Walk in the Spirit: The Fruit of a Surrendered Life

Pastor Derek Evans | Until The Whole World Knows Ministry

The Holy Spirit does more than empower a moment of ministry. He leads believers into a life in which the desires of the flesh are resisted and the character of Jesus Christ becomes visible. We should desire His gifts, welcome His work, and depend upon His power. We must also yield our ordinary decisions to His direction.

Main Scripture — Galatians 5:16–18, 22–25 (KJV)

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Galatians 5:22–25 continues:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Introduction — The Life Behind the Demonstration

Beloved, what happens when the service ends deserves our attention. The believer who has prayed with fervency must still answer a difficult message. The minister who has spoken publicly must still receive correction privately. The person who celebrates freedom in Christ must still decide what to do when an old temptation returns. These ordinary moments reveal where our dependence upon the Holy Spirit is becoming practical.

Paul wrote Galatians to defend the gospel of grace against a distortion that would place believers under requirements that could not justify them before God. Yet he did not describe Christian freedom as permission to follow every desire. In the same chapter where he calls believers to stand in liberty, he teaches them to walk in the Spirit. Freedom from condemnation through Christ must never be turned into an excuse for conduct that contradicts Christ.

This is especially important for a Pentecostal church. We do not need to choose between spiritual gifts and spiritual maturity. We need to submit both our ministry and our conduct to the Lord. A manifestation may draw attention during a meeting, but the fruit of the Spirit concerns the kind of people we are becoming. The Spirit is not divided against Himself. He does not empower us to honor Jesus in public while authorizing us to disregard Jesus in private.

Let us examine three connected truths. Dependence comes first. Resistance to the flesh follows. Patient, practical growth carries that surrender into everyday life.

1. Walk in Dependence upon the Spirit, Rather Than Confidence in Your Own Strength

Paul's command to walk in the Spirit places the believer in an ongoing relationship of dependence. Walking involves movement, direction, and repeated steps. We should not build an elaborate doctrine from the image alone, but the command plainly addresses the way we live. The question is not only whether we remember a powerful encounter with God. The question is whether our present choices are being brought under His direction. Yesterday's testimony should encourage today's obedience; it cannot take today's obedience in our place.

In the context of Galatians, this dependence must be distinguished from trying to establish righteousness through human achievement. Paul does not replace one religious performance system with another. The Christian life begins with God's grace, and growth continues through His enabling presence. When we imagine that maturity means becoming strong enough to manage without Him, we have misunderstood maturity. A mature believer learns more deeply where strength comes from. Prayer becomes an expression of need, not merely a duty completed before the real work begins.

John 15:5 (KJV):

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus taught His disciples that fruitfulness depends upon abiding in Him. The branch does not generate its own independent life. This strengthens Paul's teaching about dependence: our daily walk must remain rooted in the Lord who gives life, rather than in confidence that our religious experience has made us sufficient.

Dependence also differs from passivity. Paul commands the believers to walk; he does not tell them to wait until obedience requires no decision. The Spirit's help does not remove our responsibility to respond. When Scripture calls us to tell the truth, we do not need to wait for a special feeling before refusing a lie. When we know that a conversation is feeding resentment, dependence may take the practical form of stopping, praying, and choosing a truthful, measured response. God's enabling grace and our obedient response belong together.

Consider how this works when anger rises. Self-reliance says that we will control the situation through stronger willpower or force of personality. Passivity says that we cannot change unless God removes every difficult feeling first. Dependence acknowledges the emotion without making it the master. We bring the situation before the Lord, recall His instruction, and choose a response consistent with His character. We may need to step away briefly, seek counsel, or return later to address the matter clearly. These are ordinary actions through which surrender becomes visible.

Walking in the Spirit must remain grounded in the Word He inspired. A strong inward impression does not gain authority simply because it feels spiritual. The Spirit will not lead us to excuse dishonesty, cruelty, sexual sin, or manipulation. We may sincerely misunderstand an impression, which is why humility and accountability are necessary. As Pentecostal believers, we welcome the Spirit's leading while refusing to place our personal experiences beyond examination. Being teachable does not weaken spiritual sensitivity. It protects us from confusing our own desires with God's direction.

