The Holy Spirit and God's Will
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On this topic of being led and guided by the Holy Spirit one eternal truth must always be maintained:
The Holy Spirit will NEVER contradict the Scriptures He inspired.
13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
Notice what Jesus says:
1: He is called The Spirit of Truth - so He cannot lie.
If He says something it is guaranteed to pass. If it does not pass then it was NOT of the Spirit of Truth.
2: He will ONLY guide you to TRUTH. What is truth?
17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.
The Holy Spirit will NEVER lead or guide you to a lie, a falsehood or to any disobedient action.
3: The Holy Spirit, as the 3rd person of the Godhead, does NOT operate in isolation to the Father and the Son.
In fact scripture is clear: The Holy Spirit ONLY speaks what He hears the Father say.
But what if we feel led to a course of action that breaks these eternal rules?
This is precisely why we are commanded again and again:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.
We will look more at this a little later.
The Necessity of being led by the Spirit:
The Necessity of being led by the Spirit:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
3 Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
The question before us is not “Must we be led by the Holy Spirit?”, the questions is “How does the Holy Spirit lead us”?
Also we can ask: Is the leading of the Holy Spirit only necessary when dealing with issues in God’s Freedom permitting Will?
Lets answer the latter first:
Is being led by the Holy Spirit only necessary within God’s freedom permitting Will?
Is being led by the Holy Spirit only necessary within God’s freedom permitting Will?
Absolutely not!
The Holy Spirit leads and guides us into ALL truth and thus the WHOLE will of God.
With regards to God’s Sovereign Will the Holy Spirit leads us to a place of surrender:
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
17 And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.
The Holy Spirit also leads and guides us to a life of holiness through God’s Moral Will:
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
20 idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
Now let us focus on how the Holy Spirit leads us within God’s Freedom Permitting Will.
Now let us focus on how the Holy Spirit leads us within God’s Freedom Permitting Will.
In scripture we see only 3 ways in which the Holy Spirit leads people in situations where there is no command:
1: Special Divine Command.
2: Subjective Impressing
3: Normative Wisdom.
Lets look at each in turn:
1: Special Divine Command.
1: Special Divine Command.
We have already looked at this in last weeks study.
It refers to those instances where the Holy Spirit audible speaks a command to people.
29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that chariot and stay by it.”
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
If you recall: Situations like this are examples of the EXCEPTION to God’s Freedom Permitting Will.
In these instances of Special Divine Commanding, the command given by the Holy Spirit, though NOT specifically commanded by scripture constitutes a binding moral command to that person to whom the Holy Spirit has spoken.
Note: This type of leading is fully authoritative.
2: Subjective Impressing:
2: Subjective Impressing:
This is a very interesting section and i want to take some time here to explain.
The terminology that best describes this kind of leading is in the statement “God laid it on my heart”.
If God “lays something on your heart” its NOT a scriptural command.
In other words: Its irrelevant to say “God laid it on my heart not to commit adultery”.
The reason its an irrelevant statement is simply because God has already revealed it to all that He forbids adultery.
4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
So God does not need to “lay this on your heart” because if you are a christian then God’s Moral Will is ALREADY on your heart.
1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
So there is no need to talk about what is laid on your heart if its already supposed to be in your heart.
Rather in the bible every occurrence of God laying on peoples hearts is in an area of freedom:
11 After I had arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,
12 I set out at night with a few men. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one on which I was riding.
27 Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,
16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.
17 For not only did he welcome our appeal, but he is eagerly coming to you of his own volition.
We see in these verses the scriptural validity that God indeed “lays things on peoples hearts.”.
HOWEVER and its a big however:
Impressions are NOT authoritative until proven so.
This is where our earlier scripture becomes very important:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.
The reason this is vital is simply because our hearts are NOT very trustworthy at all!
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
We must remember that it is not just the Holy Spirit who can make impressions on the heart.
Satan can, the world can, the flesh can, even our selves can!
We see examples of powerful biblical characters mistake FALSE spirits for the leading of the Holy Spirit.
1: King David, A man after God’s own heart!
1: King David, A man after God’s own heart!
David is an amazing example of a person who’s heart truly FELT led by the Holy Spirit to do something that turned out NOT to be of the Holy Spirit.
2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build it,
3 but God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My Name, because you are a man of war who has spilled blood.’
Another excellent example is:
2. The Man of God who prophesied over Jeroboam:
2. The Man of God who prophesied over Jeroboam:
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
8 But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.
9 For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”
10 So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that the man had spoken to the king.
12 “Which way did he go?” their father asked. And his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God, who had come from Judah.
13 So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it
14 and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied.
15 So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”
16 But the man replied, “I cannot return with you or eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
17 For I have been told by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”
18 Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,
19 but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,
21 and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God gave you,
22 but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”
3: The Normative way of wisdom:
3: The Normative way of wisdom:
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
Remind - “hoopo-min-esko” and it literally means to recall what one has learned.
The Holy Spirit reminds us of the wisdom we have learned so that we can make the wisest decision.
Implication: Without study there can be very little wisdom to recall.
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
A key verse which we looked at previously is:
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Lets us do a basic exegesis of this verse:
Key words are “fill”; “knowledge”; “will”; “spiritual”; “wisdom” and “understanding”.
Let us look at the Greek for each:
1: Filled: “Pleroo”. Generously supplied.
2: Knowledge: “Epignosis”. To come to an understanding of something being true.
3: Will: “Thelema”. The attitude of the mind towards another.
4: Spiritual: “Pneumatikos”. A Characteristic of a person who is walking in the Holy Spirit.
5: Wisdom: “Sophia”. The utilization of knowledge into applicable wisdom.
Very important is this next word:
6: Understanding: “Synesis”. Literally “Putting the pieces together”.
It is the same as our English word synthesis which means: “The combination of components or elements to form a connected whole.”.
In other words: Synthesis means that a major goal is archived through a combination of lesser individual elements.
This is exactly what i am saying God’s individual will is: Knowing God’s Will for your life is NOT a matter of knowing the major plan. Rather the major plan of God’s Will for your life is discovered NOT by revelation but by ILLUMINATION ie Wisdom.
So let us restate this verse:
“…have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may [be abundantly supplied] with [a full understanding and knowledge] of His [purposes regarding you] through the [Illumination of the Holy Spirit] and your [biblical knowledge] will [show you how your wisdom achieves the goal of synthesis].
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
What does all this boil down too?
If you want to walk in God’s Will for your life and you want to make decisions that are most beneficial to you and the kingdom:
Diligently read, study and meditate on God’s Word.
NOTE: This will NOT REVEAL God’s hidden will so that you can “copy” it. Rather this will ILLUMINATE, through wisdom, the “hidden” implications of each decision helping you make the wise choice.
God’s will is just that: That through biblical wisdom you make the wise choice.