REVEALING GOD DEVOTIONAL - LED BY THE SPIRIT – PART 2
Praise God for another day to be able to share with you. Today, we will be continuing our discussion on the Holy Spirit and how He leads Christians. I have previously said that the Holy Spirit is a person and not a dove, nor fire, nor wind, nor any other thing that anyone might think of Him to be. He was sent to us in the stead of Christ to the Church, just as Jesus was to the twelve disciples.
The road of salvation is a narrow one, and God has not called us to walk it blindly. He has sent His Holy Spirit to lead us through it to the end so that we will not make any wrong turn. This gives us the confidence that we are on the right path. Christianity is not guesswork. You cannot take your one chance at eternal life and gamble with it or leave it to chance. You need to be sure about what you are doing, and that is why it is important to be led by the Holy Spirit.
The two important things you must have in mind to easily be led by the Holy Spirit are:
1. Believe that the Holy Spirit is a person. Recognizing and believing that the Holy Spirit is a person will make it easier for you to interact with Him as a person, and not the way you interact with something abstract.
2. Be conscious of the fact that the Holy Spirit is always with you, and not a mile away or in Heaven.
The main criteria to be led by the Holy Spirit is to be born again, because becoming born again makes you a child of God. The scripture says as many as have received Jesus Christ into their lives, to them God has given the authority to live as sons of God (John 1:12). This is the greatest privilege anyone can ever have — to be a child of the King of the Universe. People will do anything to know the president of a country, not to talk of being adopted by one.
Now the God of the universe is giving anybody in the world a chance to be adopted into His family simply because He loves them and wants to communicate with them (John 3:16). Being born again is the only way God can lead you, give you all He has provided for you, and bring you to a good and expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). Moreover, there is a confidence that a person who talks with God has — that they are children of God. The scripture says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
God is a Spirit (John 4:24), and if He must communicate with you, He must communicate with you in the frequency of the spirit. Therefore you need a spirit in the image of God. This is what Adam lost when he sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, and that was why God said His Spirit could no more fellowship with man (Genesis 6:3). Mankind lost his ability to communicate with God. In a bid to re-establish that communication by themselves, they have sought many different ways and have ended up worshipping dead idols. Others have given up their search for God and concluded that there is no God.
We must understand that God through His Holy Spirit does not lead Christians by their flesh, emotions, or fear, but by their spirit. This is where many Christians make a mistake. They think that because they hear a voice or have a strong feeling to do something, it is the Holy Spirit leading them. They end up disappointed and begin to blame God. That probably was not the Holy Spirit leading them, but their emotions or carnal instinct — and the devil can access those realms as well. This is why focusing on your spirit man and not your soul or flesh is very important to being led by the Spirit of God. The scripture says, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:15-16).
One thing that can help you overcome the wiles of the devil is to load your spirit man with the Word of God. God will not go against His Word, so when anything that contradicts the Word of God comes up, it will be easier for you to test it with the Word of God in your heart before determining what to do.
You can also ask the Holy Spirit for direction, because my greatest mistakes in life have come from not asking God for direction but trying to do what I felt was right in my own eyes. Once, I asked the Holy Spirit why He didn’t stop me from falling into an error. He simply said, “You didn’t ask.” So ask! And if you are not sure you have an answer from the Holy Spirit yet, spend time waiting on Him through prayer. You can include fasting, because fasting helps a Christian to become more spiritually sensitive. The scripture says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
In these last days, we really need to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading because the days we are living in are going to be more evil than ever due to the very soon Second Coming of Christ. That is why the devil has camouflaged himself as a false prophet so that he can easily infiltrate the Church with his agents who even fake speaking in tongues and prophesying. Spirituality should not be judged by gifts but by love. Spiritual growth will also help a Christian to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. The scripture says, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
The next thing we can do to be easily led by the Holy Spirit is to be willing and obedient to every of His instructions. The Holy Spirit is ready to talk with you, but you must be willing to totally obey Him. Once you keep disobeying Him, you silence Him from talking to you. The scripture says, “Quench not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
What you can do to restore back that communication and hear His voice instructing you again is to start obeying Him once more. If the Holy Spirit gave you an instruction before and you have not been keeping it diligently, then start doing it today with all your heart. This will prove that you are willing to receive your next instruction from Him, and He will surely speak to you again. The scripture says, “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices” (Proverbs 1:30-32).
The more you are obedient to the Holy Spirit’s instructions, the more you start to hear from Him, the clearer His voice becomes, and the easier it will be for you to discern His voice. The scripture says, “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:4-5).
God does not want to talk to you through your Pastor alone or through other people, but He wants to talk to you directly like a man talks to his child. The reason He uses other people to talk to you in the first place is because He can’t communicate with you directly. So hearing from God is not just for a special set of Christians, but for every Christian — and you too can hear from Him.
So if you are already born again, then pray the prayer below in faith to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, then give thanks afterwards, believing that you have received it. The scripture says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13).
Prayer for the Gift of Speaking in Tongues:
Dear Lord, Your word says that if I ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit, You will give it to me. I ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit so that I can speak in tongues, and I believe I receive it right now. Thank you Father for giving me this gift. Help me make it manifest. In Jesus name, Amen.
Today’s Reading:
John 10, Proverbs 7---
Nevertheless, if you are not born again you can do so today by saying this simple prayer below out with your mouth in faith, believing that Jesus Christ died and rose again for your sins.
Prayer for Salvation
Dear Lord, I believe Jesus died and rose again for me. Forgive me my sins and come into my life. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you Father for doing this for me. Reveal yourself to me today. In Jesus name, Amen.
Congrats, your status has changed to that of a child of God, if you said this prayer in faith.