Uncover the keys on how to be led by God. Embrace the guidance of the Holy Spirit and deepen your faith journey.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Acts 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Those two verses hold the keys to being led by God. In them we find the Lord, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. We must be saved and have the Spirit, and we must read His Word. His Spirit is the guide and will lead. He will lead us through the Word and guide us into all unto all truth.
The first time I ever remember having my own Bible was when someone gave me one when I was about 19 years old. I couldn’t understand a word of it. I was blind to every Truth It held. It would be in storage for a year until God saved and baptized me with the Spirit of truth, before I could ever perceive the Truths It held.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The god of this world had me completely blinded, until the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shined on me.
The Spirit it was that opened my eyes. Once they were open, every Word came to life. Not just the feel-good verses either! The chiseling verses that challenged my behavior, my beliefs, my thoughts, my feelings, and my sin, all came to life.
There it was, where my choice to be led by God would begin. In the convicting words of the Bible.
When He convicted me, by His Word and His Spirit, would I yield?
His leading will often start with a chisel. But it will be held by the most Loving, skilled Hands. (I’ve personally come to think of this chiseling as His Holy Operating Room, and He is a Master Surgeon. And even in this moment, I realize I need to visit it again!)
When He puts His finger on something in our lives- that is His leading and that is where being led will always start. If He can lead us out of our own sin, He can and will lead us to any place He desires.
Brothers and sisters, if He can’t lead us off the porch of our sin, we need not expect the directions to the market!
This is not a one-time ordeal. It is a life-long process, of dying to ourselves, so we can be alive to Him. Sin in our lives distorts our hearing and our vision and causes us to often yield to the wrong voice. Sin distorts. We can’t be led in distortion.
Unwillingness over sin, will stop the Spirit in His tracks and He will not go on until the matter is resolved. If you refuse to be led to repentance of your sins, He will refuse to lead you much further. You will be left feeling like this:
Psalms 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Obedience will always bring blessing. A contrite heart over sin will always get the attention of the Father. So beloved, we first must incline our hearts to be led to repent over any sin that His Spirit reveals. If He has led you to something He doesn’t want in your heart, lay yourself on the altar and beg Him to remove it. Wherever He leads, you go.
Truly, we can get to a place where we hunger for this correction. There is so much blessing when we are standing in a right position with Him. And it is a privilege to be led by Him and to hear His voice.
But I cannot stress enough, how important it is to dig in His Word, until He speaks to you. Refuse to settle for superficial religion. Allow Him to use that Word to correct you, so you can learn to obey His leading.
The clearest He will lead and speak to us is from His Word. He is The Word. The more we know It, the more we know Him and the more He will pull It up in our memory at appropriate times to speak to us and lead us in the way we should go. To neglect The Word is to neglect the greatest of instructions known to mankind. It is the primary tool He uses to lead and It also is the primary tool He will use to confirm His leading to us.
The second thing the Spirit will often test is your willingness to be led to make amends with others.
Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
I know that can be so hard, and you have to remember that you are not in charge of their heart and what they do with it. That’s the work of the Spirit in their life. The work of the Spirit in your life is teaching you to obey where He leads, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Child of God, if you can be led to repent towards Him and others, and your heart stays tender to His voice on this issue, He can lead you further.
These are the greatest commandments we are told; to love the Lord and to love our neighbor as ourselves. And there is great victory in learning to be led to obey these verses. Kinda like boot camp.
Often what follows is a test of your obedience to be led in the ordinary, mundane things of everyday life. It can be called stewardship. It may seem boring, but it’s testing and training ground, and He will teach you how to be led in small things that seem insignificant. Kinda like basic training.
God may start by simply telling you to begin completing the basic tasks around you. He may teach you how to care of the things that He’s already allowed you to have in this life. He may teach you to be a good steward of your time and ask you to carve out a slot for Him. He may want you to stop allowing certain things into your mind and heart through your eyes and ears.
It might be aggravating to get started, it might be torturously boring and feel so wasteful. But through these little things, you will be learning how to hear, how to yield, how to discipline your flesh, how to die to your desires, and how to be led.
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Through obedience to what seems trite, you will sense Him coaxing you on, eventually. Don’t give up. Ideas and thoughts may begin to pop into your mind of other things that also need to be tackled. You should obey those too. Remember, do all you do, to the glory of God.
Even if your “want to” is not in it, you can say out loud; “Lord, I’m doing this because I feel it’s for you and I will obey you.” Remind yourself, you are in His Presence.
Sometimes, He will change your “want to”. But even if He doesn’t, fix your heart on obedience. Let Him lead you in the small things.
Learn to serve those around you as He lays it on your heart, no matter how small the deed or even if it goes unnoticed by humans. He sees you.
Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Willingness to obey all the little things, is what leads to the bigger things.
I can tell you from experience, if He had given me some of the bigger things first, fear would have held me back! If I had not learned His voice through His Word and obedience to the small things, I would never have had the faith it took to do the larger things. I wouldn’t have even believed it was His voice, because some of those bigger things were so impossible or impractical for me. And every bigger thing He’s ever asked of me, I usually was completely unqualified to do and had I not been led to trust Him through the little things and learned through the smaller experiences that greater is He that is in me… I would have fainted or ran away from knowing it was too big for me. Being led in the small things, prepares us for all we need for the bigger things.
There’s something else too. Humility.
There’s something about obedience and allowing Him to lead us through an ongoing process of repentance that makes us realize what vile sinners we really are. It’s a very humbling position. It’s a position He can use, however. Because when we are weak, empty, and yielded, He is strong, fulfilling, and ready to lead. Humbling ourselves, gets us out of the way and reminds us of our lowly position, and refocuses our gaze back on the Lord.
Galatians 5:18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
The word led is a present-passive verb. It means we are to continuously submit and surrender to Him in direct opposition to our flesh.
Being led, is a continuous process, of seeking Him in His Word and being willing to yield to whatever He says.
In doing so, we learn Who He is and how He speaks. We learn His voice; we learn His unction. We learn His Word, so we can verify anything we think He’s impressing on us. We learn to be faithful in the small things, so we can be trusted with more. We learn perseverance; we learn to seek Him with our whole heart, and we learn to wait on Him. We learn in the wait, to dig for the treasure buried deep in His Word. All the while, training our hearts to be led.
Being led, is being surrendered. Being led, is seeking Him. Being led, is being obedient.
