How to be Led by the Holy Spirit

How to be Led by the Holy Spirit

 

Jesus promised His followers that God will send us the Holy Spirit to lead us through our life.  John 14:16 and John 16:13 records Jesus’ words when He promised us: “I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, (the Holy Spirit) that He may live with you forever.”   And “When the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.”

 

God guides us by His Holy Spirit. When you receive Jesus, He sends the Holy Spirit to live in you.  Then God speaks to you not just through His Word, but also through the Holy Spirit living in you.  You can’t live well without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can guide you to where you need to go and help you do what He has for you to do.  But how do we hear what the Holy Spirit is saying or know where He is guiding us? 

 

Years ago, my husband and I both felt that the Holy Spirit was leading us to start a Christian camping ministry in the mountains of Northern California.  We both were driven by a strong desire to build a retreat in the mountains above Porterville, California.  For a year we couldn’t get it out of our minds.  A joy seemed to push us toward moving ahead and giving this endeavor a try.

 

We bought ten acres of land in the mountains among the giant redwoods and near a babbling brook.  Then we spent three years restoring an old lodge and cabins and digging out paths on the land and piping fresh water into those buildings from a spring we developed. These improvements to the property were expensive.

 

We named the camp, “Zephaniah’s Camp” and many church groups from hundreds of miles around came up to our camp and held Christian retreats.  For ten years we ran the camp, cleaning and cooking for large groups and taking them on hikes through the giant redwoods.  There was joyful singing and prayer around the campfire and cookouts in the woods by the brook.  In the winter church youth groups sledded down snowy hills nearby and held Bible studies in the lodge around the fire.  Many campers were blessed, and the Lord was with us.

 

But some of the people living on the mountain were unhappy that a Christian camp had been built in their neck of the woods.  Several people called us and threatened to burn our camp down. And others drove by and began shooting at our campers.  This happened many times and we worried that someone would be hurt or killed by these shooters on the mountain.  

 

We continued losing money all those years and finally were forced to sell the camp because we couldn’t afford to keep it.  We had to sell our home and rent because the money we put into the camp left us without enough to pay our bills. My husband had a heart attack and our church friends disappeared. We were all alone during those dark years as we experienced the dark night of the soul.

 

The question we asked –and still don’t know is -Did God through the Holy Spirit lead us to build that camp or was it just our own idea?  I suppose we will never know for sure until we reach heaven!  After much prayer we still felt an inner urging to build the camp, accompanied with much joy, so we believed that that was the Holy Spirit urging us along.

 

Does everything have to turn out perfectly when God is leading? Of course not. Was that desire and joy to build a Christian camp given to us by the Holy Spirit or was it just our own wishes?  Here on earth we walk by faith and not by sight. 

 

So often Christians want a simple formula to show them exactly what God wants them to do.  But finding God’s will for our lives is a whole way of living, a Christian lifestyle. We have the Bible, the Word of God to guide us in the basics.  (Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery, etc. Exodus 20:14-15) And we have the Holy Spirit within us to guide us into what we do with our individual lives.  And when we want something we can ask in His Name and God will give it to us. (Matthew 7:7-12)   

 

 I believe that we are guided by the Holy Spirit when we trust God and submit to Him each step of the way. We will often mess up, but God forgives and with His help we keep on trying. We find in the Bible that God gives us His laws. He calls us to love Him with all our hearts and all our strength and all our minds and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  (Matthew 22:37) He calls us to believe and trust in Him, and to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  We experience the Holy Spirit’s guidance when we trust and obey as we walk through life. There is great joy, peace and strength in trusting God. 

 

The Holy Spirit in your life will not lead you away from the truths in God’s Word, the Bible.  We need to know God’s Word in order to judge what we are hearing.  If we think the Holy Spirit is telling us to cheat on our husband or wife or to hate our parents we are listening to our own desires and not those of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will not guide us into something that Scripture says is wrong. Scripture commands us to honor our parents and love one another.  Even if our parents have let us down we still can ask God to help us love and pray for them.

 

We should study God’s Word as often God speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. The Word of God is living and powerful. Pray and ask God to lead you.  Ask Him to help you hear His Voice.  And do not ignore the Holy Spirit who is there desiring to lead you.

 

Scripture tells us that if we think we have received “a word from the Lord” not to reject or accept it immediately without asking God to speak to your heart about it.  We are supposed to test all things and hold fast to what is good.  (1 Thessalonians 5:21) The Holy Spirit will give us a peace in doing what He has called us to do.  If we do not have that peace then we might wait and pray until we get more assurance.

 

Once some friends of ours believed that God wanted them to adopt a child.  They had children of their own and didn’t want to adopt a child.  But because they thought God would want them to do it, they were going ahead begrudgingly out of a sense of duty. Our pastor suggested that they wait and pray until they were at peace in doing it.  He told them that if it was of the Lord that they would feel an urging and a desire to do it. Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:30) This couple waited and prayed and never felt at peace about adopting.  So, they gave up the idea.

 

God opens and closes doors in our lives. As you depend on Him for every step, He gets you to where you need to go. It is an exciting adventure. God doesn’t keep His will a secret that we must struggle to find it out, but He wants us to seek and ask Him for His will.  Scripture says: “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”  (Isaiah 30:21) Let’s walk through life listening for that Word behind us!

 

Some of the thoughts in this blog were taken from Stormie Omari tan’s book, “Lead Me, Holy Spirit”