In Gal 5:16 Paul told us to walk in the Spirit.  Let’s see what this entails.

When you are saved, the Spirit is in you

This is a fairly simple lesson when you think about it.  When you were saved, you went through a spiritual circumcision that separated your flesh from your soul [Col 2:10-11].  The Holy Spirit brought spiritual life into you [Jn 3:6; 1 Jn 5:12] and he began to dwell in you [Jn 14:17].

You can either walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit

Now, you walk in a flesh body that is crucified with Christ [Rom 6:6-7] and you walk in the Spirit who resides in you.  You now have a war going on inside of you between your flesh and the Spirit [Gal 5:17].  One of the surest signs that you are saved is that God won’t leave you alone when it comes to sin in your life – the battle rages on.

Each and every moment of your life, you are either walking in your flesh or you are walking in the Spirit because they both go with you everywhere you go.  At any given moment, you can put one foot down in the Spirit and in the very next moment switch and put the other foot down in the flesh.  It works that fast.  If you walk in the Spirit then you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  It can’t happen because the Spirit does not serve your flesh.

When you walk in the Spirit, he leads you, you don’t lead him

Because we are to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, we need to be led by the Spirit instead of trying to lead him [Rom 8:14].  If you are walking in the Spirit then the Spirit will have the liberty to lead you wherever he wants you to go and keep you away from places he doesn’t want you to go.

• He will never lead you contrary to the scripture.  Like a road atlas on a trip.  Or GPS, you see and hear when you are getting off course.  So the more familiar you are with the scripture, the more his leadership will be evident in your life.  Ie tongues.
• He will never lead you by emotion.  Emotions are not to control you; you are to control your emotions.  You may feel something as a result of his leading (either grief from his reproof, or joy from his presence).  But the feelings won’t lead.  They follow.
• He will never lead you contrary to godly, wise counsel.  He will use good counsel to help you see where he is leading you.  Wise counsel will give you confirmation on the direction he’s leading you.
• He will never lead you in the same direction as the flesh is taking you.  These are contrary.  Like the course of this world is contrary to the course of God.  In other words, your flesh isn’t going to be able to come along for the ride with the Spirit.
• He will never lead you to paralysis.  That is, the Spirit of God moves.  He may bring you to a pause.  But he won’t bring you to a dead end. 

Mortify the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit

In order for the Spirit to lead you without having to drag you, you have to mortify the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit [Rom 8:13].  You have to put the flesh at as much disadvantage as possible [1 Cor 9:27].  The more that the flesh is mortified, the more the life of Christ will be lived in you [Gal 2:20].

Look at your life now and see how much of what you do is led by the Spirit and is representative of Christ living in you.  You may be shocked to find that the reason you have the trouble you do with the flesh is that you are trying to control the flesh rather than walk in the Spirit.  That’s a losing battle that the flesh loves to fight because it keeps getting so much attention, like a spoiled child.

Get used to the gentle leadership of the Spirit

The Spirit is not demanding like the flesh is.  The Spirit is gentle.  You must cut out the distractions of life and the cares and anxieties to hear him “speak”.  He is not playing hard to find.  He is like Wisdom in Prov 8.  He is there for you and his leadership is plain and clear.  You just have to listen for him and yield to him.  He never ever leads you astray.

Conclusion

So, wait on the leadership of the Holy Spirit in every single decision you make and direction you take in your life.  When I do this, it always turns out right.  When I don’t it seems to always work out wrong.  When you find that you have gotten off track, and you will, then make immediate corrections to get back on track with the Spirit.  You don’t want to be walking where he is not leading.