Walking in the Spirit

Part 1--Walking in the Spirit or in the Natural?

By David Hobbs

1 Cor. 3:19—“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.”

Most Christians understand that the Bible teaches that we can either live in the “flesh” [i.e. sinful nature] or in the Spirit (Romans 8:5-9). Those living in the flesh cannot possibly please God because the whole fleshly nature of man is contrary to God (v.8).
But then the Bible seems to take born-again Christians off the hook. In verse 9 it says that we are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in us. And He does live in us if we belong to Christ. Therefore Christians shouldn’t have to worry about “walking in the flesh,” right?
Well, not so fast. I believe there is a whole different kind of walking seldom discussed in Christian circles, but practiced by most Christians every day. In fact, it’s how most Christians spend the vast majority of every day. It’s walking in the natural man. Granted, we may not be driven by the passions and appetites of the fleshly nature, but neither are we walking in the Spirit of God. We have no sense of His Presence, His touch or His anointing; we are just walking according to our natural thinking and reasoning.
Does the Bible support this? Consider this passage from Isaiah 55:

8”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

What’s God saying? He’s saying He doesn’t think like us and we don’t think like Him. Now if we were in the Spirit, we would be thinking like God and this wouldn’t apply, but most of the time it’s all too true: our thoughts are very earth-bound and controlled by our natural reasonings. We get sick, we go to the doctor. We don’t think, “Wait a minute, I’m a child of God. Healing was provided in the atonement,” and call upon Him to fulfill His promise. Only if the doctors fail us completely do we turn to God.

We worry about our retirement. We call in our financial adviser, start an IRA, project interest rates into the future, cost of living adjustments, etc. The last thing we do is consult the wisdom of the Bible:

James 4:13--Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

And 1 Tim. 6:8—“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”

My point is that Christians can easily walk according to their natural thinking. Here’s another passage, from 1 Cor. 3:3:

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

Just because we have the Holy Spirit; it doesn’t at all mean that we are always walking in the Spirit. The Spirit is resident within the Christian, but most of the time He lies dormant in the background while the Christian lives and thinks and speaks from the natural realm. He thinks and speaks human thoughts based on his own reasoning and experience. That’s why we miss God so much. We pray for God to heal those He’s ready to take home; we pray for deliverance for those He’s handed over to satan for the destruction of their sinful natures (1 Cor. 5:5); we coddle those He’s trying to bring to the end of themselves to save them, and on and on.
The Proverb says there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ends in death. That’s it in a nutshell. A man walking in the natural thinks everything he is doing is right, only to find later that he missed God by a mile. The book of 1st Corinthians is full of such people, whom Paul is continually rebuking, because, though they presumably have the Spirit, they are obviously not walking in the Spirit. (Also consider Heb. 5:11-14)
I say this because it is an absolutely critical concept for Christians to understand. It is not enough to be born again and have the Spirit of God in us. Yes that’s enough to make heaven. But we’ll never reach our destinies, never fulfill our high callings in Christ, and never contribute to the work of building the Kingdom, preaching the gospel or preparing the Bride, unless we learn to walk in the Spirit as opposed to the natural.
God’s will is not just to save us. That was accomplished on Calvary 2000 years ago, but for what end? So that we could make heaven? Yes but much more than that. He saved, sanctified and is purifying us so that He can live His life through us. That’s the only way we’re going to defeat the devil and turn the kingdoms of this world into the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ. Not by our own good ideas! Not by human effort! Not by organizational skills and charismatic giftings! It will only be by the power of God working through millions of Christians as they walk “in the Spirit!” Therefore we must learn what it is and what it is not to Walk in the Spirit!