How Does the Holy Spirit Guide Us? Part 2
As we have established earlier, God intends that we be led by the Holy Spirit. That means that He directs our paths. You’ve heard me say, “When you walk with God, you get to where He is going.” The Lord wants us to be where He is; working with Him instead of working for Him.
Just as we can be assured that God has plans, purposes, and pursuits for us to walk in, we can also be sure that God speaks to or communicates with us. The most important reason that God speaks to us is to guide us. There are at least six important ways in which we receive guidance from the Lord.Show More
Clear Direction
There are times when God may use several ways to communicate with us to assure us that it is the Holy Spirit directing our paths. Remember that Satan is a lying spirit who wants to deceive us and lead us away from God. I have heard the following illustration:
“A certain harbor can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have been wrecked, and navigation is hazardous. To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted on three huge poles in the harbor. When the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot can see two or three lights, he knows he has gotten off course and is in danger.
“God has also provided three beacons to guide us. The same rules of navigation apply… the three lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. The three harbor lights of guidance are:
- The Word of God (objective standard);
- The Holy Spirit (subjective witness);
- Circumstances (divine providence).
“Together, they assure us that the directions we have received are from God and will lead us safely along His way.”
Of course, it is also important to note that circumstances are not always a reliable indicator of God’s will. They can, at times, cause us to doubt. God may require us to move in faith, even when natural circumstances seem to oppose His direction. If this seems to be the case, then we must have an even clearer and stronger sense of the accuracy of both the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s leading in spite of the circumstances. Just look at the obstacles Abraham and Moses faced in the Old Testament, then there is the Apostle Paul in the New Testament and all he had to endure.
Confidence Before God
Now, let’s begin to examine the six ways that God speaks to and guides us.
1. Holy Spirit Guidance Through Conviction
Holy Spirit conviction means that our conscience is being provoked into judging the rightness or wrongness of an action. The dictionary defines conscience as having “an internal sense of what is right and wrong that governs somebody’s thoughts and actions, urging him or her to do right rather than wrong”.
As Christians, we understand the “internal sense” to go beyond just our conscience. We have within us the work of the Holy Spirit. “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1John 3:20,21).
The Need for Conviction
In John 16:8-11, God reveals the primary work of the Holy Spirit. (The Holy Spirit is not limited to the three actions described in this passage, as we learn when reading beyond verse 11.) The three primary works of the Holy Spirit are to reveal sin, righteousness, and judgment. “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8).
Then John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, goes on to explain in greater detail these three primary functions: “of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (vs.9-11). The greatest sin is to not believe in Jesus and what He did for us. Jesus is the righteousness for those who put their trust in Him, and they will also go to the Father. Judgment because the world systems are under the influence of the Devil.
The Holy Spirit always convicts of sin because He is holy (Rom 1:4)! God never tempts us with evil. He does not perpetrate evil or sin as a means of fulfilling His purpose (Jas 1:13). While it is true that God can take that which was meant for evil by others and turn it into good (Rom 8:28), He Himself does not perpetrate evil or sin. As Believers and leaders of Christ, this means that we must not perpetrate evil motivations or actions but instead live above reproach in every area of life (1 Tim 3:1-13).
When Jesus says in John 16:9 that the Holy Spirit convicts “of sin, because they do not believe in Me”, we need to make one thing very clear: It is not just belief in the Person of Jesus, but also belief in what Jesus has said and done for us at the Cross. There are many who would say they believe in Jesus, and yet they do not obey Him (Matt 21:28-32; Jas 1:21-25, 2:14-26). Well, if one does not obey Jesus, one really does not believe that Jesus is God!
It is possible to “harden your heart” to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and become insensitive to sin. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30). Those who fall to the place where they become insensitive to the Holy Spirit are no longer convicted of their sin (Eph 4:17-24; 1Tim 4:2).
Scriptural examples of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit:
- Peter makes an arrogant statement that he is willing to die for Jesus (Matt 26:31-35). Jesus prophesies that Peter will deny Him three times before the rooster crows that day. The prophecy comes to pass. After the third denial of Christ by Peter, the Scripture states, “Then he began to curse and swear, saying, ‘I do not know the Man!’ Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So, he went out and wept bitterly” (Matt 26:74,75).
- Jesus appears to His disciples after the resurrection, but Thomas is not present. Because Thomas has not seen with his own eyes, he does not believe that Jesus has appeared to the other disciples. Later, Jesus appears to Thomas. Under conviction, Thomas proclaims, “…My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
- Peter preaches the Gospel message, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, to the Jews in Jerusalem. This produces such conviction that about 3,000 come to know the Lord Jesus. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37).
- Saul (Paul) of Tarsus is on his way to Damascus to continue his persecution of Christians. During that trip, he has an encounter with the risen Jesus Christ that turns his world upside down. “And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads’. So he, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’” (Acts 9:5,6).
2. Holy Spirit Guidance Through the Bible
The Bible is truly the Word of God, and all of it is given by the inspiration of God (2 Tim 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:19-21). It is like no other book. It is a spiritual book designed by God to be a source of life, inspiration, instruction, encouragement, correction, direction, and guidance for His children. Someone once described the Bible as a personal love letter from God to us. God and His heart for mankind are both revealed throughout the Scriptures. For those who do not know God, through Jesus Christ, it is an invitation to know Him. For those who walk with Jesus, the Word of God is our strength and assurance that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Rhema And Logos
It is interesting to note that the Bible refers to itself as the Word. The word “Word” in the New Testament is derived from two Greek words: logos and rhema. Logos is the written word or an expression of thought, while rhema is the spoken word or a word uttered in speech or writing. Both words are used throughout the New Testament.
The word rhema is significant because it applies to a single scripture or scriptural principle that the Holy Spirit brings to the mind in our time of need. It is as if the Scripture passage is “speaking” to us to answer a question or provide direction or guidance.
Hence, Scripture itself tells us that it is alive and sharper than any two-edged sword, able to discern thoughts of the mind and motives of the heart. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb 4:12).
God speaks to us so clearly through the Bible. God speaks in general principles for life (logos) as well as to specific circumstances in life (rhema).
It is important to remember that we must read the logos (written) word daily. It is from this daily reading that God will give us His rhema (spoken) word.
The Bible as Light
The Word of God is light. Illumination of the Word, as we have discussed earlier, is by the Holy Spirit. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). Illumination means that the truth of Scripture becomes personal and real to us. “…that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2Pet 1:20,21).
The Bible As A Mirror Into Your Soul
The Bible reveals the truth about us. We may be able to deceive others. We may even be able to deceive ourselves. Yet there is power in the Word of God to reveal the truth about our lives. The Word of God is compared to a mirror, which reflects back to us where our lives need to be changed (Jas 1:23-25).
This illumination is a work of the Holy Spirit—not to discourage or condemn us but to bring us into the light that transforms. God cannot bless what He does not approve of; He is a Holy God! His desire for us, when He reveals painful truths about our lives, is to bring us into paths of righteousness so that we might receive the full blessing of God.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Cor 3:18).
Of course, just knowing the truth is not the same as knowing and doing the truth. We are called to be doers of the Word. By doing the Word of God, we build a solid foundation for our lives. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (Jas 1:23-25).
As the Bible says in Matthew 6:33, our priority must be to seek the kingdom of God through Jesus and His righteousness. Then, the spirit of God will provide all that we need for our spirit, soul, and body.
Keep on seeking Him!
