What Does “Being In The Spirit” Mean?(Part 1)

Nearly 300 times the phrase “In The Spirit” is used.  Thus, it should be a solid biblical principle and standard we should live by yet I fear not only do we not walk in the Spirit but I think most of us don’t understand what scripture is trying to communicate with those of us who choose to follow Christ.

Let me start out with some passages that define what this important topic means and then try to extrapolate how it should affect our lifestyle and thinking.  First, let me confess I don’t walk in the Spirit as I should and often get caught up in living a “Natural” life without the guidance and power of God. Even though I know better I still make the mistake of walking “In The Flesh”, meaning walking in this life purely by human logic and reason without the advantage of the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The apostle John, who penned the book of Revelation, confesses he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. The reason he states this is partly to admit there were times he was not in the Spirit. This is significant because we might assume that John, who was the oldest living apostle that’s walked with Jesus, would be living a totally devoted life for God while walking faultlessly before people and God.  When we read passages of scripture we need to see what these passages say and what they don’t say or imply in order to understand what God is trying to communicate.

Revelation 1:10

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,

I start with the book of Revelation because it’s the last book of the Bible so we can see an honest confession of a godly follower of Christ and build our own confession regarding what walking in Christ looks like and what it doesn’t look like.  John was an honest servant of God who endeavored to help believers know how to articulate their faith to others.

In the beginning of the gospels in the book of Luke, Simeon is pointed out as a man who was righteous and longed for the nation of Israel to turn around from their worldly ways and receive their Messiah. So, the first attribute Simeon had was he loved God enough to structure his daily life around what the scripture defined as what God desires from his conduct. Many of us can say we love God but do we love him enough to change?

Luke 2:25-27

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,

Secondly, we see the Holy Spirit was upon him, which means the Holy Spirit felt comfortable to be with him. For far too long believers have put their confidence in the idea that when we are born again we receive the Holy Spirit yet how many of us make the Holy Spirit feel at home in our souls by what we live for? For some that may sound odd but scripture defines who God is close to and he isn’t close to those who don’t seem to care for his fellowship.

Thirdly, the Holy Spirit gave Simeon special insight about seeing the Messiah before he would die. I believe Simeon had such a walk with the Lord that God granted him special insight.  I believe the Holy Spirit will give us special insight about life if we also honor his presence like Simeon did.

Psalms 25:14

The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him,

And He will make them know His covenant.

Lastly, Simeon came to the temple in the Spirit. These attitudes and behaviors identified Simeon’s life and I wonder if we are as intentional as he was? Do we just rely on God making us born again and then go about our lives without a thought to making sure we welcome his presence regularly and especially when meeting with other believers? Do we cultivate an attentiveness to God’s presence regularly so that the Holy Spirit delights in imparting wisdom and insight to us and for us?

Being in the Spirit is not an accident but must be cultivated in our every day life. It takes focus and effort to walk in the Spirit because there are so many distractions in this life.  Life has a way of stealing our fellowship with God so that we only do so on Sunday morning at church. There is a reason why the writer of the book of Hebrews says we should fix our focus on Jesus because he is the one that gave us our walk with God and he is the one that perfects our faith.

Hebrews 12:2

We should be fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I will be writing more on what walking in the Spirit looks like because so few of us do it and so many of us don’t maintain such a walk. We think God will do all that is required to make us holy and well equipped as God’s children. The enemy of our soul longs for the believer to expect God to do it all with regards to our spiritual life when in reality God expects us to do the things like Simeon did to walk the life God delights in.

In the next part of this same series on walking in the Spirit, I will be looking at how you and I can indeed walk in the Spirit in a greater and more profound way.

Questions:

1) Are you “Cultivating” Your life with the Holy Spirit? If not, why not?

2) If God is waiting on you to desire intimacy with Him, are you demonstrating a desire to be close to him? If not, why not?

Desiring to be intentional,

Pastor Dale