The Bible says that "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." (Rom.8:14) One of the questions that a person may well ask is 'how do I know that I am being led by the spirit of Christ?' How does a believer discern that it is the Holy Spirit that is at work directing his path as opposed to some other voice or motivation?
The Holy Spirit will always point a person toward Jesus and He will always lead the believer to feed from the tree of life. There were two trees in the Garden of Eden. One, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, will build up self; the other, the tree of life will build up a person in Christ. The former is sense based; the latter is revelation based. One will feed judgements based on what we know; the other will be based on what God knows. A word of knowledge for example is based on what the Spirit knows about the condition of a person. The person through whom that word comes does not possess any sense knowledge with regard to the condition of the person receiving the word of knowledge.
The Holy Spirit will never seek to control people. He will encourage believers to listen for themselves rather than be dependant upon what others tell them. Jesus said "my sheep hear my voice". The believer has an anointing who will "teach you all things". (1 John 2:27) Our responsibility is to tune into His voice. The Spirit will never act impulsively. He has never 'missed the bus' about anything or anyone! He will speak clearly and directly but never impulsively.
1 Cor.2:10 says that "...the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God..." The Psalmist in Ps 42 allowed "deep to call unto deep". He addressed his own state of soul from the position of his spirit. He recognised his own disquiet but framed it with his hope in God. Being led by the Spirit will not guarantee immunity from struggles but He will journey with you through the struggles and He will give you His stance to see what He sees. This is "deep calling unto deep".
Knowing what God knows and seeing what He sees will empower the believer to receive and to walk in Godly wisdom. Only the Spirit of God can reveal Godly wisdom. This wisdom is wrapped up in Christ. "But of Him you are in Christ who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption..." (1 Cor.1:30) The only way to receive this wisdom for our part, is to humble ourselves before God. Humility is not about whipping ourselves or trying to extend upon what Jesus has already done by way of His death on the cross. Rather it is about seeing the bigness of God - His amazing grace, His love, His patience, His mercy, his forgiveness. All of this and more is seen in and through Christ. When we dwell on Him, we will be humbled and we too will say "My Lord and My God!"
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Spirit led living (part three)
The Bible highlights ordinary people who did extraordinary things not because of their human abilities but because they experienced the Presence of God. His Presence is relational. It is intimate. It is personal. Perhaps the closest analogy is a marriage in which husband and wife connect on the basis of relationship not task. Each knows the other. They can connect both with words and even without words. After a while each will begin to think like the other and may even pre-empt each others words and intentions. In other words they are very aware of each others presence.
The Holy Spirit wants to grow the believer to have the same sort of awareness of His Presence such that the believer becomes more and more like Jesus. In Acts 4:13, the religious leaders marvelled at the boldness of Peter and John who they said were "uneducated and untrained men... and they realised they had been with Jesus." In Acts 3:6, Peter and John were ready to let the Presence of God heal a crippled man at the entrance of the temple gate. They had no education, no training and no money but they had His Presence!
Wherever and whenever His Presence manifests, promptings of the Holy Spirit will also be at work. Promptings are always door openers that will help grow the Kingdom of God. They will benefit others because they will lead people toward Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles records some of the promptings of the Holy Spirit that were like invitations for both Jews and Gentiles to receive the gospel of grace. Spirit led promptings will always draw attention to Jesus. Soul led promptings, by contrast, will draw attention to self.
Humility will attract the Presence of God. Pride will repel His Presence. 1 Peter 5:6 says "God resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time." Grace will empower the person who is humble before the Lord. By the way choosing humility is our responsibility, not His. Humility is not about castigating yourself. It is about seeing Jesus lifted up. It is declaring what He has done by way of His finished work. The focus is Him not you or me.
The Holy Spirit wants to grow the believer to have the same sort of awareness of His Presence such that the believer becomes more and more like Jesus. In Acts 4:13, the religious leaders marvelled at the boldness of Peter and John who they said were "uneducated and untrained men... and they realised they had been with Jesus." In Acts 3:6, Peter and John were ready to let the Presence of God heal a crippled man at the entrance of the temple gate. They had no education, no training and no money but they had His Presence!
Wherever and whenever His Presence manifests, promptings of the Holy Spirit will also be at work. Promptings are always door openers that will help grow the Kingdom of God. They will benefit others because they will lead people toward Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles records some of the promptings of the Holy Spirit that were like invitations for both Jews and Gentiles to receive the gospel of grace. Spirit led promptings will always draw attention to Jesus. Soul led promptings, by contrast, will draw attention to self.
Humility will attract the Presence of God. Pride will repel His Presence. 1 Peter 5:6 says "God resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time." Grace will empower the person who is humble before the Lord. By the way choosing humility is our responsibility, not His. Humility is not about castigating yourself. It is about seeing Jesus lifted up. It is declaring what He has done by way of His finished work. The focus is Him not you or me.
