Keep in step with the Spirit
On a day set apart for Him, the invitation is to keep in step with the Spirit, the way Paul puts it: since we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. It pictures the Christian life as a steady walk alongside Someone, matching His pace rather than running ahead or lagging behind. It is less a program to master than a relationship to attend to, day by day, the Spirit leading and a willing person following. Most of it happens in ordinary moments, a nudge followed, a prompting to love someone who is hard to love. Settle into the truth that you are not doing this alone. The Spirit who lives in you is patient, and learning His pace is the work of a lifetime.
If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.
Galatians 5:25 · ASVPaul says since believers live by the Spirit, they should also walk by the Spirit. The verse turns having the Spirit's life into a call to follow His direction step by step.
And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;
Ephesians 5:18 · ASVPaul contrasts being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit. He presents ongoing fullness of the Spirit as the controlling influence of the Christian life.
For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6 · ASVPaul says the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. The direction of one's thinking is tied to two very different outcomes.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14 · ASVPaul closes with a blessing that includes the communion of the Holy Spirit. The phrase points to an ongoing fellowship with the Spirit rather than a one-time event.