Galatians 5:16 :

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

This is a critical verse for Christians that I believe is often not given an appropriate amount of focus. The way to actually overcome sin and win the war against your body’s lust is defined right here in this verse.

It is important to understand these words so I want to make sure that you understand what is meant by “walk by the Spirit.” This was something that I tried to understand for many years and only recently came to a better understanding of. First of all, “walk by the Spirit” does not mean that you are supposed to “try to keep walking next to the Spirit.” This actually means that we should be “by the Spirit’s power, walking.” The difference is who is supposed to be walking. When you think that you are the one walking, you have missed the point.

It is not you providing the power in your life in order to do what is right. If you have been struggling with repetitive sins in your Christian life, it could be because you are trying to do the walking! See how critically important a proper understanding of this verse is?

Yes, we need to know what things a Christian should do, but it is also very important for us to know how to actually have the ability to do those things.

It is important to understand that the word “Spirit” here doesn’t mean our human spirit. The capitalization of the word “Spirit” is important. When the word “spirit” was translated into English here, capitalization was used to express the fact that it was talking about God’s Spirit and not ours. So, “walking in the spirit” is simply trusting in the Holy Spirit’s power instead of our own.