What It Means to Walk In the Spirit.

Every year at this time I am reminded of one of the greatest revelations He gave to me concerning what it means to "walk in the Spirit". Having spent most of my Christian life in Pentecostal circles, this subject has always been very near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately, along with a strong emphasis on "walking in the Spirit" within those circles, there is also a certain vagueness as to what that really looks like. Walking in the Spirit has become a cliché in Christianity that sounds great, but no one knows what it means. Its ever changing definition causes it to always be just out of reach for the average Christian. We know we should strive for it, but we have no idea what it looks like, where to get it and how to keep it. The moment we feel "super spiritual" and one with God, we find that there are entire worlds of fleshiness attached to us that we didn't even know about. For years I'm not even sure if I EVER accomplished a "Spirit walk". Mostly because I was never told for sure what it was. I was "IN" the Spirit one moment and "OUT" of the Spirit only five minutes later. I'd jump back "IN" the Spirit an hour after that and then slip and fall "OUT" of the spirit before the sun went down. After graduating from Bible College, and I still had no idea what "Walking in the Spirit" was, I just gave up on it altogether.

Several years later, in the middle of December, I was walking down a snowy outdoor shopping area in downtown Colorado Springs. The windows were filled with Christmas displays, music was playing over loudspeakers, and people were bundled up with heavy coats, mittens, and holiday scarves around their necks. There were beautiful Christmas lights that decorated each building along with red ribbons and ornaments. Christmas was only a week away. There was a certain feeling in the air that resonated in the very soul of everyone around. It was the Christmas Spirit!!

I began to notice that everyone was acknowledging people around them for the first time in a long time. There was a connection that we all shared. We were all "In the Spirit". It was excitement, happiness, and joy all bundled up into one. Everyone had it. It was contagious. I found myself greeting people I had never laid eyes on before as though I had known them my entire life. Others were giving me eye contact and smiling as they walked by me. I remember secretly wishing that everyday were like this one.

It was in the midst of this experience that it occurred to me that the Christmas Spirit was the Holy Spirit. God is asking each Christian to possess the Christmas Spirit all year long. It's that simple. It doesn't take a super spiritual person to walk in the Spirit. It just takes a child-like heart.

Christianity is not "Spiritual". It's in the Spirit.