So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives… Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:16, 25
This week I have been sharing with you some of the biblical principles that I am using in my quest to develop spiritual maturity. We have been created by God and for God and it is not until our lives are completely under His directive care will we find total satisfaction.
There are number of principles that can help us grow up in the Lord but perhaps none is more important than to ‘walk in the Spirit.’ Often when the Bible makes reference to our walk it is speaking of our lifestyle. To walk in the Spirit means to consciously live life under His control, power, and influence. It is a daily, often a moment by moment relationship with Him and a willingness to be obedient to His guidance.
Walking in the Spirit is not an option if we desire spiritual maturity. According to Paul there are two forces at work in our lives- our flesh and the Spirit. Notice what he writes concerning this:
‘So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.’ (vs. 16-17)
The results of not walking in the Spirit are terrible:
‘When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these… (vs. 19-21)
With little or no prompting our flesh naturally produces every kind of sin from sorcery to selfishness – immorality to envy – ambition to anger. But notice the contrast to when we walk in the Spirit.
With little or no prompting our flesh naturally produces every kind of sin from sorcery to selfishness – immorality to envy – ambition to anger. But notice the contrast to when we walk in the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.’ (vs. 22-23)
Spiritual maturity is not measured by the number of years our name has been on the church role or the position we may hold on Sunday morning. Spiritual maturity is measured by the amount of our lives that we have yielded to the Holy Spirit.
‘Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.’
"Seeds of Faith" 