Begin each day by surrendering something specific. Bring your speech, your schedule, your reactions, and your responsibilities before the Lord. Read Scripture with a willingness to obey what it makes clear. When pressure arrives, return to that dependence instead of treating prayer as something already finished. At the end of the day, consider where you yielded and where you resisted. Give thanks for grace and confess failure honestly. Such practices do not purchase the Spirit's presence. They cultivate an attentive, responsive life before Him. SPIRITUAL MATURITY DOES NOT MAKE US INDEPENDENT OF GOD. IT TEACHES US TO DEPEND UPON HIM MORE FULLY.

2. Refuse the Rule of the Flesh and Take Responsibility for Your Response

Galatians 5:24 (KJV):

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Paul describes a real conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. In this passage, the flesh concerns sinful desires and conduct opposed to God's will; it should not be confused with the claim that the physical body is itself evil. Ordinary human limitations are not automatically moral failures. Needing sleep, grieving a loss, or experiencing illness does not prove that someone is walking in rebellion. We must distinguish what Scripture actually condemns from the burdens that require compassion and appropriate care.

The works of the flesh listed in Galatians include sins that congregations readily recognize, but they also include destructive attitudes that can hide beneath religious activity. Hatred, strife, envy, and wrath are not made holy by being expressed in a ministry setting. A person can condemn obvious immorality while feeding rivalry and resentment. Paul does not permit us to create a selective holiness that confronts the sins we dislike while protecting the sins that serve our pride. The whole life must come under the lordship of Christ.

To belong to Christ is to have made a decisive break with the flesh's claim to govern us. That does not mean every temptation disappears or that growth happens without struggle. Paul addresses people who still need instruction about how to walk. Yet the struggle cannot become an excuse for surrender. We must stop speaking of sinful patterns as though they possess an unquestionable right to remain. A familiar habit may explain why obedience feels difficult; familiarity does not grant the habit permission to rule.

Romans 8:13 (KJV):

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Paul identifies both the seriousness of sinful living and the means of resisting it. The deeds are put to death through the Spirit. This is neither permission to continue in sin nor a demand to conquer it through unaided effort. The believer acts in dependence upon God's enabling presence.

In deliverance ministry, this distinction is essential. We affirm the authority of Jesus Christ over demonic oppression and pray for people who need freedom. We must also teach believers to repent, renew their thinking, and practice obedience. Not every unwanted impulse should be assigned to a demon, and spiritual warfare must never become a way of avoiding responsibility. If I have spoken deceitfully, I need to acknowledge the lie and correct it. If I have cultivated bitterness, I need to stop feeding it. Prayer for freedom belongs with discipleship in truth.

Taking responsibility includes changing the conditions that repeatedly nourish disobedience. A person who wants to stop gossiping may need to leave a conversation rather than remain for the details. Someone struggling with destructive online habits may need practical limits and trusted accountability. A leader who reacts defensively may need to invite correction and listen without immediately explaining himself. These steps are not a substitute for the Holy Spirit. They are ways of cooperating with the conviction already received. We should not ask God to bless a freedom we continually undermine through deliberate choices.

When you fail, do not turn confession into a speech that places the blame elsewhere. Name what you did, acknowledge its effect, and take the next faithful step. Where another person has been harmed, repentance may require restitution, changed access, or sustained accountability. Restoration is more than recovering a comfortable feeling about yourself. At the same time, do not confuse a struggle you are honestly resisting with a settled decision to reject Christ. Seek help, receive correction, and continue responding to grace. The warning against the flesh is serious, and the Spirit's help is real. DO NOT DEFEND WHAT THE LORD IS CALLING YOU TO PUT AWAY.

3. Cultivate the Spirit's Fruit Where Your Character Is Actually Tested

Galatians 5:25–26 (KJV):

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Paul names love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance as the fruit of the Spirit. This description brings spiritual growth into the realm of character. We should not treat the list as a menu from which we select the qualities that come naturally. A gentle temperament does not excuse dishonesty, and enthusiasm does not excuse a lack of self-control. The Spirit's work touches the whole person. We are being formed into a life that increasingly agrees with the character of our Lord.

