The
challenge of walking in the Spirit is refusing to set the terms. The whole idea
is to release ourselves into God’s intentions and respond to what we face detached
from our ways. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My
ways,” declares the LORD. “For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
It is
obvious that our ways and our thoughts tend to be more earthly than heavenly,
more flesh than Spirit. So to walk in the Spirit, I must deny myself the
impulse to go my way and invest in my thoughts and, instead, take up the cross
to follow Jesus.
The
cross was an implement of death in Jesus’ life. But in the bigger picture it
was the symbol of why He came in the first place—to do the will of Him who sent
Me. So the cross is bigger than the means of Jesus’ physical death, it is the
statement of His willingness to find and do the Father’s ways and have the
Father’s thoughts.
For
us, by refusing to follow the flesh, we will walk in the Spirit. It is not a
complicated process. It is a matter of choice. I will be who I am (a child of
God) and live my life reflective of that identity if I refuse to act contrary.
The sculptor
who created a horse from a block of granite only had to knock off all the stuff
that didn’t look like a horse. He didn’t create the horse, he merely exposed
the horse.
With
the Spirit indwelling us, we need not invite Him in—that’s like telling someone
to come into a room they are already in. Our responsibility is to yield
ourselves to His presence. The promise of Him walking with us (paraklete) is a
constant provision waiting for release. Once yielded, I simply go through my
day acknowledging His presence and anticipating Him leading me toward God’s
ways and thoughts.
“If
we walk in the Spirit we will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” And, as
a child of God, if we do not carry out the desires of the flesh, we will walk
in the Spirit.
Let’s
see where our feet lead us today.
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