Living by the Spirit
One of the biggest things I’ve learned in my walk with God is the difference between living by the flesh and living by the spirit.
For most of my life, I was living by the flesh without even realising it. It’s just the normal worldly way of doing things! Striving, chasing, trying to fix myself and always just following what felt right in the moment. I spent years living that way especially when I got swept up in the self development world, thinking I was growing and transforming but actually deep down I was just feeling more lost than ever!
It wasn’t until I truly came back to Jesus that I was introduced to what it means to live by the Spirit and honestly it’s been life changing.
So, what does it mean to live by the Spirit?
When you become a Christian, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, which I appreciate if you’re not quite a believer yet, might sound pretty crazy! (I used to think that too!) But it is a very real and tangible thing.
I remember when it first became real for me. I had an encounter with God at this Christian event in my local town and literally overnight something changed. I suddenly had this awareness, this discernment, of what was right and wrong!
Before that I had been going to mediums and exploring things that I thought were harmless but all of a sudden I just knew that I couldn’t do it anymore. No one had to tell me. It was like something in me had just changed.
That’s the Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit literally lives inside of us and is there to guide us, teach us, correct us and lead us into the life God has for us. (John 14:15-26) It’s not something we force or try to make happen, it just happens automatically when we believe in Jesus.
I don’t know about you but I find that pretty AMAZING!
How do we actually live by the Spirit?
To be honest, it’s way simpler than you might think!
It starts with LISTENING and then RESPONDING.
So throughout your day rather than just running through life a million miles an hour on autopilot, it’s about taking little pockets of time to pause, to be still, to listen to those quiet nudges or convictions. It’s about spending time with God, so perhaps in the morning, starting your day with a simple prayer, ‘God please make me aware of how I might be letting my flesh run the show today, convict me and show me how I might walk by the Spirit instead?’ It’s about picking up your Bible and getting to know God’s character and truth and learning to recognise His voice. The more you do this the more familiar you will become with how the Holy Spirit communicates with you.
For me, it’s also been super helpful to understand something called ‘the fruits of the Spirit’ which are essentially the hallmark characteristics of the Holy Spirit:
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self Control
They are planted in our hearts as little seeds when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and then over time as we water them through connecting with God they grow within us and over time you start to notice changes..
More patience
More peace
More love for others
A softness in your heart
It’s such a beautiful process, true heart transformation from the INSIDE out!
Alongside the fruit, we have also been given spiritual gifts through the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12)
These are things like:
teaching
encouragement
healing
prophecy
wisdom
faith
discernment
speaking in tongues
They are not necessarily for our own benefit but to help build up and strengthen the church.
Part of living by the Spirit is about asking God to reveal what gifts he has placed in us and then being brave enough and willing to use them!
If you haven’t discovered your spiritual gifts yet and this is something you are curious about I encourage you to look up 1 Corinthians in your bible and turn to verse 12 and read it through. Ask God to speak into your heart as you read, spend some time reflecting on the gifts and pray about them. Speak to friends in your church, ask them to pray for you too and just begin to observe where God might be piquing your interests when it comes to giftings and see if you can sense where he might be leading you. You may wish to take out a notebook or journal and start recording any insights that come up for you.
Living by the Spirit is truly a beautiful way to live life. When we surrender our lives to God and allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit we often find a deep peace taking root within us. It is a life marked not by striving or self help books but by a gentle transformation as God quietly shapes us from the inside out.
This journey isn’t about perfection or constantly trying to fix ourselves. It’s about yielding our hearts, minds and souls to God’s work within us, trusting that He is faithfully forming us into the image of Christ. As we do we begin to experience a natural unfolding of grace and a life increasingly aligned with His love, His character and His purpose for us.