Fruit grows in actual conditions, and character becomes visible in actual situations. Patience is tested when someone moves more slowly than we prefer. Gentleness is tested when we possess the power to embarrass another person. Self-control is tested when an immediate desire offers relief at the expense of obedience. These moments need not be dramatic to be spiritually significant. We often pray for opportunities to serve God while overlooking the ordinary opportunities to obey Him that are already in front of us.

Love seeks another person's good without surrendering truth. Peace does not require pretending that serious problems do not exist. Meekness does not mean allowing wrongdoing to continue without challenge. The Spirit's fruit must be understood in harmony with the rest of Scripture, rather than reduced to pleasant behavior. Sometimes love speaks a difficult truth. Sometimes goodness protects someone by setting a necessary boundary. Sometimes self-control means refusing to answer immediately. Christlike character concerns both what we do and the spirit in which we do it.

James 3:17 (KJV):

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

James contrasts heavenly wisdom with the envy and strife that corrupt human relationships. His description agrees with Paul's concern for character. A claim to spiritual wisdom should produce conduct that can receive correction and show mercy. Harshness and hypocrisy cannot be excused merely because the speaker claims a spiritual insight.

Joy also requires careful understanding. Christian joy is rooted in the Lord and His grace; it is not a command to display constant cheerfulness. A grieving believer may trust God deeply while weeping. A person receiving treatment for depression should not be accused of lacking the Spirit because the struggle is visible. We can pray for healing and strengthening while supporting appropriate care. The fruit of the Spirit must never become a weapon used against people in pain. Our teaching should help them turn toward Christ, not pressure them to conceal suffering.

Paul immediately warns against vain glory, provocation, and envy. That warning shows how easily spiritual life can be distorted by comparison. We may begin asking who appears more anointed, who receives more attention, or whose ministry seems to be advancing fastest. Such questions can train us to view another person's blessing as a threat. The Spirit leads us toward a different concern: whether we are faithful with what God has entrusted to us. We can rejoice in another believer's usefulness without treating it as a verdict against our own worth.

Examine growth over time without turning the examination into self-congratulation. Are you quicker to listen than you were? Do you confess wrong more honestly? Are your responses becoming less controlled by the need to win? Ask someone trustworthy who knows your daily conduct, and receive the answer without demanding praise. Choose one area where the Word is exposing a need, pray specifically, and practice the next act of obedience. Growth may include repeated correction, but correction is not proof that the process is useless. Continue yielding to the Spirit who gives life. THE FRUIT MUST BE VISIBLE WHERE THE LIFE IS LIVED.

Conclusion — Let Your Daily Walk Agree with Your Confession

Beloved, we should continue praying for the sick, desiring spiritual gifts, preaching deliverance through Jesus Christ, and expecting the Holy Spirit to work among us. We must also welcome His work in our attitudes, appetites, speech, and decisions. The need for power does not cancel the call to holiness. The call to holiness does not require us to stop depending upon supernatural grace.

Do not reduce this teaching to a promise that you will try harder. Bring your actual life before the Lord. Identify the place where self-reliance has replaced dependence. Stop protecting the pattern that Scripture exposes. Practice the obedience that lies before you today. Seek help where you need it, remain teachable, and refuse the pride that makes correction feel like an enemy.

We live by the Spirit. Let us also walk by the Spirit. Let our homes, our work, our private decisions, and our ministry reveal the influence of the One we honor in worship. The goal is not an impressive spiritual appearance. The goal is a life increasingly conformed to Jesus Christ.

Closing Prayer

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we surrender our lives to You. Forgive us for seeking spiritual experiences while resisting Your instruction. Holy Spirit, teach us to depend upon You in ordinary decisions. Expose the desires we have excused, strengthen us to resist temptation, and lead us into truthful repentance. Produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our lives. Give us humility to receive correction and compassion toward those who struggle. Let our public ministry and private conduct agree with the gospel we confess. In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

Pastor Derek Evans
Until The Whole World Knows Ministry

Deliverance is the children's bread, all are welcomed.

Scripture quotations: King James Version. Read the passage in context: Galatians 5.