In my last post, I said that if we want to walk in the Spirit, we just need to ask Him for help.
Here’s the question I want to ask in this post: Is that all we need to do? In other words, do we just ask Him for help and then, voila, God answers our prayers and makes life great?
I think we all know from experience that it doesn’t always work that way. Often we ask God for help and nothing happens. This surprises us.
We’ve been trained by our culture (and sometimes the church) to think that all we have to do is ask Him for help and He’ll make things better. And by better, we usually mean easy and perfect, with no more sinful desires.
But the truth is, we have to do more than ask Him for help because the Bible tells us to walk with Him, not sit around while He does all the work.
If I had just sat down in the Grand Canyon after giving my stuff to my family, I would never have made it to the top. I had to keep walking with them to get to the top.
The Fruit of the Spirit
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul tells us what will happen if we walk in the Spirit: we’ll receive the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
What does walking in the Spirit look like on a practical level? Here’s what it would look like for me:
I’d go to Him whenever I feel like I absolutely have to finish my list for the day and that there is no way I will ever be able to get it done.
I’d go to Him when all the techy stuff seems impossible or I can’t write worth a bean.
I’d go to Him whenever I get worried that people will condemn me for what I write.
I’d go to Him every time I start having the wrong motives for writing.
In other words, I’d go to Him every time I needed help, just like I went to my family when I needed help in the Grand Canyon.
Is That All?
But I wouldn’t just ask for help. I’d spend some time visiting with Him–talking the situation over with Him and getting His perspective on it. I’m discovering that this is another way to renew my mind. Just visiting with Him about the situation and getting HIs take on it.
I don’t do this all the time, but I’m starting to do it more often. And whenever I do it, I experience the fruit of the Spirit. I feel more joyful. More peaceful. I have self-control. I’m patient. And I write out of a wellspring of love.
But when I instead follow my natural inclinations and just waste time on the Internet when I’m stuck, insecure, or in a frenzy, I experience the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. I get more stressed out. More negative. More discontent.
God wants to use my trials to train me. But if I want to be trained, I need to go to Him for the training. Often that involves abiding in the Word, truth journaling, praying Scripture, or renewing my mind with my donut questions, but sometimes it just involves a little time out and a short visit about life.
How About You?
Maybe you’re in the same position I am – learning how to put God first in whatever phase of life you’re in.
I’ve noticed that different seasons in life have different temptations and different ways to make life about things other than God.
I’m relatively new to this on-the-ball person life so I’m still getting to know the ropes of how to keep God first while working hard and pursuing goals.
It’s tiring to keep going to Him for help with the same old things over and over again. And I know many of you are tired of going to God for the same things over and over again.
But the alternative – giving up the struggle – would be even worse. It would be the hiking equivalent of living the rest of our lives on the trail two miles below the top rim of the Grand Canyon. Not a very great existence!
Walking with God is an incredible life. We just need to remember to walk with Him!
Great analogy. And you had enough time to think about it on that hike! Great point about our call to action.
Thanks, Floyd.
I struggle with the fruit of self control. I’m learning to claim it as truth for myself and take God at his word. The enemy tells me on a daily basis that I can’t live within my lifelong eating boundaries and I struggle to renew my mind and walk in the spirit instead of the flesh. The good news, I see the enemies lies now! They no longer are my unquestioned personal truth. For that, I thank you Barb! Your ministry has really enriched my walk with Jesus . Keep doing what your doing!
Ahh, I love that the enemy’s lies are no longer your unquestioned personal truth, Minda. (Plus I love the way you put that!) And also, thanks for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. :)
God is using Barb in a mighty way! She’s helping me recognize lies in my own life too and submit them to God.
Praise God for your victories and growth in Him.
This is excellent Barb, and very true. I think God allows the struggle because He wants us to stay connected to Him. Self-reliance tends to move toward pride and God wants us completely dependent on Him. I’ve learned this the hard way repeatedly. And of course, I’m a slow learner—so I still don’t have it right.
Oh, that we wouldn’t always have to learn it the hard way repeatedly. :) That is what it’s usually like, though, isn’t it? And yes, I do agree that God allows the struggle so we’ll stay dependent on Him and not move into pride. When I learn things the slow way (which I always seem to), by the time I’ve learned the lesson I KNOW that I couldn’t have done it in my own strength. :)
I’m a slow learner too, Deb. But God is faithful and oh so patient!
Isn’t it great to be a child of God?
Amen TC! I can’t imagine life any other way! So blessed!
Walking in the Spirit isn’t something I can make happen. I used to try to walk in the Spirit, and now I learned to spend time with the Lord so He rubs off on me so I become more like Him.
Thanks for that insight, Karen! I was wondering, do you think the two are different? I was kind of thinking that walking in the Spirit was very similar to spending time with God, a bit different than the morning quiet time where we sit down with the focus of spending time with God, but more like walking with Him throughout the day since the Spirit is God. But I didn’t actually do any research on how other people define walking in the Spirit. Do you know if it’s seen differently by others? Also, congrats on your son’s graduation from high school! Only a couple more months til we walk down that empty nester road!
What a great post!
I just read this morning about Grieving the Holy Spirit, this post goes with what I was reading. The Spirit is ALIVE in me, wanting me to WALK with HIS power and thrive in the fruits, but I must decide if I’ll do that or if I’ll walk in my flesh.
I’m about to start a new book club discussion on my blog about learning more about the Holy Spirit (Forgotten God by Francis Chan- http://forgottengod.com/).
I can’t wait to learn more about walking with Him and letting His power work in me and through me.
Looking forward to your take on this book. Would love it if you’d join the book club discussion.
