You can be guided by the Holy Spirit 24/7.
Here are five steps to help you learn how to walk in the spirit.
What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? A cup of coffee? How comfortable your bed is? Your list of things to do? Every decision and step we take each day is driven by something—a growling stomach, a sense of responsibility, a desire for success. Your day is determined by one of two driving forces—your flesh or your spirit. What’s the default setting and the natural thing to do? To let the flesh control you. The flesh is loud and demanding. It likes to have its own way, and it sure doesn’t give up easily. It may not seem like it, but you have control over what controls you.
You aren’t meant to let your flesh rule your life—you’re meant to walk in the spirit and live on a higher level, where victory reigns and righteousness rules. You can walk in the spirit and be guided by the Holy Spirit 24/7.
Do you want to know how to walk in the spirit? You can do it! The Spirit of God is in you right now. You may not feel like it, but He is there—speaking to you, directing you to freedom and blessing. God wants you to operate in the realm of the spirit—not in this natural world—because that’s how you live the life you’ve always dreamed of. That’s how you claim victory—by walking in the spirit.
If you’re feeling discouraged and defeated—there is a better quality of life available to you when you walk in the spirit, but it won’t happen overnight. It is a transformation from one degree of glory to another and one move of obedience to another. To begin enjoying the blessings of a Spirit-led life, here are five steps to help you learn how to walk in the spirit.
Step No. 1: Walk in the Spirit by Throwing Off Hindrances
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” –Hebrews 12:1, NIV
Notice this verse doesn’t say anything about gently removing things one at a time. No! It says to throw them off. If you’ve ever seen someone who has come in contact with fire ants or bees, you know they don’t stop and consider whether they should remove them, and they certainly don’t do so slowly. They make a vigorous and determined effort to get those pests away from them. Why? Because they know the damage and pain that could be inflicted if left unaddressed.
So, don’t sit around wondering if you should stop sinning or cast the devil out of your life—get rid of it! You weren’t created to be a slave to anything.
What is a hindrance?
Anything that is out of line with the Word of God is a hindrance. That’s why Satan is so determined to strap hindrances onto your spirit. He wants to slow you down and keep you from reaching THE BLESSING. Hindrances can include any of the following:
- Sexual vice, impurity, unholy desires, greed
- Anger, rage, bad feelings toward others, cursing, slander, foul-mouth abuse and shameful utterances
- Adultery, fornication, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, envy, murders, drunkenness and anything like them (Colossians 3:5-6; Galatians 5:19).
How can you throw off hindrances?
“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus.” –Hebrews 12:2
To get rid of those things that are slowing you down, and to walk in the spirit, the natural world has to become small in your heart and mind, while the things of God become bigger and bigger. If you have a sin habit in your life—something you know isn’t pleasing to God—now is the time to rid your life of it as fast as you would get away from fire ants and bees.
Maybe there are some things you watch on television you shouldn’t be watching. Things that deplete your spirit. There are times when you just need to say “no” out loud when something is displeasing to the Father. Even shout it out if you need to. Say, “No, I do not receive that. I cast down every high imagination that tries to exalt itself against God.”
Allow the Holy Spirit to correct and guide you as you work toward walking in the spirit every day. He will help you not only to separate yourself from the world, but to desire the things of God more than anything else.
Step No. 2: Walk in the Spirit by Sowing to the Spirit
“He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” –Galatians 6:8, NKJV
The New Testament in Modern English by J. B. Phillips says, “A man’s harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows.” This means, if you want to walk in the spirit, you can’t sow your time to the world. You’ve got to sow to the spirit to reap the harvest of a blessed and fulfilled life—lacking nothing.
How do you sow to the spirit?
With your time. Many Christians don’t grow because they don’t get the Word into themselves. If you don’t give God time, natural voices will overwhelm His Spirit in your life.
Sure, you have things you need to do in the natural—but they shouldn’t take up all your time. Give your spirit the opportunity to feed on the Word of God, fellowship with Him, and build yourself up in faith. It doesn’t take a lot of time. Kenneth E. Hagin once prophesied the importance of giving the Lord a tithe of your time—just an hour or two each day. You might say, I don’t have an hour! But the truth is—you’ll make time for anything if it’s important enough. There are no shortcuts to the good life.
When you sow to the spirit, it will take you into a realm where you’ve never been before. In fact, when you get to a place where the truth of God’s Word is so real, the Spirit of God will rise up on the inside of you and you’ll do things you never would have done before.
