Imitating Christ: Walking in the Spirit

Matthew 4:1 (NKJV)
¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Although Jesus was God walking the earth, He was still led by the Holy Spirit to perform certain tasks. Jesus subjected His daily life to the Father.  Based on Matt. 4:1, one way the Father led Jesus was by the Holy Spirit.  The Torah was there to guide Jesus in His daily life as well but there were some instances where the Torah could not give direction and in those situations the Spirit was there to lead Jesus.

You and I are called to be led by the Spirit as well. In Galatians 5:16, Paul wrote, "Walk (live) in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh." Of course, this does not mean we disregard the teaching in scripture but it does mean that we attempt to sense what God is telling us to do through the Spirit.

How do we do this?  This can be tricky, but I will give you a few principles by which I try to live by:

• Ask God to lead you through the Spirit (see Psalm 143:10)
• Quiet your soul before God on a regular basis to cloud out other distractions
• LISTEN to what God is saying to you
• Do your best.  You will fail sometimes but God will still be there!
• Back up your leadings by the Spirit with God's previous declared will contained in Scripture.  They will never disagree.