So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Gal. 5:16)

I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions. If the Holy Spirit guides us, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them. When led of the Spirit, the child of God must be as ready to wait as to go, as prepared to be silent as to speak. (Lewis S. Chafer)

Living by the Spirit’s Power

Paul’s prayer for the believers in the Church of Ephesus is very instructive for keeping in step with the Spirit.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Eph. 3:14–19)

Some of the key words in the verses are: God’s unlimited resources, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, Christ indwelling in our hearts, rooted and grounded in love keeping us strong, power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is, experience the love of Christ and fullness of life and power. To experience all these requires the assistance of the Holy Spirit. That is what Christian living is about.

Christ dwelling in our hearts is through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also called the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9). We are called to imitate Christ (cf. 1 John 2:6). To do so in our effort will be futile and using our own strength will lead to despair. Hence, our dependence on the Holy Spirit is important. When we let the “indwelling Christ” live out his own life through us, to be Christ-like and victorious can be achieved. We will all be “made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Eph. 3:19) or “filled with all the fullness of God” (ESV), filled with all that God is (CEV), or “so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself” (AMP). What a fantastic verse!

This is made possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:11 declares that “the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” Added to that, “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor” (Eph. 1:19–20).

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to apply to us that which is already ours in Christ. It is his work to make all God has and all God is experientially ours until the work is consummated in our being: “filled unto all the fulness of God.”^[1]

Keeping in Step with the Spirit

Obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never lead us to do the wrong things. If you sense something is stirring within you (good impulses), prompting you with what you need to do, go ahead and do it because it is the Holy Spirit leading you. The Holy Spirit guides us in evangelism and in encouraging others (see Acts 8:29, 10:19; 11:12). If you sense the Spirit leading you to do something but are not sure, consult your mentors, trusted friends, and spiritually mature Christians. Better still if they are walking in the Spirit. In the end, you will have to make a decision and don’t look back. Note that delayed obedience is disobedience.

Hear the voice of the Spirit through Scripture. The Holy Spirit can speak through Scripture prompting you to encourage, write, help another person, or even give another person a biblical rebuke which must be grounded in “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15) without malice. Respond to the truth the Holy Spirit reveals to us through his illuminating work as we read Scripture or listen to sermons. Apply the truth to our lives. The Spirit does not come to testify about himself but Jesus (John 15:26; 16:14; cf. 14:26; 1 John 4:2). The more we know of Jesus from the Bible, the more we are prepared to recognize the voice of his Spirit who speaks to us.^[2]

Worship. We are to worship in Spirit (John 4:24; Phil. 3:3) and pray in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20). Seek the Spirit’s presence and empowerment for worship of God. This means greater spontaneity, allowing people, as they are led by the Spirit, to share their testimony as to what God has done or is doing in their lives. Allow greater flexibility in the worship programme or prayer meeting.

How do we live by the Spirit’s power? Daily surrender your life to God. Renounce and forsake sin. Don’t do things that grieve the Holy Spirit or displease God. Keep confession up-to-date. Give up control of your own life. Let go and let God have his way. Stop running you own life.

Adjust and abdicate your throne rights. Anytime you go from where you are to where God is working, from your way of thinking to God’s way of thinking, from your ways to God’s ways, or from your purpose to his purpose, a major adjustment will be required.^[3]

Consequences

There will be a change of priorities, when we are guided by the Spirit, or led by the Spirit, or keep in step of the Spirit. Surrender your rights. Death to self. There will also be change in our lives. Attitudinal change (Eph. 4:23) results in Christ in control of your life through the Spirit. You will be a blessing to others. You will touch people’s lives and impact others in different ways. Face fear and conquer it. Learn to trust and obey. We will learn to live by Spirit, live by faith. Interruptions are welcomed because they become God’s appointments. The Holy Spirit will reveal and lead you deeper into the things of God. Go about your daily routines but with a different perspective.

When we keep in step with the Holy Spirit, we experience rivers of living water flowing out of us blessing and touching lives. Rivers of living water speaks of a constant supply of the Holy Spirit’s blessings available to all Christians. “These rivers illustrate the Spirit-filled life Christian. The supply is never exhausted because it has its source in the Holy Spirit who is inexhaustible.”^[4]

What once had been painful trying had become perfect trusting. Weakness had been turned into strength, sighing into song, and total failure into triumph—all because he learned to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to walk in the Spirit.^[5]

In sum, to keep in step with the Spirit is simply to trust and obey.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

 (John H. Sammis/Daniel B. Towner 1887)

A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon-Conwell Divinity School, told of being out walking and looking across a field at a house. There beside the house was what looked like a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps. As Gordon watched, the man continued to pump at a tremendous rate; he seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing in the slightest, much less stopping.

Truly it was a remarkable sight, so Gordon started to walk toward it. As he got closer, he could see it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man. The arm that was pumping so rapidly was hinged at the elbow and the hand was wired to the pump handle. The water was pouring forth, but not because the figure was pumping it. You see, it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man!

When we try to pump the resources from ourselves, life becomes difficult. And we can’t ever pump the Holy Spirit! But we can be pumped by Him, not as a lifeless mannequin, but as a person through whom the artesian power of the Holy Spirit was meant to flow.^[6]

For ministry to be effective, we must keep our hands on the handle. The handle represents the Holy Spirit.