DAY 5: WALK BY THE SPIRIT

I felt the need to say something similar to this when writing to you in the “Keeping the First Things First” devotional… And that is, I don’t want you to hear the words of “Walk With Jesus” and get caught up in a performance driven mindset. I don’t want you to hear this song and think it’s your new “self-help” anthem.

This is a lifestyle… And this lifestyle is a life in the Spirit. If there’s one thing that will burn you out and get you to stop walking, it will be the performance mindset. It’ll be the idea that “you’ve gotta try harder and we’re all counting on you not to mess up”. Religion constantly paints the picture that God has all these rules for you to keep and if you mess up and break one of the rules, then He’s displeased with you and that’s it. The good news, however, is that Jesus took the penalty of sin on your behalf and has provided the atonement needed for sin. Now, sin is to no longer have dominion over you because of a new life in the Spirit (Romans 6:14). Believer, let me tell you, God is actually the one who is responsible for getting the good out of you. He is the one who has made the promise to never leave you, never forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), to never give up on you in your process.

I love these words from Paul,

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”

Philippians 1:6 AMP

You can be so confident and convinced that God doesn’t just leave something imperfect and incomplete. He keeps on perfecting all the way to the time of Jesus’ return. Praise God!

So take it easy on yourself. What we need to do now is keep our surrender in check and stay tender to the promptings of the Spirit of God. Don’t ever tell the Holy Spirit that He can’t convict you in an area. Leave no areas “off limits” to the Holy Spirit. This is how God is perfecting the work that He started in us.

New covenant believers, make no mistake about it: your “walk with Jesus” is a walk by the Spirit! Don’t put any confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).

“For God achieved what the law was unable to accomplish, because the law was limited by the weakness of human nature. Yet God sent us his Son in human form to identify with human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin. So now every righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled through the Anointed One living his life in us. And we are free to live, not according to our flesh, but by the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit!”

Romans 8:3-4 TPT

Don’t spend any more time boasting about your will power and determination! If any one man besides Jesus had the will power and determination to keep the law, then there would’ve been no need for the cross! So instead make your boast in the Lord who is doing the work in you and changing you from the inside out! Don’t get it twisted, your perfection is not from the outside in. Right living hasn’t ever produced right believing. It is always right BELIEVING that produces right living - and you will never be able to take credit for that. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

“But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts].”

Galatians 5:16 AMP

We often find ourselves in a place of burnout because we run, run, run, and do do do, and then the next thing we know, the first thing that takes a hit is - you guessed it, our LOVE-walk. We know that our love-walk is hit when we’re exhausted with people, short fused, no patience for those around us, and we’re simply just strung out because we were doing it all in our OWN STRENGTH. Remember how Zechariah said it, “it’s not by human might, it’s not by human power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord...”

At the root of it, we just get caught up in PRIDE sometimes don’t we? We disregard our need for God and even our need for fellowship with the Lord. You see, it is possible to do many great exploits FOR the Kingdom of God and neglect our time of fellowship WITH the King. We shouldn’t ever put kingdom WORK over top of fellowship with the Lord. Trust me, it is the fellowship that will fuel the work. If the fellowship is there, the work of the kingdom will always follow.

So spend time in His presence. Get in the Word. Have a conversation with Him. Don’t just study when you’re about to preach. Don’t just worship when you’re leading others from a platform. Find your secret place apart from “the work” of the ministry. These times will become fuel, you’ll start becoming more and more sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, and as a result you will become less and less dependent on the work of your own two hands.

To sum it all up, take it easy on yourself and that’ll allow you to take it easy on others. God already knew you couldn’t do it in your own strength. He’s not the least bit surprised at your human frailty. That’s why the lamb was slain before the foundations of the world. It was always in the heart of God to make a way for you. It was always in the heart of God to have fellowship with you and to walk with you and to never leave you. Be at peace. Stop striving. Start being conscious of walking by the Spirit.