Monday, 2 March 2015
Hol Spirit Led Living (Part One)
The Holy Spirit's dwelling place is inside of the believer. "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (Rom.8:9) As He is in the believer He also communes with the believer. He is the believer's guide, tutor and senior partner.
The Holy Spirit will connect the believer with other people in order to reveal the Kingdom of God. He will prompt or nudge the believer to initiate connection. The language of His promptings will resonate with who you are. He will speak in the way that a believer will recognise, for example in the language of your familiarity and experience. He spoke to the apostle Peter in a language that Peter recognised from his own past. Peter seemed to respond to things in multiples of three. He wanted to build three tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration. He denied Jesus three times. Jesus affirmed him three times on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was shown the same vision three times (Acts 10) and one of the results of receiving that vision was that three men met him on his own doorstep! Peter recognised the promptings of the Spirit.
The promptings of the Spirit are always to help connect people with God Himself. They are never for personal aggrandisement or ego. His promptings generally take the shape of a direction that is clear and concise. In Acts 8, Philip was urged to "go to a desert road in the south". Then he was urged to "overtake a chariot" on the desert road. His promptings are always for the now moment. He doesn't give the full picture but He gives enough information to take the next step. When Philip drew alongside the Ethiopian who was driving the chariot, he saw that he was reading from Isaiah and then Philip asked him "do you understand what you are reading?" The Spirit connected Philip with the Ethiopian. The Holy Spirit will give the believer what is required to connect - no more, no less. This can be problematic for the person who likes to know all the facts beforehand. His promptings are not based on what we need to know. They are based on what He knows. The believer is simply required to trust and obey.
The Holy Spirit will prepare the receiver to respond to an initiative. The Ethiopian was wanting help. People who are 'being prepared' are people who want help. The Holy Spirit will prepare hearts and minds to receive Himself just as much as He will embolden the believer to act on a prompting. Knowing what He does to prepare all parties gives the believer confidence to trust Him all the way. Therefore there are no grounds to be fearful or intimidated in terms of how the receiver might react.
God the Holy Spirit will prepare both parties. In Acts 10, He prepared Peter's heart to receive Gentiles and He prepared the hearts of Gentiles to receive Peter, a Jew. Obedience to these promptings resulted in a critical mindset and heart change about the universality of the gospel of grace - that the gospel of grace is designed for all people. He acts collectively for the good of all. The promptings of the Holy Spirit are like doorways. They will invite people into God's lounge room. They will help a person both meet and receive Jesus. The impact of obeying a prompting from Him can change the course of not just one person but a family, a community and even a nation.
The Holy Spirit will connect the believer with other people in order to reveal the Kingdom of God. He will prompt or nudge the believer to initiate connection. The language of His promptings will resonate with who you are. He will speak in the way that a believer will recognise, for example in the language of your familiarity and experience. He spoke to the apostle Peter in a language that Peter recognised from his own past. Peter seemed to respond to things in multiples of three. He wanted to build three tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration. He denied Jesus three times. Jesus affirmed him three times on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was shown the same vision three times (Acts 10) and one of the results of receiving that vision was that three men met him on his own doorstep! Peter recognised the promptings of the Spirit.
The promptings of the Spirit are always to help connect people with God Himself. They are never for personal aggrandisement or ego. His promptings generally take the shape of a direction that is clear and concise. In Acts 8, Philip was urged to "go to a desert road in the south". Then he was urged to "overtake a chariot" on the desert road. His promptings are always for the now moment. He doesn't give the full picture but He gives enough information to take the next step. When Philip drew alongside the Ethiopian who was driving the chariot, he saw that he was reading from Isaiah and then Philip asked him "do you understand what you are reading?" The Spirit connected Philip with the Ethiopian. The Holy Spirit will give the believer what is required to connect - no more, no less. This can be problematic for the person who likes to know all the facts beforehand. His promptings are not based on what we need to know. They are based on what He knows. The believer is simply required to trust and obey.
The Holy Spirit will prepare the receiver to respond to an initiative. The Ethiopian was wanting help. People who are 'being prepared' are people who want help. The Holy Spirit will prepare hearts and minds to receive Himself just as much as He will embolden the believer to act on a prompting. Knowing what He does to prepare all parties gives the believer confidence to trust Him all the way. Therefore there are no grounds to be fearful or intimidated in terms of how the receiver might react.
God the Holy Spirit will prepare both parties. In Acts 10, He prepared Peter's heart to receive Gentiles and He prepared the hearts of Gentiles to receive Peter, a Jew. Obedience to these promptings resulted in a critical mindset and heart change about the universality of the gospel of grace - that the gospel of grace is designed for all people. He acts collectively for the good of all. The promptings of the Holy Spirit are like doorways. They will invite people into God's lounge room. They will help a person both meet and receive Jesus. The impact of obeying a prompting from Him can change the course of not just one person but a family, a community and even a nation.
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