Fall/Winter 2003

re you living a Spirit-led life? Are you so full of Him that He affects what you say and what you do? When was the last time you obeyed His convicting inner witness to say this or do that in a certain situation? This is the earmarking tendency of the Spirit-life, when the Holy Spirit is so intimate and near you that He moves through your body. This is why living "in Him," (Eph 1:13 ) and living the "Spirit-led" life (Rom. 8:14,15) can be two completely different spheres of Christian living.

        If you’ve repented of your sins and prayed for God’s salvation while believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, no doubt about it, you are saved, and "in Him." The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have taken up residence in you, according to John 14. But our Father has a lot of wayward children who live their lives on their own except when paying attention to His will while sitting in church. A good stop-gap measure of discernment in figuring waywardness is applying the WWJD symbolism prevalent in the church. What Would Jesus Do in this situation? Would He do this with me? Would He watch this with me? Would He go here with me?

       Do you know what the Holy Spirit sounds like? First of all, He sounds like God's Word. When you spend time in the Bible He will continually take those things that are Christ’s and show them unto you. You will be in the subway, driving, or preparing dinner, and He will remind you of a Bible truth in practical application. He also has a voice. He is still, and small, like when Elijah finally heard Him after the rockslide, earthquake, and fire in 1 Kings 19:11,12. When He wants you to go in a certain direction, He is gentle, but can also nag. That’s right nag. You will ponder a thought, move on to something else, then later, you’ll find yourself  pondering His thought again. And it will keep returning until you chose to obey or disobey.

       If you choose to obey His innerwitness, He will lead you forward in obedience to teach and mature you while accomplishing His will. If you choose to disobey in a sin of omission He will do all in His power to convict you through the voice of conscience. God stamped it on our human spirit, and even speaks through it to the unbeliever. How much more for those who have taken up residence with Christ? If you disobey Him long enough, you will sear your conscience ( 1 Tim. 4:2), and His voice will fall silent. Paul compares the two choices in terms of baby and adult needs, according to spiritual choice.

Heb 5:12-14
12    For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13    For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14    But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

         If you’re going to be truly led by the Spirit, you’re going to do some things that aren’t so comfortable for your flesh. You’re going to speak up as He leads when the easy course is to stay shut up. You’re going to turn right when most take the safer route of turning left. And, you’re going to open to His infilling presence. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the disciple’s experience of Spirit-filled living and what we should expect "doctrinally" in the contemporary church. Cutting to the chase, God didn’t quit doing the stuff He did in Scripture when the apostle John finally died. So if you want to be filled with the Spirit like he was, look at how it happened in John 20:22 and Acts 2:4, and expect the same personally. Also expect a prayer language.

        When He starts to speak through your Spirit, 1 Corinthians 14:2,3 and Romans 8:26-28 describe a number of different things that transpire. When you speak His mysteries, be open to understand them. When you edify through praying in the Spirit, be ready to release His spiritual strength. When you don’t know how to pray as you ought, allow the groanings of the Holy Spirit's language pray through you and be open to His innerwitness of the situation prayed about. Expect and experience them all in your Spirit-filled living.

        Once you're filled, the Spirit may also speak to you in an open vision or dream of the night. When He does, you’ll know it.

        Less spectacular, but the most common way the Holy Spirit will speak to you is through the inner witness of His voice in your born again human spirit. But you have to cultivate His voice.

      Finally, never forget: the Holy Spirit is no Drill Sergeant.  He will never order you to get up and move out. He will convict you, but He will eventually let you do whatever you want to do.

            So what have you been doing?

        Next time let’s consider cultivating His voice, and God's peculiar communication avenue of visions and dreams.

        Keep studying, and praying

       Mark