Following The Holy Spirit’s Call
The way the Holy Spirit leads isn’t hard to follow.
He is a “professional” at leading the people of God. With His help, we can avoid every pitfall, failure, and trap. If we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, He is leading us in provision and protection.
God’s Spirit is called to lead us with a holy calling from our Heavenly Father, and He takes His calling seriously. Jesus used the Greek word parakletos to identify the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The second part of this compound word means “to call, summons, or appoint.” It describes a holy calling like the call to be a pastor, evangelist, or prophet. The Spirit of God is appointed by God to help us in every area of our lives.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you (John 14:26 NKJV).
We need this holy help to live out God’s plan. We need the things the Holy Spirit teaches, and we need His help to remember what the Lord has spoken to us. So, we should want to become skilled in learning and receiving from the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is adept at doing His part if we are doing our part. But He is a gentleman. He won’t force us to give Him our attention. He won’t demand that we get out of bed and seek Him. Instead, the Holy Spirit is on stand-by, ready to impart, teach, lead, and enlighten us.
Following is our part. All of us can become better at following. It takes time, attention, and practice, but we can grow in this area. The Spirit of God will help us learn His voice and know how He leads.
Fullness Is God’s Goal
Have you ever run out of gasoline? After a couple of times of being stranded on the side of the road, I eventually disciplined myself to look at the gas gauge. I don’t drive on empty. Usually, I don’t let the tank get under half a tank. We should develop the same discipline in our spiritual lives. Don’t allow your spiritual supply to run low.
God instructs us to live full, and there is a good reason why! Marriage is easier if you are full of the Spirit of God. Walking in love, receiving healing, forgiving others, and receiving correction—these things are easier if you maintain fullness. Everything is easier when you are full of God.
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:17-18).
God’s design is for His children to be directed by His Spirit. Verse 18 in The New Testament: An Expanded Translation says, “…But be constantly controlled by the Spirit.” It is much easier for the Holy Spirit to lead us when we live full.
What is the fullness of the Spirit, and how do we access that fullness? According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit lives in us and can come upon us. Both are in God’s design for you.
If you have Him living in you, and then He comes upon you, you will reach a fullness and overflow. Like the gas tank overflows, your heart will overflow!
A Well AND Rivers
Jesus described the personal interaction we have with His Spirit as a well or a fountain: “…But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14 NKJV). This fountain of living water is the presence of the Holy Spirit, abiding in the spirit of every believer.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV)
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV)
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11 NKJV).
But He didn’t stop there. Jesus also emphasized another interaction with the Holy Spirit we are supposed to have. In John 7, Jesus said we would have rivers of living water flowing through us.
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39 NKJV).
The fountain or well is for our personal stability, but the rivers provide a supernatural flow. We need His supernatural flow! Jesus gave specific details about the power that is imparted in the rivers of living water.
Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49 NKJV).
The word power is defined as “force, strength, ability, and worker of miracles.” Jesus used the same word in Acts 1:8 when He said, “But you shall receive power (force, strength, ability, and the worker of miracles) after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you….”
The Lord clearly instructed us to receive this impartation of His Spirit. The disciples followed the instruction and met together, waiting for the Promise of the Father. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, they reached fullness and over- flowed. The overflow of their fullness manifested with them speaking in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4 NKJV).
We need the fullness and the utterance of the Spirit of God. Do you remember what we read from Ephesians 5:18? We are instructed to be filled. The literal Greek says, “be being filled.” It refers to a continual filling by the Spirit of God and describes the spiritual utterances of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:18-19).
Thankfully, I was filled with the Holy Spirit just days after I was born again. I say “thankfully” because I can look at my life and see how the fullness of the Spirit has helped me.
The spiritual songs listed in verse 19 are a great example. There are times I have been singing to the Lord, speaking in other tongues, and the answer to my problem came floating up out of my spirit.
More than once, God has used a psalm, a hymn, or a spiritual song to help me break through hindrances and redirect the course of a certain situation in my life. In Psalm 32:7, God says that He will “compass me about with songs of deliverance.” It doesn’t have to be a song in tongues. The Holy Spirit can give you a song in English too. The emphasis is that He is supernaturally supplying the utterance.
Following the Leading
I cannot overemphasize how much we need the help of the Holy Spirit. There are specific times in my life that I can point to and say, “The leading of the Holy Spirit rescued me.” I want to show you some examples of His supernatural leading from the Bible before I share some of the ways He has rescued me.
One of my favorite examples is when the Lord directed Paul and Silas on their missionary journey. In this example, we can see how the Holy Spirit will work with us.
Then they passed through Phrygia and the Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word in Asia. And having come down to the borders of Mysia, by a trial-and-error it was right to go to Bithynia. But the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them to do so. And having skirted Mysia they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul during the night. A certain man, a Macedonian, was standing and begging him and saying, Come over into Macedonia at once and give us aid. And when he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news (Acts 16:6-10 WET).
Did you notice the phrase “trial-and-error method”? Paul and Silas were “attempting to discover” the direction the Lord wanted them to go. They knew when they hit a “red light” and stopped. But they had to continue checking with the Holy Spirit to see if their next direction was the right direction. Finally, the Holy Spirit used a vision to convey the specific detail Paul and Silas needed.
The Holy Spirit wants us to move forward in what we know to be the will of God. That is why we start with the Word as our foundation. We learn to recognize the voice of God as He speaks to us through His Word.
But when it comes to specific details that aren’t covered by Scripture, we are not left to figure it out on our own. No! We have the Holy Spirit in His fullness—in us and on us! His supernatural manifestations will rescue us!
