02/08/2024
ARISE OH WARRIORS OF CHRIST evening devotion
Topic: HOW TO BE LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
he gospel of John gives us several promises from Christ concerning the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. Let's read a few:
“And I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever: the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him or know him; but you know him, for he lives with you and will be with you” (John 14:16-17).
“But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
“But I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, because if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I leave, I will send it to you….I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and will show you the things to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and will make it known to you” (John 16:7, 12-15).
Christ promises his disciples that the Holy Spirit will be among them. The Holy Spirit will also help you, instruct, guide and show you things to come. As disciples of Christ today, we have no reason to think that the Holy Spirit does not do the same for us in our time.
It is amazing that Christ told his disciples that it was best for them if he left, so the Spirit would come. This indicated to them that their communion with the Spirit could be in the same way and with the same intimacy as if Christ were physically present with them all the time. Otherwise, it would not have been advantageous to have the Holy Spirit with them instead of Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ is always with us and in us.
In what ways should we wait for the guidance of the Spirit?
His name, Holy Spirit , indicates that his main role in directing us is to lead us to holiness and obedience to God. For this reason, everything that has to do with holiness and achieving the will of God on Earth is within the scope of the direction of the Holy Spirit. It will lead us to obey the general commandments of Christ as well as the specific commandments of Christ that pertain to the ministry to which God has called us. Therefore, if you want to be led by the Spirit regarding your specific ministry, you must also be led by the Spirit in your path of holiness. You can't have one without the other. Many ministers want the Spirit to guide them in great ministries and many miracles, but they do not want to be bothered with the “lesser” aspects of their holiness. This is a big mistake. How did Christ guide his disciples? Mainly giving them general instructions about holiness. Specific guidance from him regarding his ministerial responsibilities was little. The Holy Spirit who lives in us acts in the same way. Therefore, if you want to be guided by the Spirit, first of all you must obey his advice regarding holiness.
The apostle Paul writes, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Romans 8:14). What marks us as children of God is the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is why all God's children are led by the Spirit. Of course it is up to us as free moral agents to obey the guidance of the Spirit.
All of this is to say that no Christian needs to be instructed on how to be led by the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is already guiding every Christian. On the other hand, the devil tries to lead God's children astray, and we still have the old nature of the flesh within us that tries to get us to do what is contrary to God's will. For this reason, Christians need to learn to discern the guidance of the Spirit and differentiate it from other voices. This is a process on our path to maturity. But the fundamental fact is this: The Spirit always guides us in line with what is found in the Word of God, and always directs us to do what is right, what pleases God, and what brings glory to Him (see John 16 :14).
