Walking in the Spirit
God, through Paul, who was writing to the Galatian church, and to us tells us in Galatians 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” As we know, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity. He is equal to God the Father and God the Son; equal, as one scholar put it, “in nature, power, and glory.” Whatever is said of the Father in the Bible and whatever is said of the Son, as far as being God, can be said of the Holy Spirit. He is omnipotent (all-powerful); omnipresent (everywhere present); omniscient (all-knowing). He has always been and always will be. His love knows no bounds. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, with no change, because He does not need to change. He is forever truthful. He has all wisdom, all goodness, all faithfulness. He is supremely holy. And we could go on, but we get the picture.
And it is this Holy Spirit with whom we are to live and walk as a Christian. I like what writer Jeremy Linneman tells us, “The Spirit is God’s empowering presence. He isn’t merely omnipresent in a general sense; he’s present with us. The Spirit’s presence means not simply that ‘God is there’ but that ‘God is here.’ The difference between God’s omnipresence and the Spirit’s presence with us might be compared to the difference between being in the same room as my mother and sitting face-to-face with her as we share a meal and talk about life.” Since He is here; since His presence is not only surrounding us but dwelling within us, we have One who will help us to live and move and have our being in God. He will teach us about Jesus, that being His ministry, and help us to live according to what He teaches us.
The Bible tells us that He is the Spirit of truth; the Spirit of grace; the Spirit of life; the Spirit of wisdom; the Spirit of holiness; the Spirit of glory. And so, He, as all of these things, will help us to walk in all of these things as well. According to Paul in Ephesians we are to be filled with the Spirit. And the world ‘filled’ in the Greek holds to the meaning of being constantly filled with the Spirit. Again, as one scholar put it, “We’re to seek a continuous and abiding relationship with the Spirit. We can find ongoing spiritual renewal in the Spirit, and the development of Christlike character will come as we allow the Spirit to produce fruit in us.”
We will continue this thought later, but in the meantime, may God help us to learn and be obedient to what the Spirit is teaching us as we walk with Him!