Filled with the Spirit, Walking in the Spirit, Pt 2
Filled with the Spirit, Walking in the Spirit, Pt 2
In the last blog post we looked at the idea that walking in the Spirit is equivalent with being filled with the Spirit.
In this post, I want to think more about how we walk in the Spirit. Simply put, we continue to walk in the Spirit the same way that we begin in the Spirit. That is through faith. We walk in the Spirit by walking in faith.
We see this show up in Galatians 3:2-5.(1)
Verse 2 - “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”
Paul is building the supports for his argument. And his first support is this: you receive the Spirit through hearing with faith. You hear the word of God about Jesus Christ dying for our sins, and you believe it - You hear the word, with faith, and that is how you are saved and receive the Spirit.
Verse 3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Paul is using this question to show them that the same way they begin the Christian life - by the Spirit - is the same way that they are being perfected in the Christian life - it’s by the Spirit. We start by the Spirit, we continue by the Spirit.
Verse 5, “Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?”
Paul ties it all together. How is it that we begin in the Spirit (are supplied the Spirit)? How is it that we continue in the Spirit (God does miracles among us through the Spirit)? It is not by works, it's by faith. Specifically, it's through hearing with faith.
So then, walking in the Spirit means that we hear with faith.
That is incredibly helpful, because hearing with faith instinctively makes us go to Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Hearing comes by the word of God. So if we want to hear with faith, then we need to hear the word of God. The only way that you will grow in your Christian life is by hearing the Bible more.
This is why reading the Bible is so important. Devotionals can be helpful, but we shouldn't stop there. We need more than one devotional verse a day in order to grow in our faith. This is why going to church is so important, because churches should be devoted to the public reading and teaching of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13). You will hamstring your faith if you don't gather together with the church to hear the word of God together.
But we don’t just hear the word, we hear with faith. We understand what the Bible is saying, and we believe it. The Pharisees were there when Jesus spoke, they could tell you what He said, but they didn’t believe what Jesus was saying. They didn’t hear with faith. We hear a truth from the Bible, and then we take that great rock of truth and arrange it as a foundational stone that we build our life on. We believe what the Bible says and we base our life on it, that’s what hearing with faith is.
This is the example of Abraham (Gal 3:6; Jam 2:21-23). This is the example of Rahab (Jam 2:25). This is the example of Nehemiah (Neh 1:8; 2:4-5). We see examples of this throughout the Bible since it is only through faith that we please God (Heb 11:6)
John Piper has a simple way of thinking about walking by faith. He uses the acronym APTAT. I'll apply the acronym with the example of gossip to give an idea of how it works:
A - Admit: God, I cannot seem to say the right things. I keep sinning with my words.
P - Pray: Help me to stop gossiping and not have any corrupting talk come out of my mouth. Help me to be encouraging and speak the truth in love.
T - Trust: 1 Peter 3:10, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.”
What does this verse say? It says that good days and a love of life comes from keeping your tongue from evil. So you trust that. You say this verse in your head and remind yourself about it.
A - Act: Acting could look like two different directions:
Acting in faith might mean that you just keep your mouth shut. You’re trusting what that verse says is true, and you’re obeying what it says - you keep your tongue from evil.
Acting in faith might also mean that instead of talking about the newest piece of dirt on someone you think of something good to say instead. You pursue peace with your words, you say words that will build up the people you’re talking to (Eph 4:29).
T - Thank: You look back on the day and you thank God that He helped you to not bite and devour with your words, and that He helped you to want to say something encouraging
(1) I learned this insight from someone, but I didn't write down the source. It's likely it's from Sinclair Ferguson's book "The Holy Spirit" since that book was very helpful in preparing this series.