Being Led by the Spirit

Romans 12:2 MEV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

7 Biblical Functions of the Church

Reaching—evangelism

Connecting—fellowship

Worship

Growing—discipleship

Serving—gift-oriented ministry

Giving—generosity

Yielding—being Spirit-led

These gifts make sense. We know we were commanded by Jesus to go into all the world (evangelism) to make disciples. We know that we are to build each other up in the faith through fellowship. We know that we are called to serve each other and anyone else in need, viewing ourselves as “the least of these.” We are called to give generously and with a happy heart. We are also called to worship God and meditate on how amazing he is. But the key to doing all these other things is to be fully submitted to the Holy Spirit.

Being Led By the Spirit

Without the Holy Spirit leading us and empowering us, we are working in our own talents and strength. There are some people who are incredibly gifted with talent. They seem to be able to do it all. But regardless of how naturally talented we are, we are so limited in ourselves—we need the empowering of the Holy Spirit!

In order to be empowered, we have to understand what it means to be submitted to the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 40:28–31 MEV

Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint, nor is He weary? His understanding is inscrutable. He gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

Having Faith vs. Being Faithful

We talk about faith, how we need to have faith in God to provide for us, but we also need to have faith in God we need to be faithful to God when things are going well just as much as when things are going rough!

God is not some servant who has to do whatever we ask Him to do. Instead, God is the master, and we are the servants.

Luke 17:5–10 MEV

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Which of you, having a servant plowing or herding sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come now and sit down for dinner’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare my supper, and dress yourself and serve me until I eat and drink. And afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? I think not. So you also, when you have done everything commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done our duty.’ ”

God wants to perform miracles.

He loves us and wants us to be whole.

Through miracles He reveals himself to the unbeliever.

But we must NEVER forget which one is the Master and the servant!

Galatians 6:6–10 MEV

Let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

If the only time we go to God is when we have a problem, but we live the rest of our lives without Him, then we have no power to fight the devil’s attacks, and we actually contribute to the corruption of our own souls.

Having the Faith to Yield

If we truly surrender ourselves to God and obey Him completely, then we can have every confidence that He will perform the miraculous around us and through us.

Even Jesus was submitted to the Father.

Matthew 4:1 MEV

Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.

It was necessary that Jesus go through this test. Remember that Jesus, while being in very nature God, had set aside his godhood to function as a normal human being empowered by the Holy Spirit. So did Jesus know that he was going into the wilderness to be tested? I don’t know. What I do know is that the Holy Spirit guided Jesus into the wilderness, and Jesus went. And because Jesus acted in submission to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to resist the devil’s temptation.

Jesus did everything in submission to the Father, which means that he was willing to be led by God’s Holy Spirit all the way to the cross.

John 8:28 MEV

So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing of Myself. But I speak these things as My Father taught Me.

Filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus performed signs and wonders that confirmed his authority as the Messiah and pointed the way to the Father.

John 10:37–38 MEV

If I am not doing the works of My Father, do not believe Me. But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”

God has made it very clear what he wants his children to do. Evangelize. Fellowship with one another. Worship. Be disciples and make disciples. Serve. Lay hands on the sick so that they will be healed. Be generous. And yield to the Holy Spirit and let him transform us.

We need to pray that so He will provide what we need so that we can continue to carry out His work. In praying this prayer, we need to be willing to be the answer to that prayer.

Remember when Jesus said to his disciples, in Matthew 9:37-38?

Matthew 9:37–38 MEV

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He will send out laborers into His harvest.”

What is the very next thing that happened?

Matthew 10:1 MEV

He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Matthew 10:5–8 MEV

These twelve Jesus sent out, and commanded them, saying, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Afterward, the disciples returned to Jesus with exciting stories about the miracles that happened and the lives that were transformed by the gospel.

In Acts 8, the Holy Spirit led Philip to a eunuch from Ethiopia who was reading the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, which prophesied how Jesus would die for our sins. After preaching Jesus and baptizing the eunuch, the Holy Spirit transported Philip to a region called Azotus, where Philip continued to preach the gospel in every city.

In Acts 16, we read how the Holy Spirit led Paul and Barnabas. The Spirit prohibited Paul from preaching in one region, and he stopped Paul from entering the city of Bithynia. After changing course and stopping for the night, the Holy Spirit gave Paul a vision of a man pleading for them to come minister in Macedonia. Led by the Spirit, Paul and Barnabas went to the Macedonian city of Philippi, where they planted a strong church, freed a young girl from demon possession, got arrested for the miracle, and held a worship service that literally shook the prison down.

We are human. We want things to make sense. When we hear the Holy Spirit talking to us, we question. Is it really Him? What does he want me to do? WHY does he want me to do it? What will happen if I do this thing? We want to be sure of everything before we are willing to obey. But that is not being led by the Spirit.

We don’t need to understand it all. We don’t need to know what will happen next. We only need to have faith that God will enable us to do everything He has given us to do. When we live in obedience, then we are acting as God’s agents, and therefore have the authority to accomplish what God has commanded us to do.

We say we want to be led by the Spirit. That means we have to put our trust in the Holy Spirit. We need to act in faith.

When we think we hear the Spirit, the only test we need to apply is this: does what I hear line up with scripture? The Holy Spirit is not going to ask me to do something that does not align with God’s character or with his word.

The Holy Spirit is a person. He has will and intellect. He is ruach—spirit, breath, wind that moved across the surface of the water in Genesis 1, and then made a path through the water for the God’s people. He’s the sound of mighty wind that thundered as the disciples prayed in the upper room.

He is the fire that set itself on a bush in the wilderness, and God spoke through that bush. The fire set itself on the mountain, and the voice of God thundered to his people. The fire set itself on the disciples, and the voice of God spoke through those untrained men and women the message of salvation.

The Holy Spirit is the in-filler and the baptizer. He sets God’s people apart, consecrating us as priests and empowering us to do his will.

The Holy Spirit works miraculously in our lives. He demonstrates his presence and his work in our lives through signs like speaking in other tongues and through miraculous gifts like prophecy, healing, raising the dead, and casting out demons.

The Holy Spirit works within us to produce a Christ-like spirit filled with love, joy, peace patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and self-control.

But the linchpin for all of this is that we must let the Holy Spirit LEAD us. Lead us in righteousness. Lead us to people who need to hear about Jesus. Lead us to places where we will have to depend on him. Maybe even lead us to lay our lives down so that the gospel may continue to spread.

Bow your heads.

WE are comfortable with going to church. We are comfortable with calling ourselves Christians. We are comfortable with singing songs about how good God is. We are comfortable with hearing people speak in tongues and prophesying in the service. We are excited to see God do miracles.

There are all these things we want the Holy Spirit to do for us. But he’s not a genie in a bottle, to be brought out when we need something done and then stuffed away. He’s not the servant. He’s the master. He’s the leader. It’s not his job to do our will. It’s our job to do HIS will.

So let me ask you. ARE you doing his will? Are you taking time to listen for his voice so that you CAN do his will? Are you willing to take that step of faith to do what the Holy Spirit says, even if you don’t fully understand, even when it doesn’t make sense?

The Holy Spirit empowers you to accomplish his will. If you are not seeking his will, you will never see his power.

So what are you going to do?