Hearing from the Holy Spirit is key to walking in Christ and having a wonderful relationship with God. In Psalm 51:11(NLT), the psalmist, David, prayed to God and said, “Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me”. David understood the intimacy and power that the Holy Spirit gives us. He also knew how horrifying life is without the Holy Spirit’s presence and guidance. Living without the Spirit’s guidance is living in the flesh. It’s like walking in a dangerous maze with no direction or map. You’re going in circles, always finding yourself right back where you started. Living this way is beneath our privilege as God’s sons and daughters, and that’s not what He wants for any of us.
Our Heavenly Father is a God of order, and the order He has set for us is that He’s the Leader and we’re the followers. He knows where we should be, when we should be there, and He knows how to get us there. There’s nothing about our journey or any aspect of our lives that Heavenly Father hasn’t already considered in His plan. There’s no problem too big that He cannot solve. He knows every challenge that we’ve encountered in the past and He knows the ones we’re going to have in the future. The solution to all our obstacles and adversities is to follow God. This means that we must surrender our way for His way. In other words, Jesus Christ takes the driver’s seat in our lives, and he will steer us to the endless possibilities that God has in store. We can’t do this ourselves. When we try, we run into roadblocks, and we take wrong turns.
I’ve heard from many different people about the difficult situations they’ve gone through because they have made wrong decisions and bad choices. They regret not seeking God’s counsel and wisdom before they made these wrong decisions and choices. Some moved to a different state because they were bored and thought that moving to another city or state would be better than where they were. Others changed jobs or careers impetuously, and all of us probably know of an individual that married the wrong person. These are the kinds of poor decisions we make when we don’t invite God to intervene and give us His direction.
One of the reasons we make rash or poor decisions is because we’re impatient, and we don’t want to wait on God. We want what we want when we want it, and this, dear brothers and sisters, does us a huge disservice. God warns us in 1Peter 5:8-9(NLT), “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” The opening that satan seeks is one that is created by impatience, because impatience is a sign of our lack of spiritual maturity and strength. To stay alert is to pray continually, so that we can hear from God through His Holy Spirit. Our Heavenly Father will warn us of impending danger, and He will tell us the right choices to make if we will be diligent to seek Him and put Him first in all things.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct us, it’s impossible for us to fail because it’s impossible for the Holy Spirit to fail. How do we know this? Because Jesus Christ tells us in in John 16:13-15(NLT), “13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me’.” The Holy Spirit glorifies His Son! Jesus Christ clearly teaches in this passage that the Holy Spirit doesn’t even guide us from his own understanding, he receives from Christ and relays the message to us.
When our precious Lord and Savior walked the earth, carrying out God’s mission, he never made a move without hearing from the Holy Spirit first. Christ is our example and we must make it our responsibility to do as he did, which is to walk every day under the Spirit’s guidance.
God speaks to us through His Word, and He speaks to us through His precious Holy Spirit. His Spirit lives within every born-again believer. God has taught us through the example of His Son, Jesus Christ, that when we lean on the Spirit and allow him to lead, guide and direct us, we can have confidence in life. Proverbs 16:3 (NLT) affirms, “Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed”. When we commit ourselves to praying to God often, reading and studying His Word, and following the example of Jesus Christ, we will see a profound difference in our lives. Our spiritual maturity will increase, and we will learn to recognize the way God speaks to us. He is not quiet. He hears us when we pray, and we will hear Him when we depend on His guidance and remain committed to follow where He leads. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Hearing from the Holy Spirit”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.