Is Something Missing from Your Walk with God?

Christians, like many other groups, are in the habit of communicating in jargon. We say someone is “washed in the blood,” our goal is often to “love on people,” and at special services we request a “love offering.”  

All of these terms are fairly simple to explain, at least to anyone who has had some exposure to Christianity. But then we talk about “walking by the Spirit.” This saying can trip up even lifelong Christians because it deals with the Holy Spirit, a more abstract area of our faith.

The Holy Spirit is the oft ignored part of the Trinity. We are not shy to talk about God and Jesus, but the Holy Spirit gets cast by the wayside. Yet, it does us no good to live as if the Holy Spirit does not exist.  

In This is Why You Can’t Overcome Temptation, Phylicia Delta writes that the Holy Spirit matters because He was promised to us by Jesus. 

“The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, the One Jesus promised to leave in His stead after His ascension:

‘I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.’ (John 16:7)”

Why were we promised the Holy Spirit? Because He provides help in our daily lives. 

Delta writes, “The Holy Spirit is your Helper. If you’re struggling to live the Christian life, you don’t have to ‘try harder’; you have to ‘seek and knock’ (Matt. 7:7-12). This puts your heart in the position to receive God’s Word, voice, and leading when He provides it, which He delights to do.”

This sounds ideal; of course every Christian wants to hear God’s Word and voice, and follow His lead. But could it really be that easy? After all, the world is full of temptations and sin. 

Delta says, “... the reality is that resisting sin IS easy when you’re saturated with the Spirit of God. If you’ve never experienced this, you won’t know what it’s like – and it will be hard to believe at first. But look at Scripture. God has promised to:

• Deliver us from the evil one (Matt. 6:13)
• Rescue the godly from trials (2 Peter 2:9)
• Not allow us to be tempted beyond ability (1 Cor. 10:13)”

She continues, “When you’re in the middle of temptation, it feels like you’re being tempted beyond your ability. And you are – your human ability. But you are never tempted beyond the Spirit’s ability in you.”

With this in mind, we should all be striving to “walk by the Spirit,” as we are told to do in Galatians 5:16. But how do we do that? Delta says walking by the Spirit is doing the following: 

• Allowing Him to speak through God’s Word
• Spending time in prayer, specifically adoration and worship
• Confessing God’s truth over your temptations
• Rejecting unbelief in God’s goodness and ability
• Choosing to trust Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf
• Taking the step of faith that the Spirit will help you overcome even before you feel like it.

Walking by the Spirit will not eliminate trials in your life. But Delta writes that your response to trials will be different. 

“... the Holy Spirit will change how you handle those circumstances. Through Him, you live as an overcomer – not a victim of your situation. And through Him your life brings glory to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, because everything you do is done by His power.” 

As Dr. Charles Stanley writes in his Daily Devotional, “The Holy Spirit is one of God's most precious gifts to His beloved children… Walking by the Spirit denotes reliance upon Him. He leads the way, and we follow. As He speaks, we listen, heed His warnings, and obey His directions. The Spirit's way is a path of surrender which, although difficult, leads to fullness of life.”

Fullness of life. That, friends, is what walking by the Holy Spirit can do. 

Carrie Dedrick is an editor of Crosswalk.com. When she is not writing or editing, she can usually be found teaching dance classes, running marathons, or reading with at least one adopted dog on her lap. Carrie and her husband Dustin are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first baby in October 2017.

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