A Prayer to Help You Walk in the Spirit

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There comes a moment in every believer’s life when all the talking about transformation must give way to a simple, humble posture before God. A bowed head. An honest heart. A willingness to be led. You have read twenty-six chapters of theology, explanation, practical application, encouragement, warning, and invitation. But if this book has accomplished anything at all, it has been to usher you gently but firmly to this point where the Spirit of God must now take the baton.

Ultimately, the Christian life is not mastered in the mind but yielded in the soul. You can know everything in these pages and remain unchanged. You can possess insights, principles, and methods, and still walk in the flesh by Monday morning. What separates information from transformation is not more information. It is surrender. It is dependence. It is a Spirit-formed faith that says, “Lord, unless You lead me, unless You expose me, unless You strengthen me, unless You keep me, I cannot walk well.”

The prayer below has been a lifeline for me. For years, I have prayed some form of it multiple times a day. Not in a rote, mechanical fashion but as a living conversation. Sometimes lengthy, sometimes in a single sentence, sometimes in parts, sometimes in whole. It has steadied me. Corrected me. Comforted me. Humbled me. And more times than I can remember, it has rescued me.

Think of this prayer as the final turn in the road. It is a way to end the book but begin a new walk. As you read it, don’t simply analyze it. Let it read you. Think of it as the final “yes” that your soul must give if you truly want change. Pray it slowly. Pray reflectively. Pray it expectantly. And return to it whenever you sense yourself drifting into old patterns of self-reliance, blindness, hardness, fear, or pride.

Here is the prayer, with numbered sections for your personal use or for discussion with friends who desire the same Spirit-dependent life. May the Lord meet you with His grace as you offer it to Him in faith.

A Prayer to Help You Walk in the Spirit

Dear Lord,

1. Please help me to see what I cannot see (Hebrews 11:27). To know what I do not understand (1 Corinthians 2:14). To sense what I need to perceive in order to keep in step with Your Spirit (Galatians 5:25). Guard me from becoming hard-hearted (Hebrews 3:7). Keep me from a desensitized conscience (Romans 2:14–15). I am far more blind than I realize, Lord, and I need Your mercy to discern truth from error.
2. I need the Spirit to illuminate my mind (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Bring conviction to the dull areas of my heart (Hebrews 5:12–14). Keep me back from violating my conscience (Hebrews 4:7–8). Send merciful encouragements that draw me to repentance (Romans 2:4) and turn me from every evil way (Jeremiah 25:5), even when those ways seem small, justified, or harmless to me.
3. Keep me from justifying actions that grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). Rescue me from the rationalization trap (Isaiah 5:21). Uproot blaming from my thought life (Genesis 3:13; 2 Corinthians 10:3–6). I am not a helpless victim (John 16:33). I am fallen, but not unable to change (Romans 5:12). Attacked, but not without hope (2 Corinthians 4:8–9). Make these truths my functional reality.
4. I am appealing to You to do what You promised to those who seek You (Philippians 1:6; James 4:6; 1 Corinthians 1:8–9). I am asking because You told me to ask (Philippians 4:6). I need You now and in every future moment of my life (Philippians 4:19). I cannot walk a single step without You.
5. I trust Your judgments (Psalm 119:66). I know You will deal with me faithfully and mercifully (1 John 1:9). I also know I cannot trust myself without You (Jeremiah 17:9). You are my treasure and my guide (Matthew 6:21; John 17:17; 16:13). Guard me from quenching that relationship.
6. Keeping in step with Your Spirit will give me the direction I desperately need (Proverbs 3:5–6). You are my lifeline (Colossians 3:3). There is no other option (Deuteronomy 30:19). Your Word will protect me from what undermines Christlikeness (Psalm 119:11, 105; 2 Timothy 3:16–17). Teach me to say “no” to sin (Titus 2:12). Do this by the illuminating work of Your Spirit (Romans 8:26–27; Galatians 5:18).
7. Let the voice of the Spirit and the voice of my conscience be in harmony (Romans 5:1). I do not want a weak, soft, or hard conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Timothy 4:2). I want a conscience shaped by Scripture and affirmed moment by moment by the ministry of the Spirit (John 16:13).
8. Tuning my heart to anything else will defame You, harm me, and distance me from my brothers and sisters (Isaiah 59:2; Ephesians 2:14). Give me courage to hear what You say and respond in faith (Mark 5:36; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Corinthians 16:13). This is the crux—the cross—of the matter (John 3:14; 3:30; 12:32). Keep back Your servant from sins that would gain dominion over me (Psalm 19:13).
9. I do not want to be merely a hearer of Your words (James 1:22). I need Your grace (Ephesians 2:8) to convince me, empower me, and move me to obey what You reveal. Do not give up on me (Psalm 121:7). Grant me persevering grace (Romans 5:4).
10. Please help me walk faithfully in the knowledge You provide (2 Timothy 3:7; 2 Peter 1:3–4). Work in me (Philippians 2:12–13) so that transformation becomes my lived experience (Romans 12:1–2) and so my relationships reflect the unity and humility of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:25; 1 Peter 3:8).
    Your servant forever (Mark 10:45),

Rick
(1 Timothy 1:15–16)

If you will pray like this—daily, humbly, imperfectly, honestly—the Spirit will meet you. You will stumble, but you will grow. You will discover that the Christian life is not about perfect execution but persistent dependence. And you will learn, again and again, that the Spirit is far more committed to your transformation than you are. Let this prayer become the steady posture of your soul as you move toward the final pages of this book. The Lord has given you truth; now ask Him to give you power. The Lord has shown you the path; now ask Him to give you feet. The Lord has illuminated your heart; now ask Him to keep it soft.

Walk in the Spirit.

Fight in the Spirit.

Rest in the Spirit.

Change in the Spirit.

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).