Following God By His Spirit

 

Book 3

Following God By His Spirit

 
The Holy Spirit is described by Jesus as the Spirit of Truth, and The Comforter.

Jesus told His disciples what the role of the Holy Spirit would be.

Jesus said:  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.   Jn. 14:26

... Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.   Jn. 16:13

Four things the Holy Spirit does for us:

- HE will teach us all things

- HE will remind us of all Jesus has said to us

- HE will guide us into all truth

- HE will show us things to come 

This was the new way God had chosen to speak to His people.  God was going to speak directly to His people by His Spirit, by the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament God spoke to the prophets by HIS Spirit.  But the Holy Spirit was not given to all people.  They went to a prophet to find out what God wanted them to do.

The New Testament was going to be a different way.  God was going to speak directly to each of His people by His Spirit, by the Holy Spirit which is the Spirit of Jesus.

(This did not eliminate prophets from the NT church.  Prophets still exist in the NT church ... Eph.4 ... and prophets appointed by God still do the work of a prophet which is often delivering messages of correction and warning.)

But the Holy Spirit was now given to all in the NT church, all who belong to God have HIS Spirit.  There are many sitting in church groups who do not have the Holy Spirit but these are individuals who put themselves into the church without God revealing HIMSELF to them.

Jude speaks of this ...

17-19  But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;  How that they told you there should be mockers (imitators) in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

But for those who are really of God in the NT church, we see the following:

Heb. 1:1-2 ... God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

After Jesus arose, God gave His Spirit to the individuals who were the church, HIS chosen.

Eph. 1:13-14 ...  salvation:in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Thus we have the wisdom of God in form of the HOLY Spirit given to dwell in us as HE brings thoughts to our minds to show us the will of God and the way of God as we walk on this earth.

The Spirit of God searches the heart of God and reveals to us the will of God.

I Cor. 2:11-12 ...  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Here is an example of the way the Holy Spirit showed me the will of God as I was dealing with a problem with a neighbor.  She had misunderstood what was happening and blamed me for something and I was considering whether to write her a note and explain what had happened.  She has been angry with me for about 8 years and when I tried before to speak with her she said she was not interested and slammed the receiver of the phone down.  I have been unable to do anything about her anger.  But again she misunderstood something and I was willing to try again to communicate with her and try to make reconciliation.  I prayed, asking God how HE wanted me to deal with her.

Immediately the Holy Spirit reminded me of the following scripture which showed me exactly what God wanted me to do in this current matter.

Mt. 15:13-14 ...  Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.  Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

When I read this scripture, I knew exactly what God wanted me to do concerning this neighbor who was unwilling to forgive:  Let her alone.  So I did not try to explain to her again.

This is one way the Holy Spirit shows us the will of God in current matters.  HE reminds us of everything Jesus has said to us.  He may remind us of a scripture as in this case.  Or HE might remind us of a dream given by God for the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit speaks to us in dreams, often to warn us or to show us what to do on this earth.

(There are many examples in the Bible of God giving dreams to HIS people to lead them.  Mt. 2 has several times God appeared to Joseph in a dream.  God also show Paul things in dreams.)

Example of God giving me a dream to show me what to do in an issue pertaining to this life:

After my mother died, my cousin wanted me to move to the city where she lives.  God gave me a dream showing me this cousin's house and how I could not go out through her house.  I would have to go out another way.  I knew not to move to the city where my cousin lives.  I ended up moving to another city 350 miles away from her.

When I was born again in 1975, I had no idea of how the Holy Spirit is used by God to lead us.  Through the coming months and years, God taught me about the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believer.  It is very helpful to understand how God uses the Holy Spirit in our lives so we can make decisions in assurance that we are going in the way God want. 

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