Keep in Step with the Spirit
“Just walk forward and step off sir”, the attendant at the Whitewater Center instructed me. Just 100 feet to the ground. Looking only at the tops of the trees, I stepped from the platform. It was truly a leap of faith – free falling at 32 feet per second for 50 feet before the cable on my harness tightened and dragged me upward, then down to a complete stop. Whew – glad that was over as my son and his friends were dying laughing at the bottom. I’d been determined not to chicken out but as I’d climbed each of the 176 steps to the top, I found myself apprehensive as my shoes grew heavier with each step. I was afraid even though I believed I could trust the cable and harness to bring me safely to the ground. My Spirit was willing, but my flesh was weak.
The free-fall tower leap reminded me of how God sustains us moment by moment in our struggles in life and in our daily walk with Him. I also reflected on my emotions ranging from fear to “Man was I brave!”
This is a picture of the battle we will fight every day on this earth until we see Jesus. The Spirit of God lives inside us as we have been born of the Spirit, though our flesh resists.
Galatians 5:16-17 says:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
Even Paul the Apostle said “ Oh Wretched man that I am- Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Roman 7:24
Paul had a personal encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 then spent many years growing in the Spirit. This required study of God’s Word, prayer, worship, praise, and fellowship with God’s people. It also required “pulling out the weeds of the flesh” so that the seed of the Word could take root and bear fruit in his life.
When the Spirit produces fruit, God gets the glory, but when the flesh is at work, man is inwardly proud of himself and motivated by the attention he receives. The work of the Spirit is to make us more like Christ for His glory, not for the praise of men.
So what can we do to live out the command to bear fruit and walk in the Spirit?
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:25-26
To walk with the Spirit means to keep in step with the Spirit -not to run ahead or lag behind. I must remember that fruit is produced to be eaten; not to be admired or put on display. People around us are starving for love, joy, peace, and all the other fruits of the Spirit. When they find them in our lives, they recognize something they lack. We do not bear fruit for our own consumption; we bear fruit that others might be fed and that Christ might be glorified. The flesh may manufacture “results” that bring praise to us, but the flesh cannot bear fruit that brings glory to God. It takes patience, the Spirit, the seed of the Word of God, and a sincere desire to honor Christ to do that.
I love the Rich Mullins song “Step by Step” and I still remember teaching the words to my first graders in Sunday School – singing as they marched around the classroom:
Oh God, You are my God And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me And I will follow You all of my days .
~ Steve Byers was born in Ohio and moved to Raleigh, NC in 2008. He and his wife Debbie have lived in the Charlotte area since 2017 and have been attending LIFE Fellowship for five years. Steve is a musician and songwriter and sings in the Oxygen Choir. Steve and Debbie, have one son, Josh and a daughter-in-law, Avery. They are grand parents to Jaxon and Grayson.