How to be led by the Holy Spirit of God is of utmost importance. It represents the difference between working for the Lord or working with the Lord!
While working for the Lord may be a sincere effort to please the Lord, it is often a work the Lord has not asked us to do. Here is an important point: if the Lord is not in it, it usually isn’t worth doing. A lot of frustration and disappointment comes from trying to do God’s work without God! This reminds me of Moses when he said to the Lord, “If you don’t go with me, I won’t go!” Exodus 33:14-16 (NKJV): “And He [God] said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he (Moses) said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?” The difference between doing a good work and a God work is one letter “o”, but that difference makes all the difference in the world! Show More
Listen to what Jesus said in John 15:15-17 (NKJV), “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.” Being a friend of Jesus is another way of saying there is a friendship relationship based upon two-way communication; in other words, friends dialogue or talk to one another. Being a genuine friend of Jesus will eventually cause you to become more like Him because we are in a daily relationship with Him. We are not like some who believe that going to church on Sunday is all we need to be in a relationship with the Lord.
The relationship the Lord desires with us is a spiritual one. Remember what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:24 (NKJV). “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”Therefore, our true worship is spiritual; that is why the Lord gave us the Holy Spirit when we were born-again. The key to an overcoming life is to learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit.
How to be led by the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus speaks to us, He speaks to us through the Helper or the Holy Spirit; therefore, we must learn the language of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to our minds, and we must learn how to discern that one voice because there are so many voices speaking to us. It takes practice, and it takes faith. It means that we may fail in the beginning, but we mustn’t quit. It is like learning a foreign language; however, once learned, it becomes natural and recognizable. My wife and I have been together for a great many years, and when she calls me on the phone, she doesn’t have to identify herself because I know her voice.
In the same way, we must not quit! Luke 11:9-10 (NKJV), “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” As you can see from these verses and the context, it is a constant pursuit of the presence of God in our lives.
There can be no relationship with the Lord apart from the Word of God, the Bible, and Jesus.
The Bible is the inspired Word of God.
The wonderful truth about the Bible is that you don’t have to be a theologian or scholar to understand it. Every person who will invest time in the Bible will benefit; that is because the Bible is not simply a book, it is a spiritual book and must be spiritually appraised. To non-believers, it is just a book of history or myths, but to us, it is the book of life and life everlasting. From Genesis to Revelation is a thread of blood, a thread of redemption. Animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus the Christ in the New Testament. Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.
In the Old Testament, the commandments were written in stone and to be blindly obeyed. There was an element of fear of failing to live up to the standard of the Law. In the New Testament, the commandments are written in our hearts, which moves us to obey as the Spirit leads us. There is no fear because of the grace and truth the Lord brings into our lives.
Romans 8:15-16 (NKJV), “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God.”
The single most important truth is that we are loved by God! The love of God is the motivation for coming to Him, and it is the love of God for us and through us that produces the desire to be transformed and become like Jesus. Jesus is the perfect model we look to and the reason for living because He gave His life for us.
Since the Bible is the inspired Word of God and contains the only truthful information we have about God and His expectations of us. Many books, articles, videos, and podcasts have been published, and we may be tempted to believe what we read and hear; however, there is only one source of truth: the Bible. The Bible is the source of all knowledge about God, so everything we hear or read must be compared to the Bible for accuracy. It is easy to hear “what we want to hear” instead of the truth, which is found in the Bible. You have no one else to blame if you stray from the truth found in the Word of God! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV), “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
As important as the Bible is, it was never meant to be worshipped; never lose sight of the author of the Word, God, and only God should be worshipped. The Bible is the holy instrument God uses to make His will known.
Personal revelation is Holy Spirit-inspired understanding.
The information in the Bible is called Logos, that is a Greek term in the New Testament; logos is used to refer to the constant, written word, which is recorded in the Bible. The logos word or the Bible is the foundation of our knowledge about God.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NKJV), “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” What the Lord is saying here is that we are capable of Personal revelation, that is, Holy Spirit-inspired understanding.
The Bible is not a book you read once and then put down. The Bible is a lifelong study, and each time you read it, you gain more knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
Logos – instruction from the Bible.
Knowledge: The logos word of the Bible is comprehended on three levels. The first level is knowledge. This is the fact-collecting stage, and every believer starts here. In a sense, it is like Elementary School. It is sometimes difficult and frustrating to learn all the names of the books of the Bible, the order they are found in, the names of all the characters, and learning to focus on the most important people of the Bible. It’s hard work but a necessary step! Matthew 6:33 (NKJV), “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Seeking, in this sense, means not to give up.
Understanding: Once you have a foundation of knowledge, you move to the next level, and that is understanding. Understanding, in this sense, means to make the connection between all the parts of the Bible. I personally like to look at the Bible as a series of Covenants. The Mosaic Covenant, or the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, and the Covenant of Grace, which Jesus brought to us, is what the New Testament is about. An important understanding is that you can’t mix the old with the new, the Law with Grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV), “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all state that “you cannot put new wine in old wineskins or else the wineskin will burst, and the wine spilled.”
Understanding is like having an “ah ha” moment when the Word becomes clear.
Wisdom: With understanding comes the next big step, and that is to do the Word by faith. We are called to be “doers of the Word” and not forgetful hearers. Wisdom is taking the knowledge and understanding from the Bible and, by faith, applying it to your life. From the world’s point of view, what we believe doesn’t make sense. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV) says, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” It is for this reason we must walk by faith and not by sight. Remember the parable Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:24-27, the Parable of the Two Builders. The wise man heard the word of the Lord and did what he heard, building his house on the rock foundation, and it withstood the storm. The foolish man heard the same word but did not do it. Instead, he built his house on the sand; the storm came, and great was the house’s fall.
You see, the wise man was a doer of the word, whereas the foolish man was a hearer only. Here is an important question: what does it mean that the wise builder “heard” the words of Jesus in the parable Matthew 7:24 (NKJV), “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…” The verse clearly says hears these sayings or words of Mine. So here is an example not of the Logos word [written] but of the spoken word which is the Rhema word.
The Word of God, the Bible, is one way in which we receive direction for life; however, there is another way also; it is the Rhema Word. The Logos word of the Bible is objective and always true. The Rhema word is subjective and is applied to circumstances or situations. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring the Logos word or principle of the Bible to your mind. When this happens, it is called a Rhema word. Look at what Jesus said in John 14:25-26 (NKJV), “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Jesus is the Word of God, and He communicates with us in two ways. Jesus communicates with us by the Spirit, through the written word or the Logos, and through the Holy Spirit speaking to our minds, which is the Rhema word. Both the Logos and Rhema are necessary to fulfill God’s plans, purposes, and pursuits. John 1:1 & 14 (NKJV), “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” As you can see from these verses, Jesus is the Word of God! So, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Bible and our relationship with Jesus.
When we turn to the Lord, He is faithful to hear us and respond to us. We just have to recognize those thoughts, promptings, or leadings are of the Lord, especially when they line up with the character of God. I remember when the acronym WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? was popular. Well, that question is still a worthy question to ask ourselves when we make decisions in our lives.