The Holy Spirit Within: Our Guide in the Affairs of Life
The Holy Spirit is also our Guide. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth . . ." (John 16:13). Not only will He guide us into all truth, but Jesus said
speaking to God the Father, " . , Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). The Holy Spirit will also guide
us into the truth of God's Word.
The Holy Spirit will guide us in all the affairs of life. "For as many AS ARE LED by the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14).
No one can be guided or led, however, without
placing themselves in the hands of the Guide.
In other words, it is useless to pray to God, "Lord, guide me. Give me directions," unless you
are going to allow yourself to be guided.
By way of illustration, when we go some place and a guide is there to escort us, if we don't
follow the guide, there would be much that we wouldn't understand and we might even get lost.
The guide is there to explain certain things to us and to show us the way to go.
Certainly no one would want to go through Carlsb sad Caverns, for instance, without a guide It
is pitch black inside those caverns. We would never get out of the Carlsbad Caverns if we
failed to follow the guide. But the guide knows right where to turn on the lights. (Thank God,
the Holy Ghost knows right where to turn on the lights!)
That is the reason many folks have gotten into such a mess in life — they were not following
the Guide.
The Holy Spirit will guide us, but in order to be guided in life, we have to put
ourselves into His hands.
When you have guidance, you can be prepared ahead of time, for the Bible says the Holy
Spirit will show you things to come (John 16:13). He will guide you into all truth, and He will
also guide you and lead you in all the affairs of life.
During the many years I have traveled on the evangelistic field leaving my wife and small
children at home, I have depended upon my Guide, the Holy Spirit. And He has always warned
me ahead of time of a need in my family. Although many times I had no communication with
my family, I always knew by the Spirit of God when a member of the family was sick.
The Holy Spirit is not in me to help me just because I am a preacher. If you are a believer, He
is in you to help you too. And if you will learn to listen to Him and look to Him, He will guide
you.
Knowing on the Inside of You What To Do
Under the Old Covenant in Jeremiah 31:33, God speaks of the New Covenant that He would
be establishing with His people. This verse gives us a clue as to how believers are to be
guided under the New Covenant.
JEREMIAH 31:33
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those
days, saith the Lord, I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, and WRITE IT IN
THEIR HEARTS; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This Old Covenant promise was fulfilled in the new birth ¦— in the recreation of man's spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.
Where does God make us a new creature? In our hearts or spirits by the regeneration of the
Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
God said He would put His law in our "inward parts" — in our hearts or spirits. It is by the Holy
Spirit that God's laws are written in our hearts (2 Cor. 3:3).
Also, because you are born again, you will know by the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you
what to do in every situation in life, for He is our Guide into all truth (John 16:13). Just look on
the inside; check to see what the Holy Spirit within your human spirit is leading you to do
(Rom. 8:14).
The trouble with many folks is that instead of looking to the Holy Ghost within them to guide
and lead them, they are looking on the outside for their answer. They are running around
looking for another person to give them the answer they need.
Let me give you an example of someone who just needed to "look on the inside" to the Holy
Spirit who dwells within. We were holding a Faith Seminar in Ohio, and after one of the
morning services, a man came up to me and said, "Brother Hagin, I want you to pray for me."
The man explained his prayer request. "For several years," he said, "I was a member of a
church here in town.
"I had a disagreement with the pastor," the man continued, "and ended up leaving the church.
Since then we've gotten our disagreement all straightened out and we're good friends. But for
seven years now I've been going to another church."
The man said, "Recently there have been some developments at the church where I have
been attending. The pastor has left and I have felt like leaving too.
"So I don't know what to do," this man concluded.
"I don't know whether I should stay at this
church I've been attending, find a new church, or go back to the church I left seven years ago. I
want you to pray that the Lord would guide me."
I said, "All right, we'll just agree together that you will understand what God is saying to you
because John 16:13 says the Holy Spirit is our Guide, and Romans 8:14 says that as many as
are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God."
And so I laid my hand on his forehead, and began to pray. I had only prayed a few words when
the Spirit of God on the inside of me said, "Ask him what he's got in his heart."
You see, that is where the Holy Spirit is, in your heart or your spirit. That is where you are
going to find the guidance you need.
The Bible says, "The spirit of man is the candle of the
Lord. . ." (Prow. 20:27).
I stopped praying and I said to the man, "Open your eyes and look at me."
He opened his eyes and I said, "Dear brother, look right down in your heart, your spirit. Don't
look at me. Don't look up to your head. Look right down on the inside of you."
You see, when the Bible talks about your heart, it is not talking about the physical organ that
pumps blood through your body and keeps you alive.
Romans 10:10 says, ". . . with the HEART man BELIEVETH unto righteousness. ..." Well, you
couldn't believe with your physical heart any more than you could believe with your physical
nose or your physical foot! No, the heart is used as an illustration of the heart of man, the spirit
of man.
"Look down in your spirit," I told him.
"What does your spirit tell you?"
When I said that, he responded, "I'm going to have to go back to the church I used to attend."
I answered, "That's the answer. Go on back to that church then." That man knew the answer in
his heart all the time.
Many times things will happen in your life, some good and some bad, and afterwards you will
say, "I knew what to do all the time."
Where did you know it? You knew it on the inside of you. Why didn't you listen? It would save
you many problems if you would learn to listen to your spirit. For the spirit of man is the candle
of the Lord (Prov. 20:27). The Holy Spirit is dwelling in our spirits, and He is our Guide.
The Holy Spirit Within: Testifies of Jesus
In the Book of John, Jesus spoke of another role of the Holy Spirit as He dwells within
believers. The Holy Spirit always lifts up the Word of God and the Name of Jesus and testifies
of Jesus.
JOHN 15:26
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, HE SHALL TESTIFY OF ME.
Now notice John 16:14: "HE SHALL GLORIFY ME: for he shall receive of mine, and shall
SHEW IT unto you." And in John 14:26, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be our Teacher.
JOHN 14:26
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and bring all things to your remembrance,
WHATSOEVER I HAVE SAID UNTO YOU.
In other words, the Holy Spirit will make Jesus and the things of God real to you. And when
you need it, He will bring to your remembrance the Word of God that you have hidden in your
heart (Ps. 119:11).
The Holy Spirit, our Helper, has made His home in us as believers. All that we could ever need
Him to be for us, He is. He is our Comforter, our Guide, our Counselor, and our Teacher. He is
the Greater One in us who puts us over in life.
If we are conscious of Him who dwells within us and if we believe God's Word, then no matter
what or whom we face in life, we will have no fear. The Greater One who lives in us is greater
than he who is in the world! He will put us over in life!
FFT: For the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord (Prov. 20:27)
ACTION POINT: "For as many AS ARE LED by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). BE SENSITIVE TO THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT WITHIN.
(Share your thoughts on this post in the comment section below)
No comments:
Post a Comment