Spirit-Filled, Spirit-Led Life

Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature… Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25).

There is certain tension that comes when we have been in the manifest presence of the Spirit of Jesus and then we have to return to the normal routines of daily life. When God moves in a special way in our midst, we wish the exhilaration of that time could last forever, but it does not. In a sense it is easier to be filled with the Holy Spirit than it is to walk in the Holy Spirit, but this is not a reason for discouragement. It is actually a reason to rejoice because God is forcing us to face the question of how we can live life in the Spirit and live with his blessing. How can we live without losing his anointing and his joy?

Learning to walk in the Spirit is a deeper lesson in the life of faith, Christ wants you to know how to live a holy life with a clean heart, how to serve him hour by hour in the routines of life. He will lead you in the small things as he leads in the big things. In fact, the small things may be the keys to the big ones. If he directs you to study or clean or mow the lawn, then that studying, that cleaning, that mowing is as sacramental as a prayer meeting.

However, if he is leading you to a prayer meeting and you are studying, cleaning, or mowing, then you have stepped out of his will, and the sense of his presence will grow dim.

Life must be lived with one hand lifted in praise to God and with the other hand immersed in the necessary activities of daily life. We must learn the delicate lesson of listening to his voice. Here is the place we learn how to live a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, sanctified life.

—Dennis Kinslaw, This Day with the Master