Galatians 5:16 English Standard Version (ESV)

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 

Some of us have seen the Three Stooges movie You’re in the Army now. In the movie Curly Joe could not keep in step with the soldier in front of him. He would stutter step over and over again until eventually he had everyone behind him in chaos. It was funny to watch but not to his commander.

Getting out of step with the spirit does not just affect our walk, it influences others. Our ability to understand and obey our Lord is seen by those closest to us. We are to be examples to new believers in walking with our Lord. Now comes the hard part.

Whose are you falling in step with?

“I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,”

While I did not quote the addresses of these scripture, these are Paul’s writings. Look at the progression. Imitate me, imitate Christ, imitate God, be examples in the Word, and be examples in sufferings.

Have those we follow exampled the sufferings that mark those who walk in the Spirit? It was the Spirit that led Christ into the wilderness to suffer and be tempted of Satan. Do we earnestly expect that walking in the spirit is going to be a cake walk?

God shows Himself powerful in adversity.