirit is more accurate and also quicker!

  • Jesus knew the heart of Nathaniel even before he had met him (John 1:47). Similarly, the Lord revealed to Ananias not only the change in Saul (Paul) but also his destiny before He met him. (Acts 9:10)
  • Phillip was divinely led to meet the servant of the court of Ethiopia. (Acts 8:26). Jesus knew what was in the Pharisees’ hearts.
  • He knew the woman at the well in the spirit (John 4).

Imagine a church where people are walking in the spirit, knowing each other deeply and fulfilling their unique roles without complaint or strife, because they do not feel threatened by one another. Let us allow the Teacher to lead, guide, and train us:

  • We are taught by that what the Holy Spirit teaches (1 John 2:27; 1 Cor 1:13).
  • People err, in interpreting the Bible without the Spirit (2 Cor 3:6).
    We can only know God, by the Spirit, because He is Spirit (1 Cor 2:10-12).
  • We cannot be regenerated and born again without the work of the Spirit (Tit 3:5).
  • The Eternal spirit through the Blood of Christ, cleanses you from an evil conscience (Heb 9:14).

Let us pray: Lord, help me walk in the spirit, live in the spirit, and bear the fruit of the spirit.
May I always be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to obey your will, walking in the spirit as Jesus did.

ABIDING IN THE SPIRIT

It is only in the Spirit that we are safe.

  • It is only in the Spirit, that we cannot be deceived and misled (1 John 4:1; John 16:13).
  • Words and deeds done in the spirit, (1 Cor 2:13) He will defend.
  • In the Spirit we are accurate. In the Spirit we are holy and perfect. (John 17:17)
  • In the Spirit we are righteous. In the Spirit we will know the way in the Holy of holies. (Heb 9:8)
  • In the Spirit there is liberty. (2 Cor 3:17)
  • In the Spirit we are whole, and able to speak the whole gospel.
  • In the Spirit we have access to all things, gifts of the Spirit, (1 Cor 12:7-10) fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:21-22).
  • In the Spirit we are seated in heavenly places and will have authority. (Eph 2:6)
  • In the Spirit we know all things, and intentions of the heart. (1 Cor 2:10)
  • In the spirit we will know how to rightly divide and speak the truth.
  • In the Spirit, the dead are made alive!
  • It is by the Spirit that we are united and become one like the God-head.
  • It is by the Spirit that we are convicted, regenerated, filled, sanctified, justified and glorified.
  • We have no life, existence or substance outside of the spirit. All spiritual life is by definition in the Spirit.
  • Life in the spirit is a decided, conscious, intentional, aware, and awakening partnership, not a possession. A yielding, not an overpowering control. An awakening, not an unconscious, senseless, paralysed, cold, inert, insensate, insensible, lethargic, numb, passed out, stupefied, tranced state of being. Those are characteristics of being possessed by demons. Satan makes you like a zombie!

The Spirit gives life and unlocks supernatural inert abilities that God has all-ready birthed in us. By the Spirit, we are united in the divine!
We miss out on the spirit-life because of:

  • Self: Ego, pride, insecurities, flesh. The way of the carnality and fleshly thinking is enmity to the Spirit. (Rom 8:5) There is no middle ground, no compromise.
  • The Holy Spirit is Jesus who walks in our streets today. He is a person. He does the same work as Jesus has come to do. (Joh 14:15)
  • The people treat Him the same as they treated Jesus. Who crucified Jesus? The religious and so-called clergy of that time.
  • The Holy Spirit wants to work through us; He wants to use us and let His gifts work through us and lead us to the Father.
  • He wants to reveal Christ to us so that He will become a reality in our lives. He wants to make us His disciples. He wants to lead us into deeper dimensions in the Spirit.