Blessings.
Oh, that’s neat, TC. I’ve read that book and LOVED it. I’m looking forward to the discussion! Are you doing that thing where different bloggers blog on it? I didn’t even think about bringing grieving the Holy Spirit into this discussion. That would have been helpful. I didn’t actually research this post. I’ve just been thinking about this in terms of my own writing issues and what He’s been teaching me.
Yep, I’m doing a book club discussion with other bloggers on this book. I can’t wait.
Seems God is teaching us similar things. I’m not sure there’ s a way to adequately research or post on the Holy Spirit. We’re all learning and growing together. Helping each other. I think you did a wonderful job on this post.
Thanks, TC. When does your series begin?
It actually began today but I just got my book last night. I’m a little late. Here’s the leaders of this group: http://www.endlessimpact.com/what-type-of-relevance-do-you-choose/
http://sarahsalter.com/misunderstood/
There are links to others in the group on endless impact site.
Thanks, TC. I’ll check it out!
Well said Barb! I find what you said so true: people thinking going to God and trying to walk with Him = ease and everything working the way the want. But that’s so false. God gives us what we need not what we think we need. That is both exhilarting and hard. Great post.
Yes, exhilarating and hard. That describes it perfectly! It also describes the Grand Canyon hike perfectly. :)
Excellent post Barb. I have often prayed waiting for God to magically work things out. I wanted to answer without the work. He wants us to pray, but after praying He desires for us to walk by faith and not by sight. This was a really encouraging post.
I love what you said about walking by faith and not by sight, Bernard. I didn’t think of that distinction. When we walk by sight, we rely on ourselves and since we know we can’t do it, we get discouraged. When we walk by faith, it’s easier to be encouraged because our trust and hope is in God. And if our trust and hope is in God (not the goal), we’re less likely to get obsessive. I think it’s also significant that faith is one of the spiritual weapons Paul lists in Ephesians 6. Thanks so much for that great point! You helped me understand the whole process better.
Love the last sentence!!! I think we all (no matter how spiritual) can become better about walking with God and in the Spirit. I try and include God in my decision making, from the smallest decisions to the biggest. Great post!
I agree, Dan. I just started reading “Who Is the Holy Spirit?” by RC Sproul. It is really interesting and I think will be helpful for walking with the Spirit.
I’ll have to check it out, thank you for the recommendation.
I loved the point you made about ‘walking’ with Him rather than sitting back waiting to be served, eased, helped etc. I guess it’s part of the convenience culture we’re part of that we can sometimes cede to the temptation to expect God to be our maid rather than our Lord. Cool post.
Yeah, I think you’re right, Micah. I know I often expect the easy life and it’s not until I see life from a biblical (and a global) perspective that realize how self-centered I am.
I love this and my prayer just the other day was how do I walk by your Holy Spirit on a practical level every day? You gave some great answers for me :) Thank you! I think for me I at first thought I would just abide, and then what, when life happens how do I respond? That’s where I would always get stuck. So now pressing into life each day and learning to rely on the Holy Spirit is a whole new adventure. Joyce Meyer has some series on her radio podcasts right now about walking by the Holy Spirit that have been helpful for me in this too as well as what another reader said a few years ago I read The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life by Charles Stanley, one of the best books I’ve read that has helped in my walk with the Lord <3 Thanks Barb for all you do, I'm going through Taste for Truth now with the group and use my donut questions almost daily!
Hi Kim, It’s good to hear from you! And thanks for bringing up those other resources. I’ll have to check them out! I like the way you put your experience walking with the Holy Spirit – it’s an adventure. So true! It’s exciting, isn’t it? Hard sometimes, but delightful. I’m glad the donut questions are helpful. I also use them regularly. They help me have good conversations with God about life.
Hi Barb – I am really enjoying reading over your posts and resources. Thanks for making them available. I bought “I Deserve A Doughnut” and “Taste For Truth” – I’m enrolled in the facebook study which will start July 28th. I’m really looking forward to it. I love all the material but I admit that as a newbie, the amount of material is somewhat overwhelming. I know that it will become easier when I start the study. But I have a question – if you were struggling with establishing an exercise habit which set of mind renewing questions would you use? I know that I need to do it for health reasons but I struggle with consistency. Thanks for your help.
Hi Kathie, That’s so funny that you asked me that question today. I was just thinking of writing a post called “The Questions I Didn’t Want to Write” and it would be a set of exercise questions. :)
I’m very outdoorsy (like to ski, hike, backpack, etc.), but I don’t like exercising just for the sake of exercising. One of the things that has really helped me is getting a FitBit – a little device I clip to my waistband and it tells me how far I walk in a day. It helps me exercise more as I try to get a certain amount of steps in each day.
A set of questions I think you could use would be these questions I wrote for starting habits. Here’s a link to them: https://barbraveling.com/2013/07/31/how-to-make-yourself-have-a-quiet-time-orrenew-your-mind/. Just adjust the questions and they should work for exercise. I use them to get myself to write :) and plan to put them in a book at some point with some others I’ve written. Hope they help!
I do think it will seem less overwhelming after awhile. I don’t ask people to start doing the I Deserve a Donut questions regularly in Taste for Truth until about the 14th day of the study I think, so try not to get too overwhelmed! If you wanted to play around with the renewing of the mind before your study starts, you could just do one set of questions a day, answering them in your journal, if possible. Hope you enjoy the study!
Absolutely beautiful! I often questioned how to actually walk in the spirit. You have simplified it for me. Thank you so much for sharing what God has showed you! ??
I’m glad it was helpful, Pamela!