where it is dangerous is when we think we do not have issues.. and do not recognize our pride and ego
I have to ask whether or not we think we are walking in the Spirit when we are not. I've learned to "accept no substitutes". Walking in the Spirit means enjoying the Spirit's fruit,
Galatians 5:22-24 KJV
22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24) And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Either this is all true of me or it's not, and if it's not, I'm not walking in the Spirit. I don't think the Spirit's fruit "grows" in our lives, I think the Spirit's fruit is either seen or not seen. If I'm walking in the Spirit I have His Love, His patience, His faithfulness, His self-control, all of these.
But to consistently walk in the Spirit?
If we are not walking in the Spirit in this moment, what do we do so that we will be in the next moment?
I believe that walking in the Spirit is what we do except when we are not. That may sound like a tautology, but what I mean is that as a child of God, our default state is to live in His holiness. And I believe we would fully and completely do so except that we have a terrestrial existence in a body that was corrupted by sin, and as such produced a mind corrupted by sin. And the reason we don't consistently live righteous and holy is that this corrupt flesh intrudes and pulls us off course, back into it's ways, until such a time as we come to our senses and return to Spirit life.
I see this taught in passages such as Galatians 5, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, Romans 7.
I think the biggest killer of Spirit life in the Christian is a sense of condemnation. When we believe we are again condemned by God for our sins, how do we then open our broken and vulnerable hearts to the one we believe condemns us? But when we understand the fulness of our reconcilation to Him, His unending love for us, His commitment to us, to me, then I am open and trusting to receive from Him the power of His Spirit to walk in His Way.
I've come to realize that much of the time I'd have previously said I was "walking in the Spirit" was really more that I was having a better day. Being able to resist sins, doing things like praying and reading the Bible and going to church, helping around the house, whatever it is that says to each of us, This is good Godly living, that doesn't necessarily mean we are walking in the Spirit.
For myself, when I am walking in the Spirit, I don't really think about myself, only the most practical things. Otherwise, thoughts about myself are near 0. It's an interesting thing to me to think about what it looks like in my self when I am walking in the Spirit, but then again, this is very personal to each of us, and I don't want to become restrictive in some personal description, only to give voice to the idea that walking in the Spirit is something completely transcendant over our terrestrial sort of life.
So I just offer this up as a way to suggest we consider what is and is not "walking in the Spirit", and what it should include or not include, and whether we are, or perhaps not.
Much love!