| Steps
Toward A Spirit-Led Life
Wade E Taylor
If
we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25
To
walk in the Spirit is to walk in the center of the will
and purpose of our Lord.
If
we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit also let us be guided. Galatians 5:25 Weymouth
As
we walk, the sense of His abiding peace will confirm that we are
walking in the center of His will.
And
let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Colossians 3:15a
The
word rule means to judge. Should we take a misstep, a voice of correction
will speak to us, saying, This is the way, walk in it.
And
your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way,
walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you
turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21
All
who desire the Lord's best should seek to live a Spirit-led
life. To do so means that we have died to our
own ways, and have given to the Lord the unconditional right to
choose for us. We
are to walk as He would walk, under His headship.
This necessitates an unquestioning submission to the governmental
rule of His kingdom.
Your
kingdom come. Your will be done in (our)
earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 (Comment added)
This
ability to walk in the Spirit, in which His will is being
done in our earthen vessel (our daily life
experience),
requires that we have a basic understanding of the laws that govern
a Spirit-led life. These
spiritual laws are set before us by the Lord as preparatory
teachings, along with the practical disciplines that
will bring the necessary corrections to enable us to better live
and walk in the Spirit.
The
preparatory teachings, which lead to a Spirit-led life,
are given in the Sermon on the Mount.
These principles deal not so much with externals, but primarily
with the issues, or motives of the heart, which enable us to overcome,
and receive the blessings that follow.
And
seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He
was set, His disciples came to him: And He opened his mouth, and
taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:1-3
Being
poor in spirit means that we have come to the end of our
self-life, and in an attitude of submissive dependence, we are being
led by the Spirit. As we spend quality time in His presence,
we will be lifted into the realm of the spirit and enabled
to walk with Him in the outworking of His will and purpose.
The
Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakens
morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the learned. The
Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. Isaiah 50:4-5
Our
being wakened by the Lord, morning by morning,
is to provide us with the opportunity to spend quality time in His
presence. As we respond (I was not rebellious),
and wait upon the Lord, we develop our life in
the Spirit. Then, as
we walk in the Spirit, the Lord will lead us to the right
person, with the right word, at the right time.
Come,
My beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the
villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if
the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates
bud forth. Song of Solomon 7:11-12a
These
practical disciplines result from our desire and commitment
to live with the poise of our spirit continually toward
the Lord (if we live
in the Spirit). These disciplines relate to His
dealings, which are intended to lift us above all carnal desires
and pulls, to produce within us an increasing sensitivity
to the voice of the Lord.
When we come short of this, or we fail to respond to His
prompting, He will chasten us in order to bring a correction.
This will result in our being better able to hear and respond
to the Lord's voice, when He knocks on the door of our spirit.
Our
choosing to put the Lord first, and our desire to maintain His abiding
presence in our daily walk, will greatly affect our self-life and
our personal comfort.
To
the victor will I give the privilege of sitting down beside Me
on My throne, as I also have won the victory and have sat down
beside My Father on His throne. Revelation 3:21 Weymouth
There
is a price that must be paid, if we are to come into His best.
Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to
those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
We
cannot overcome unless there is something to overcome. The reward for putting the Lord first
is a prize that is beyond comparison.
Jesus
answered and said to him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words:
and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make
Our abode with him. John 14:23
As
we abide in His manifest presence, we will be enabled to
walk in the Spirit with Him.
This involves spiritual perception, dedication, and the sacrificial
giving (of ourselves). These are the marks of our having the
measure of spiritual maturity, which will enable us to
function in the realm of the kingdom.
In
beginning our spiritual walk as babes in Christ, we must
develop spiritually before we can begin to intelligently walk
in the Spirit. This
involves a total commitment to the Lord.
The schoolmaster and teacher for this processing
is our Heavenly Father.
For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works,
which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
The
word should in the above Scripture tells us that our entering
this school is conditional.
We must specifically enroll ourselves in this school of training
and preparation, if we are to receive its benefits.
The Registrar is always available.
To
walk in the Spirit is to walk one step at a time, acknowledging
our Lord's presence and headship in each step that we take. Our own thoughts and ways must be set
aside in order to follow Him.
He is the Christ, the Anointed of the Lord.
Therefore, the natural man cannot come this way, for he cannot
discern the presence, nor the anointing that brings us into this
higher realm, for this is a function of the Spirit, not of the mind.
The
children of Israel were to abide under the pillar of fire by night
and the cloud by day. They
were to move only as the pillar of fire, or the cloud moved.
The purpose of this discipline was to teach them the importance
of their being led by His Spirit.
Had they learned and obeyed, Israel would have won one victory
after another in possessing the land, and would have become the
witness and forerunner of the Theocratic kingdom that the Lord desires
to establish in the earth.
The
Lord greatly desires to introduce to us His kingdom through
a Spirit-led life and walk.
He cannot allow us to have a part in this higher governmental
realm of His kingdom until we have individually, unconditionally,
submitted our lives to be governed by Him, and have in some measure,
learned how to walk in the Spirit.
The
kingdom of God is a realm in which there is much activity, but where
everything moves in divine order and purpose.
A baby walks falteringly for a few steps and falls; his direction
is arbitrary and casual. A
child walks for his own enjoyment and amusement.
A young man walks to attain his goals and fulfill his visions. A father walks to please and satisfy the
needs of his family. He
has a higher purpose than his own satisfaction.
Paul
prayed:
The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know
what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:18
There
is much that is available to us - which we have yet to appropriate,
as we have a tendency to settle for less than His adequate provision.
Our
Lord is challenging us to move upward and onward. The present feeling of spiritual dissatisfaction
by many within the Body of Christ is His prodding. These stirrings within us are
His means to bring us higher.
Brethren,
I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do - forgetting everything
which is past, and stretching forward to what lies in front of
me, with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize
of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 Weymouth
The
kingdom of God is this goal.
After
this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the
first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said, Come up here, and I will show you things
which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit:
and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat
on
the throne.
Revelation 4:1-2
For
us to walk in the Spirit is to become subject to the guidance
that comes from the throne in His kingdom. Previously we had received this guidance
only from the pulpit, within the Church. Let us move upward toward this higher
realm of identification with our Lord, in His throne.
And
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8
Their
hearing the voice walking tells us two things. The first is that the Lord desires to
talk to us, and second, that He desires to walk
with us, as He has something to say to us today, which is beyond
what He said yesterday. This was His original intention, which
was forfeited by Adam and Eve, but is now made available to us,
as we are willing to be led by His Spirit.
The
human tendency is to hide from this higher Spirit guidance.
May
we, as overcomers, rise above this fear of His presence,
and begin living a Spirit-led life. |
