Romans 8 also reveals to us what kind of reaction we should have toward such a Spirit. First, we should walk according to the Spirit. We should walk according to the Spirit of life who is the Spirit of sonship. Second, we should be led by Him. To walk according to Him is from our side. For Him to lead us is from His side. On our side we walk after Him and walk according to Him. On His side He is leading us. There is quite a difference between these two aspects. To walk according to the Spirit is much easier than to be led by the Spirit. For me to walk after you is somewhat easy. But for me to be led by you is not so easy. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (v. 14). Verse 16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.” The Spirit within us witnesses with our spirit, not that we are the sons of God, but that we are the children of God. In verse 16 we are the children; in verse 14 we are the sons; in verse 17 we become the heirs. There are these three words: children, sons, and heirs. No doubt the children are very young and childish. The sons are the ones who have grown up. Heirs are the ones who have matured. First, we are children, then we are sons, and eventually we are the heirs. The Spirit witnesses within us that we are born of God, that we are children of God. But when you are being led by the Spirit, you are the sons of God. That means you are stronger. You are growing up; you are the sons of God. Eventually we will mature to be the heirs.
Our reaction to the Spirit must be that we first walk according to the Spirit. Then we must be led by Him all the time. Although we are practicing to walk according to the Spirit, yet we may not be led by the Spirit. If you check with your own experience you will see that there is a little discrepancy here. You are walking according to Spirit, yet you discover while you are walking according to the Spirit, you would not be led by Him. For example, for the whole day you have been walking according to the Spirit and even you come to the meeting still acting according to the Spirit. Yet in the meeting when the Spirit leads you to function, you would not function. And all the while that you would not be led by the Spirit to function in the meeting, you still think that you are walking according to the Spirit. If I could take away this veil from you, you could see that many times while you are walking according to the Spirit, you would not be led by Him.
The Spirit is the most gentle and meek Person. The Spirit who dwells in us is not like us. We are easily offended, but the indwelling Spirit is not. Although we have offended Him many times, He is still here. For example, while we were walking according to Him He led us to talk to a certain person, but we wouldn’t. While we were walking according to Him He led us to call upon the name of the Lord, but we wouldn’t call. While we were walking according to the Spirit, He led us to function in the meeting, but we wouldn’t. Once the meeting was over, we repented and regretted because we offended Him. Even though we offended Him so many times, He is still here.
Do you really walk according to the Spirit? Are you led by Him all the time? Too many times while we are walking according to Him, we would not be led by Him. We walk according to Him, but we just would not take His leading. To walk according to the Spirit is easier than to be led by Him, to take His leading. You may consider that if you do not take His leading, then you are not walking according to Him. Doctrinally you may say this, but experientially you may walk according to Him and still not take His leading. Don’t consider that this is a matter of “splitting hairs.” If you do not have such a splitting, I don’t believe you can enter into the realization of the Body of Christ. You could never get through the matter of sonship. The Body of Christ comes after the sonship. If you only walk according to the Spirit, yet you would not take the leading of the Spirit and be led by Him, you are short of the proper reaction to Him.
For example, a baby first learns how to crawl. To walk according to the Spirit may be likened to crawling. But to take the leading of the Spirit, to be led by Him, is to stand up and walk. Many of us can crawl, but we cannot stand up and take some steps. If you are still only able to walk according to the Spirit, you are still a child. You are not growing up into a son. Those who are led by the Spirit are not children, but sons of God. To walk according to the Spirit is just spiritual crawling. But to take the leading of the Spirit and to be led by Him is a kind of spiritual walking. If He leads you to pray, regardless of the situation you would stop your doing and pray. Too many times every day while we are walking according to the Spirit and He asks us to pray, we wouldn’t. He leads us to pray just for two minutes, but we wouldn’t. Yet all the while we are trying to walk according to Him. We must learn to react to the Spirit in these aspects: to walk according to Him and to be led by Him.