There was a Christian woman who was on a bus in Washington, D.C. At one point during her trip, some men got on the bus and started robbing people one at a time—taking money, jewellery and possessions. But when they got to this little woman, the power of God came upon her and she said, “In the Name of Jesus, take your hands off me!” It just leapt out of her without her even thinking about it. Well, those men didn’t bother her—in fact, they got off the bus as fast as they could!
She was walking in the spirit that day, and that’s the kind of power available to you when you walk in the spirit.
Step No. 3: Walk in the Spirit by Presenting Your Body as a Living Sacrifice
“Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”—Romans 12:1-2, NKJV
At first, that sounds like a big commitment. It is! But that’s what Jesus did for us—He presented His body a living sacrifice. But what does this really mean for us? How do we present our body as a living sacrifice to God?
- Lay aside the things of the world. This means being willing to give up activities, friends or habits that don’t match God’s best for our lives—walking away from anything that is not pleasing to the Lord.
- Obey righteousness, not the flesh. The reason people get so good at sin is because they practice it. For example, a person doesn’t become an alcoholic the first time he takes a drink. He had to practice drinking until the flesh was trained to demand it. To become good at obeying the Holy Spirit, we must practice.
- Make a daily decision. You make a decision to put on the Spirit each day the same way you would put on a coat. Pastor George Pearsons presents himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice, according to Romans 12:1, by speaking the following declaration first thing every morning:
Father, I present my body to You as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to You, for this is my reasonable service—my divine worship for You. I command my body to submit to my spirit. Father, according to Hebrews 12:1-2, I lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles me so that I may run with patience the race that is set before me, looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of my faith.
In Jesus’ Name, I am taking command of my body. Body, mind, you can’t tell me what to do or think. Spirit man, you’re in charge. Body and mind, you submit to the spirit.
As you continue to present yourself to the Lord, it may take some time for things to straighten out, but if you’re willing to be obedient, it won’t take long. It would be backward for us to say we’ll get things right in our lives first, and then walk in the spirit. As we obey the Holy Spirit’s leading first, the other things in our life will straighten out.
Step No. 4: Walk in the Spirit by Praying in the Spirit Daily
“For we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.” –Romans 8:26, AMPC
The most powerful way to begin walking in the spirit is to start praying in the spirit—it is the gateway to living life above what you have ever known. Praying in the spirit accomplishes so much all at once.
- It charges and strengthens your spirit.
- It enables you to overcome the weakness of the flesh—any bad habits.
- It makes it easier to receive from God and keep what you have received.
- It strengthens your ability to resist the devil.
- It causes your inner man to rise up in adversity.
- It reveals things to your spirit you could never know by your own ability.
If you want to go higher with God and grow spiritually, start praying in the spirit an hour every day. As a result, you will see so much power in your life, you’ll never want to make a decision without praying in the spirit again. It is the secret to revelation in our lives. In fact, the Bible tells us God will reveal mysteries to us when we pray in the spirit (1 Corinthians 14:2).
There was a church in Russia that was holding underground meetings. But, every time they met, the KGB would come and break it up because they had an informant in their meetings. So, the pastor finally told his congregation that he was not going to announce the time and location of the next meeting. Instead, they would have to pray in the spirit to find out. At the next meeting, every person but one showed up in the right place. That’s the power of walking in the spirit.
Step No. 5: Walk in the Spirit by Obeying the Promptings of the Holy Spirit
“The sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” –John 10:4, ESV
The Holy Spirit is ALWAYS speaking to you. There’s an answer to every problem you’re facing today—whether financial, health or family related. The worst problem in your marriage, health or finances is only one word from the Lord away from a complete turnaround. How can you access these answers? Through heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The question is: How far do you want to go in your walk with God?
So many times, people will say I’d go to Africa or China if God asked me to, yet they won’t obey Him in the small things. They won’t forgive someone; they won’t stop watching ungodly television programming; they won’t spend time with Him daily.
That’s what happened to Peter. He told Jesus, “I’d die for You,” yet when Jesus simply asked him to watch and pray with Him one hour, he fell asleep.
Everything God tells you to do is important. So, tune in to the Spirit of the Lord in all things, even when He’s telling you something that seems small, or something you don’t want to hear.
Confess this every day: “I hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and a stranger’s voice I will not follow” (John 10:5).
When you obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, you will be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people. And you will have success and victory in everything you do.
When you take these five steps toward walking in the spirit, there will be no limit to what you can achieve. You will stop letting your flesh control you and begin living a Spirit-led life of peace, joy and blessing beyond anything you’ve ever hoped or imagined. You will live the God kind of life right here on earth!
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