Day 3: Walking in the Spirit

Perhaps you are wondering what being in the spirit has to do with hearing from God? When we looked at what to do when God is not talking it became clear that we need to adjust our hearing because God, who is Spirit, is always talking even though we do not always hear Him. And what I meant by adjusting our hearing was that you needed to move from not being in the spirit to being in the spirit.

A lot of people are trying to hear God with their physical ears, and they are failing dismally. Perhaps you are also waiting for some thunderous voice from heaven. However you are a spirit, you possess a soul and you live in a body. The spirit, which is the actual you and is looking through those eyes right now, is the one that hears God who is also spirit.

You need to hear through the ears of that spirit individual and see through their eyes, not those of the vehicle that is carrying them around. Your body is here to give your spirit legal access to the earth realm. Without your body, your spirit would be illegal in this realm. So in hearing God, do not expect a thunderous voice from outside expect a still voice from within you because it is your spirit that hears God.

As a born-again Christian, you should be surprised when you come out of the spirit realm, not when you enter because this is your new nature. But unfortunately, a lot of us are the opposite, we find ourselves being very surprised when we enter the spirit realm. It is possible to be born again and still live as if you are not alive in God. Paul writes a letter appealing to the Galatians and says “If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit” Galatians 5:25. You would have thought walking in the spirit is automatic, but according to Paul, it is not. The Galatians were born-again, so they were living by the spirit, but they were not walking by the spirit.

In defining WHAT walking in the spirit means you will realise that I would have also explained HOW to walk in the spirit. Hold on to your seat because it is not as ‘deep’ as you would have imagined. In fact, I am certain you will be shocked by how simple it is.

Paul broke down ‘walking in the spirit’ in this way “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law” Galatians 5:22. Notice how the bible says FRUIT and not FRUITS. There is only one fruit of the spirit and that is love. I know many have been taught there are many fruits of the spirit, but please read that bit again and see. He only speaks of one fruit, the rest are the attributes of that one fruit that is love.

So when you walk in the spirit there is only one fruit we ought to see in your life and Paul calls it love. So the fruit of the spirit is manifested in all those other attributes that Paul lists like gentleness, long-suffering, etc. And when you do not see them in you, know that you are not walking in the spirit. Maybe some are still not convinced.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul says “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [a]puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, [b]thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Paul is telling us here that long-suffering, peace, joy, gentleness, etc. are all inside of love. So when the bible talks about the fruit of the spirit, there is only one, and that is Love.

To master walking in the spirit you need to do one thing, and that is to walk in love. When you are walking in love you do not need to think about whether you are being gentle, good, etc. because all of those are encapsulated in love. If you are born-again then love should come naturally to you, you need to yield yourself to it and walk in it, which is synonymous with walking in the spirit. I did say it will be simple! And it is this simple! When you walk in love, hearing God is easy.

No Christian can say “I cannot walk in love” the bible says “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given us” Romans 5:5. God has already given you everything you need to walk in the spirit and hear His voice. His love has been shed abroad in your heart. You are able to walk in love because He has placed His love in you.

1 John 4:8 says “He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love” The only word in the bible used to describe what God is made up of is love. So when you walk in love, you are walking in the realm of God. You are immersed in His true nature, experiencing the god-kind-of-life and therefore hearing his voice clearly. I hope you see that to know God, relate with Him, and be in the same realm He is in, you need to walk in love. It is impossible to participate in His divine nature outside of Love!

On Day 4 I want us to look into what walking in love looks like practically. We will also look at the different ways in which God speaks. Love and blessings to you, shalom!