Date: 2018
Pages: 332
Author: Steve Smith
Why This Book Matters
Spirit Walk comes from someone with decades of experience multiplying disciples and starting home churches. Steve Smith served in Asia and worked alongside Ying Kai, a well-known disciple maker who sparked generations of disciples across Asia and beyond. In this book, Smith shows how to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit based on what he has personally practiced and learned over time.
He supports his insights with extensive Scripture and delivers them in a highly practical way. The Appendix lays out clear, actionable steps you can use immediately, and that section alone justifies the cost of the book.
This book will help you go deeper in your walk with Christ because it stays rooted in Scripture, emphasizes practical application, and reflects real-life experience walking with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Core Message
Spirit Walk offers practical wisdom and clear direction for living a life filled with the Holy Spirit. Smith presents a four-part approach that helps us open our lives to the Spirit’s work. He also addresses how people often misuse this kind of teaching and explains how to avoid those pitfalls.
He summarizes the process with the acronym SWAP:
S – Surrender to God’s will and Word
W – Wait on God in prayer
A – Avoid sin and allow God to root out unrighteousness
P – Pursue the promptings of the Spirit
These are not formulas but guiding principles that believers have practiced for generations, often leading to personal and corporate revival.
The first three practices work together rather than in sequence. They form a cluster of habits that position your heart for the Spirit to move. Many discipleship conversations overlook the third element—confessing sin—but it plays a crucial role in making room for the Spirit’s work. The fourth element calls you to action: say “yes” to the Spirit. When you sense a prompting to speak to someone or take a step of obedience, respond.
Smith brings these principles to life with relatable illustrations. He often shares stories from his marriage, describing moments when his wife encouraged him to do something he initially resisted. As he chose to follow her lead, he discovered deeper intimacy and unexpected blessings. The same pattern holds true in our relationship with God.
Finally, Smith reminds readers that this way of life does not revolve around obligation or checking boxes. It flows from a genuine love for God and leads to real joy. Following Jesus truly is the best life a person can live.
Key Insights & Takeaways
- We must empty ourselves of selfishness, surrender control, confess the sin and say “yes” to the Holy Spirit in order for the Spirit to truly fill our lives.
- Saying “yes” to God will result in spiritual intimacy with God and true joy in life.
- While not a formula, there are practical things we can do to position ourselves for a deeper, more Spirit-filled life. And this is not about abusing the gifts or embracing spiritual abuses that we have all seen over the years. This is about desiring to be with God, growing deeper in spiritual intimacy and learning how to live like Jesus in order to be led by the Spirit like Jesus was.
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths: The book is sprinkled with practical tips along the way and concludes with an appendix that gives you an idea of specifically what this can look like and how to plan for time with God.
Limitations: Not everyone will be ready to hear what this book is saying. I wouldn’t have been ready for it 15 years ago.
Home Church Application
Sharing the SWAP with a home church would be a great way to introduce a path to deeper spiritual intimacy with God to a home church. Home churches in general would be better positioned to receive these teachings due to the typical atmosphere of spiritual intimacy, confession, joy and mutual affection that is often present in home churches.
About the Author
Steve Smith coaches Christians in how to make disciples and start home churches. His mission is to “finish the task” of reaching the nations. He is the co-author of “T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution” with Ying Kai. He has spent years on the mission field domestically and internationally.
Related Reading
“T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution” By Ying Kai and Steve Smith
“The Only One: Living Fully In, By and For God” By Curtis Sergeant