WAYS HOW WE RESIST THE SPIRIT
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled, and grieved his Holy Spirit;
Asab: A verb meaning to hurt, to pain, grieve, to shape to fashion.
Mat 12: 31-32 Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall men be forgiven; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven of men.
32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him in this age, nor in the coming.
blasphēmía: Blasphemy, verbal abuse against someone which denotes the very worst type of slander mentioned in Matt. 15:19 with false witnesses; wounding someone’s reputation by evil reports, evil speaking.
Acts 5: 3,9 Then Peter said, Ananias, why did Satan fulfill your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep the price of the land? Then Peter said to her, Why did you agree to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who bury your man are at the door, and they will carry you out.
pseúdomai; fut. pseúsomai, mid. deponent of pseúdō (n.f.), to cheat, defraud, falsify. To lie, to speak falsely or deceitfully
Acts 7:51 You stubborn and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; just as your fathers, so also you.
antipíptō; fut. antipesoúmai, from antí (G0473), against, and píptō (G4098), to fall. To fall or rush against or upon in a hostile manner, assault, resist by force and violence, fall or strive against (Acts 7:51;
Acts 8: 18-22 And when Simon saw that by the laying of the apostles the Holy Ghost was given, he offered their money 19 And said, Give me this power also, that whosoever shall lay my hands upon the Holy Ghost can receive. 20 But Peter said to him, Let your money go away with you, because you thought to receive the gift of God through money. 21 You have no part or fate in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent therefore of this evil from you, and pray to God, whether the mind of your heart may be forgiven you.
1 Thess 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit
Sbénnumi: To quench, extinguish
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
lupéṓ̄: to grieve, afflict with sorrow; to be grieved, sad, sorrowful, to offend
BEING IN THE SPIRIT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ISOLATE YOURSELF
Being most connected and in tune, in the Spirit, enables you to

  • connect on a higher level with people, and being really present in their deep hidden needs, wants, desires, and motives.
  • Being connected in the Spirit first, then He will connect you with man, but on a higher level, so that you can pull them up, and not be pulled down by man’s devices.

Being in the Spirit and walking in the spirit does not disconnect you from man, becoming ascetic, but rather it connects you to man on a deeper divine spiritual level. People are most carnal, and do not understand the ways of the Spirit. It is foolishness and strange to them. There are very few people who live and abide in the spirit, walking in the Spirit. Life in the spirit is living like by the natural law of helium, where the way of carnality cannot escape the natural law of gravity. So people not living in the spirit, walking in the Spirit, will always pull you down. They do not even realize it, but they do.

THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD

The WORD and the Spirit is one. Sword of the Spirit is the Word. Eph 6:17
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (Joh 6:63)
The language of the spirit is the Word of God. Every single word we speak in the Spirit is based and founded on scripture. It is like someone who has memorised all of scripture and had understanding and insight into the whole of scripture. Your spiritual vocabulary is Word-based.
They only speak from the Word. (Josh 1:8) The Spirit gives life to the Word. The Word becomes flesh in us by the Spirit.
You cannot be like Jesus without the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who resurrects, reveals, and manifests Christ in us. Only the Spirit reveals Jesus in us.
It is simply not in man, to be like Christ, and any attempt is of the spirit of the anti-christ.
The way of the Spirit is holy and sacred. Life in the spirit is holy, consecrated, sanctified, precise, accurate, on the mark – Jesus.
By walking in the spirit, we can live a sinless and consecrated life, guided by the Holy Spirit who works in us and draws us closer to a more holy way of living.

WE CAN EVEN WORK IN THE SPIRIT

Let us pray: Oh God help us to continually be walking in the spirit. Help us to remain and abide in the spirit. Help us to find our complete habitation in the Holy Spirit.
Work done in the Spirit is:

  • worship and glorifies God.
  • Work can be done in the Spirit, for daily labour is not ungodly, secular, or sinful. (Exo 31:3,5; 35:31)
  • Work is part of our creational purpose, subdue, and multiply. (Gen 1:28) When we work by the Spirit it will not be laborious, it will be innovative, precise and intentional.
  • In the Spirit, you will be able to focus and accomplish.
  • Your work will be a blessing! Your work will be a sermon, an extension of His grace and character in you.
  • You work will reveal God, the same way His creation reveals Him.
  • Your work will be excellent, and spectacular, rich in precise detail, order and creative. Believers being in the spirit have done many new inventions.
  • Work in the spirit makes this world better because it resonates heaven! (Mat 6:10)
  • When living in the spirit, our constant focus and attention are on His ability, not ours. His strength, power, fruit, gifts, testimony, and riches. We are dead to our capabilities, efforts, methods, trying, and achievements. Our confidence is in Him.
  • Our default is Christ. We have died to self, our dreams and ambitions. We have died to our mistakes, failures, inabilities and incompetence. Thy life we now live we live in the Son.