| Acts 3:6 – “But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” |
Sometimes I find myself not walking in the Spirit and missing out the fullness of the person God created me to be.
Walking in the natural creates a short-sightedness where the future looks foggy and confusing. I feel distant and lonely. Life becomes a sum of hard efforts and it’s exhausting trying to keep up. How did I get off the beat? How did I get sidetracked?
I am not in active denial of the Spirit; however, I am also not always actively relying on him. We aren’t meant to carry the heaviness of life on our own. We fall out of sync if we do not actively choose to walk in the Spirit. I am either choosing to walk in it or I am choosing to reject it, there’s no in between.
My pastor touched on this in his sermon, and he called it the curtain of human choice. This is a daily choice! If we don’t walk in the Spirit, we will walk in the flesh. If we walk in the flesh, we will grow weary.
I begin thinking of the people in the Bible I read about who couldn’t walk. One kept popping up in my mind, and he was the paralyzed beggar in Acts 3. He was paralyzed since birth and had succumbed to his perceived reality of life. I thought of the ways we were similar – both sitting outside the gates, resolved to our circumstances, and seeking resources to support our present condition so it is bearable.
With the benefit of an outsider’s perspective, I can see that while we might have an idea of what’s good for us and what works, God wants and has so much more for us to just settle. The beggar’s life changed when he came across Peter and John. Instead of giving him money, Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Scripture says his feet and ankles were immediately made strong as he rose.
I can’t deny the power of God in my life. He has come through time and time again for me. But sometimes I keep asking for things that I believe are best for my circumstances. He wants to do much better than just make my current state bearable. He wants to transform my life through the power of Jesus, communion with Holy Spirit, and with a hand from the community I’ve been blessed with.
Walking in the Spirit is transformational. A few things revealed to me lately is that more than blessing me with power, He wants to bless me with presence. A greater emphasis should be on seeking His presence before asking Him for anything. His timing is just as important as His gifts and His will. And lastly, resources are what I think I need, but what I really need is to get up and walk.
- Martes Campbell
