Walking in the Spirit is a concept that requires much reflection and meditation. It is a simple concept. But without the teaching of the Spirit we will never completely comprehend it. Without faith poured out from heaven, we will never learn to practice it. Ask the Spirit of God to teach you and show you His ways as we continue to dig deeper.

Paul must have understood the depth of this truth. It was core to the teaching he wanted to pass on, especially to the Galatians who were plagued by a legalistic form of religion. For the Galatians, following Christ had been reduced to a set of rules and boxes to check. Much of their practice would have looked good to others, but it lacked the power the Spirit was meant to bring to their lives. It kept them enslaved to their own flesh.

Paul longed for them to be free again, to be free to live the abundant life of the kingdom of God. He wanted them to demonstrate the life-changing power of the kingdom. Therefore, he talked about life in the Spirit using several different analogies. We have already seen his instructions on walking in the Spirit.

Paul adds a second analogy to his instructions in Galatians 5:18…

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”

Paul must have known that Jesus spoke of the coming Spirit as our guide. The Spirit guides us into truth, and He guides us into freedom. The Spirit is a true leader who inspires us to follow. His style of leadership is divine, powerful, inspirational, and fruitful.

First, the leadership of the Spirit is divine. He receives instructions from the Father, our Spiritual Director, and passes those instructions on to us. His leadership flows from heaven and brings heaven to earth on our behalf.

Second, the leadership of the Spirit is powerful. He is God, the Spirit, and possess all the power and authority of the kingdom to be shared with us. When led by the Spirit, there is nothing we cannot do. He empowers us.

Third, the leadership of the Spirit is inspirational. The word inspiration literally means to be indwelt by the Spirit. When God, the Spirit, leads us, He does it from inside our hearts. He changes the motivations and desires of our hearts to align them with the kingdom.

Most importantly, the leadership of the Spirit is fruitful. He takes His own character and He pours it into us.

Galatians 5:22-23 goes on to say…

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

What beautiful fruit the Spirit pours into us. This is His gift to us. The flesh has been crucified by Christ, and when we walk in the Spirit, the desires of the flesh no longer produce their fruit in us. Instead, as we are led by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is produced in us.

First, the fruit of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit. This fruit is not a set of characteristics or qualities that we work on to produce in ourselves. They are the fruit of the Spirit. They belong to Him. He is the one who produces them in us.

Second, the fruit of the Spirit is holistic. The Spirit does not pick and choose through a list of individual characteristics or qualities. When we are led by the Spirit, He produces all these qualities in us. They work together. He is one and they are one.

Third, the fruit of the Spirit is rich in flavor. The full basket of fruit described by Paul gives us all the flavors of abundant life, life in the kingdom. Love, joy, and peace fill us with life. Patience, kindness, and goodness spill out into our relationships. Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control keep us connected to the vine and grounded in our relationship with God.

It is important to understand the role of the law in the leading of the Spirit. Both verses in Galatians mention the law. Paul says that when we are led by the Spirit, we are no longer under the Law. Then, regarding the fruit of the Spirit, he says that there is no law against this fruit. These two statements combined give us the law of freedom.

The law was a set of rules and regulations given by God to help His people understand life the way God intended it to be lived. Before the Spirit came, it was up to us to work hard at doing what was right according to God’s instructions.

When the Spirit came to live inside of us, there was a shift. We went from having to work hard on pleasing God, to being led by the Spirit to be and do what is pleasing to Him. Our role shifted from working to following, from trying hard to surrendering.

When we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, He does the work. He produces the fruit in us. He frees us to experience the fullness of the kingdom. And against the flavorful fruit of the Spirit, there is no law. In other words. We are finally free to live with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But what does it take to be led? It takes a willingness to follow. It takes the complete abandonment of self in order to follow Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

This is how Jesus described it in Luke 9:23-25…

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?"

Willingness to follow starts with the denial of self. Self-denial is literally the rejection of our ordinary way of processing life and the acceptance of an extraordinary way of life. It is the denial of my own thoughts, motivations, desires, and will. If we wish to follow Jesus and be led by the Spirit, we must deny ourselves.

Willingness to follow continues with daily surrender. Taking up our cross daily is a picture of complete surrender to the will of God and leading of the Spirit. Before Jesus went to the cross, He battled His own will in the garden of Gethsemane. His desire was to avoid the suffering and the cross. But in the end, he surrendered Himself to the will of God. We are called to this great battle of surrender every single day. To ensure that we are led by the Spirit, we say with Jesus, “Not my will, but Your will be done.”

Willingness to follow ends with complete abandon. To experience the fullness of the kingdom, we must completely lay down our lives. Abandonment goes beyond the denial of self to the complete release of reputation, security, and significance. Our lives are no longer our own. When we give up our lives, we are ready to be led by the Spirit and the Spirit breaths abundant life into us. This kind of abandon can only be understood and produced by the Spirit.

A few years ago, I was told by my boss that my company did not want to pay me my earned and documented bonus for 2016. I won’t disclose the amount, but I can tell you it was a significant amount of money. As you can imagine, my flesh reared its ugly head and I began to defend my right to the bonus.

Then the Spirit kicked in. Instead of running to the flesh, I decided to check in with the Father to see what He had to say. He reminded me that the night before, I had counseled a good friend of mine regarding a difficult employment situation. I recommended that he ask the Father what to say and what to do. I knew I needed to do the same. Before leaving the office, I prayed with my boss, asking God to show us the truth about what needed to be done, keep us from acting in the flesh, and to bring us to agreement.

Later, in my private conversation with God, He revealed two things. One, there was some truth missing and I needed to discover it to fully understand the situation. Two, God instructed me to go back and read my compensation agreement. When I read the agreement, I found a small phrase that I had missed during the last six months. Because I had missed that phrase, I had not truly done what was required to get my bonus.

The next morning, I went in to explain to my boss what God had revealed. I agreed with him that the bonus should not be paid to me. It was a huge loss, but it was truth and it was life! This is the work of the Spirit of God in us. When we are led by the Spirit, we are willing to go wherever He leads. This is the kingdom.

WORSHIP: Worship God, the Spirit, who offers us abundant life and wants to produce beautiful fruit in us. His desire is to bless us with all the blessings of heaven and to fill us with the fruit of heaven. Take time to thank Him for each part of the fruit of the Spirit and to receive that fruit in your heart. They are all yours.

PRACTICE: What are some areas of your life where you struggle most with complete surrender? Write them down in your journal and describe a situation where the struggle was real. When you are done, take some time to talk to God about your struggle. Stick with the conversation long enough to make progress on surrender. Over time, continue the conversation until you know that you have surrendered it.

MEDITATION: Like yesterday, your starting place for being led by the Spirit is not in the mind. This concept is easy to understand. Your battle ground in in your heart. Do you believe it? It is okay if you do not fully believe it at this point. As you meditate on walking in the Spirit, ask God to help your unbelief, to give you a gift of faith to get this forever settled. You may or may not resolve this today, but this is a good starting place. Continue to work this through until you believe in the power of the Spirit to produce amazing fruit in you. You will know, because you will experience the fruit, all of it.

ABIDING: By this time, it is very possible that the Father, your Spiritual Director, has led you to a place in Scripture where He wants you to abide. As you go back and read through this teaching one more time, ask the Father if there is anything in these passages specifically for you. Look for the things that reinforce what God is teaching you at this time. Write down anything you hear from Him. Spend some extra time listening to see if the Spirit has anything more to say to you or if there is a deeper teaching for you today. Write down whatever you hear. Ask the Father if there is someone, He wants you to share this with and follow through with His assignment.