Led By God's Spirit

A few weeks ago God told me that following the Holy Spirit will always lead to success. Since then I have been considering and meditating on that idea.What if you could do exactly as God wished 100% of the time. It's certainly possible according to Romans 8. I encourage you to study that passage carefully. It says that we are God's children and we can be led by God's Spirit. It even says that we can fulfill the righteousness of the law, if we walk in the Spirit. God has now empowered us to please Him perfectly, something we could never do without the Holy Spirit.

But it's about more than just pleasing God, it's about living the life God has for us, every part of it. We know God has plans for us. We know God wants us to be changed by His Spirit and conformed to the image of Christ. We know God has prepared good works for us to do. We know God wants us to have certain things. What if you walked in the full measure of all these. I'm certainly not there, but I'm thankful that we can see the possibility.

What do you want out of life? If you want to be a Sunday only Christian, if you want to just read the Bible every now and then and hope God will bless you, then that's your choice. But we now have a revelation of the great love God has for us. We now have a revelation of God's father heart for us. We know that God has wonderful things for us, beyond what we can ask or even think. But you won't experience the fullness of these things without effort. If you don't know what God's Word says you will not walk in its benefits (Hosea 4:6). If you don't have faith in God's Word, believing it's truth in the face of any contradiction, then you won't experience the realities it promises (Hebrews 4:2).

You must read, believe and obey God's Word. This is true for salvation. You must read and believe that if you confess Jesus as your Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You must obey this instruction and then you will be saved. This is not works, this is faith in God's Word. Now that we are in Christ all of God's promises are available to us. But the Holy Spirit is our advocate, helper, comforter, standby, and friend to lead us into everything God has for us.

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the 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." (1 Corinthians 9-12)

Now that is a verse worth memorizing! Read it again. Simply by volume, Paul wrote more to the Corinthians than any other group. Clearly they were very important to Him. This dissertation on the Holy Spirit comes in the second chapter of the first letter. This is priority information to people close to Paul's heart. And this is priority information for you.

Your relationship with God's Spirit is the key to your successful Christian life. You can be saved and have virtually no relationship with the Holy Spirit, that's true. But God has given us the Holy Spirit so we can walk in all the benefits of what He's done for us. God has so many wonderful things for you. These are things to do and things to have. But you cannot perceive them with your natural senses. God will reveal them to you by His Spirit. This is how we learn what God wants us to have and do 100% of the time. And don't forget, the Spirit of God changes us into the image of Christ. The Spirit of God guides us into all truth. The Spirit of God reminds us of God's entire Word. The Spirit of God shows us things to come. Spend some time focusing on God's Word concerning God's Spirit.

So I believe, and I think the Word well supports, that for us to live the life God wants, we must have a constant and vibrant connection and communication with the Holy Spirit.

Let's consider what that might look like. I believe Paul said it best, "It is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." The Holy Spirit will change us. The Holy Spirit will help us deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit will help us crucify the flesh continually and live for God at all times.

I encourage you to begin focusing on being led by the Spirit, in thought, word and deed, 100% of the time. You will quickly see just what a drastic change that will make. I've only been considering this for a few weeks, and already I see both the drastic change coming and the drastic improvement in my Christian life that is going to occur.

Let's just consider what a typical day might look like, being led by the Spirit. You wake up on time, energized by God's Spirit and reminded by the Spirit to spend time with God. You study the Word and pray. You enjoy your family in the morning, immediately forgiving any annoyance or offense, concentrating on loving them and building them up. You drive to work, but the Spirit probably won't lead you to talk radio or secular music. God's Spirit will lead you to worship, pray or even listen to a sermon. One of the first things I realized about focusing on God's Spirit is that He will lead you to use 100% of your time profitably.

At work you do your job as unto the Lord. You have a spirit of excellence in your duties. You are joyful and peaceful in the face of conflict and problems. Of course you are tempted to do otherwise, but you let the Spirit guide you and you surrender to His leading. The Spirit may lead you to comfort a hurting coworker. The Spirit may lead you to witness if you have opportunity. At lunch, the Spirit will probably lead you to eat healthy food. (Honestly I eat McDonald's occasionally, but I won't say the Spirit has ever led me there.)

Then you return home. Rather than being grumpy and focusing on work's challenges, the Spirit reminds you to focus on your family or other activities. The Spirit helps you compartmentalize your thinking so you can give each matter your attention, mental and spiritual. The Spirit will help you be on point at all times, as you never know when the opportunity to bless or minister to someone may arise. God's Spirit may lead you to exercise and take care of your body. God's Spirit may lead you to spend time with your children. God's Spirit probably won't lead you to watch four hours of TV. There is nothing wrong with a show or two, unless they are negative spiritual influences, but be led by the Spirit in all things.

God's Spirit may lead you to other activities. Perhaps He leads you to attend Wednesday services as well. Perhaps He leads you to volunteer your time. Don't be afraid. He will lead you to extend yourself, but never to overextend yourself. Don't get involved just because people ask. Let God's Spirit guide you to all your activities.

What if you lived like this? What if many of us did? What if every Christian lived under the influence of the Holy Spirit 100% of the time? I know it sounds daunting and scary. Even I don't want to stop watching all my shows, and sometimes I might want to get angry and lash out. But it's not about what we want. Even better than that, everything we did without the Spirit is worthless compared to the life we will live with the Spirit. God only has good things for us. God wants us to live lives filled with His peace and His blessings.

We should want to maximize our lives. We should want to make every moment count. We only have a certain amount of time on this earth and with certain people. It's time to take control of our lives and do our best in every area. We do that by surrendering to God's Spirit and letting Him lead us all the time. I hope this writing changes your life. Actually, I hope you've heard this before and are already living this way. Pray for me as I pray for you. And let us all pray that all Christians walk in the full measure of the Holy Spirit's leading of our lives.