Daily Devotional for Friday, October 14 

Walk in the Spirit

As a father, I have had the privilege of watching many youth sports games while cheering on my children. During one game, a child from the other team scored a goal for my child’s team. After the goal, he cheered voraciously and ran back to midfield to celebrate with his teammates. Only they were not celebrating with him. They were bewildered and discouraged because, though he was their teammate and he wore their jersey, he had just scored a goal for the opposing team. 

Many times, Christians can score goals for the other team if we are not walking in the Spirit. When we were saved, we put on Christ and became a member of the family of God. At times, though we wear the jersey of the Christian team, we can give into sin and the lusts of the flesh, thus scoring a goal for the wrong team. Sadly, these occasions also discourage our teammates and grieve our coach. 

Walking in the Spirit is simply exchanging our sinful yearnings for godly choices. We walk in the Spirit when we diligently give ourselves to Bible reading and devotion, private moments of worship, and consistent prayer and fellowship with other believers. As we do these, our desires and our impulses begin to change by the help of Holy Spirit. We still must choose rightly when faced with temptations to sin. However, personal devotion to God and His Word is the fuel we need to feed the Spirit and overcome the flesh. The longer we walk in the Spirit, the more we find ourselves desiring God’s plan for our life. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

REFLECTION: Walking in the Spirit enables us to follow the game plan of our  Heavenly Father, thus ensuring victory in every contest.

Steven Ridings