Truth in Motion...

From "The Casting Call ©" 40-Day Challenge

July 24, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:12-13.

As a Christian, your heart is sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s goal is to glorify God, and He does so through you when you are walking with Him. “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:14.

When you are walking with the Spirit, He grows your fruit. Your fruit consists of qualities that will keep you on God’s path, and will give you the tools you need to understand God’s will in your life. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23. Think to yourself how much having those qualities and growing in them would help you every day.

With faith in the form of action, you will learn when it is Him talking to you, and what to do in your life. This is what we call “discernment”. Remember, the more you start to hear the Spirit, the more the enemy disguises himself, and appears that he is really the Spirit, and you have to discern for yourself the real truth. This is the “knowing” step that will open your eyes to God’s will for you.

The Holy Spirit is your guide into the truth. Knowing this is key to understanding the His roles and gifts. When you pray for the answers you seek in life situations, you should always be asking for the truth. The truth is to see God’s will. The Holy Spirit will guide you into it, but you have to do more than pray or ask.

WORKING TO HEAR YOUR GUIDE

FIRST: GOD’S WORD

What the Holy Spirit hears is God’s Word, so you have to learn His language. If you do not know His language, then you are not likely to know what He is saying to you. While learning the language there are points you must remember.

First, you must rely on the Spirit for understanding of what God says. If you do not, the enemy will jump in and provide you with a misleading interpretation. Always remember Satan quoted scripture correctly to Jesus in the desert and Jesus quoted the right scripture back for the occasion. Matthew 4. God’s Spirit, now within you, guided Jesus to the right scripture, and that Spirit, like God, cannot sin. Nothing He does in your life will be contrary to God’s law in place nor in timing. “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.” 1 John 2:26-27.

Second, you must rely on the Spirit’s guidance to apply God’s word to your life. The Bible is full of more than rules to follow and stories of days gone by. It is “living” which means there is an application to your own life. To understand that application you have to rely on the Spirit to reveal the truth of God’s Word to you, so you can learn how to “live” God’s word rather than just quote it. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Galatians 5:18. When you do, you are hearing God’s Word through the Spirit, and then are able to carry out God’s Will in your own life. At that moment, real truth is walking on Earth through your body.

He is your counselor and there to guide you through life based on God’s Word. He is also your comforter. Comfort in this context means that He walks with you, and picks you up when you fall. Remember God’s Word tells you that you are forgiven, and can get back up, and He will put it into practice in your own life by picking you back up.

SECOND: UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP

The Holy Spirit’s role in your life is a matter of “guidance” and not “control”. As your guide, He is “leading” you. “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:13-14.

If you were being forced, you would have no work to do. He would just drag you along, and you would end up where He puts you. The real truth is you are being “led”, which means you have work to do. When you are being “led” you are not being drug along, but you actually have to walk.

Being “led” means that when you do not get an automatic answer to your question, before you ask Him “why”, ask yourself what you can do to hear the answers more clearly. When you start to doubt whether or not He is listening and answering, stop yourself. Chances are this is a call to ask Him for His guidance because He knows you can be led astray, and He is trying to protect you from an upcoming fall. In this walk, you have a responsibility to do all you can to hear what He is saying.

First, examine your question. This is what we call “pure praying”. Remember the way to distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the enemy comes with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit cannot sin, nor lead you astray. The reverse is also true. Do not ask Him to lead you astray or sin either. When you ask for His guidance, look at what you are asking for. Whom does it gratify? Does it glorify God? The things that glorify God are revealed to you in His Word through the Spirit, and are the things that will benefit you and grow your fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23.

When you ask why God is not responding to your prayers and the enemy tells you if God loved you He would respond, expect him to back it up with God’s Word. Expect him to tell you that the Bible says, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:14. Correct scripture, wrong in practice. At this moment, do what Jesus did in the desert, and let the Spirit guide you into the real truth. Something that makes you feel bad, like fear and confusion do, is not coming from God. “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” 1 Corinthians 14:33. That truth is your prayer has to be in “his name”, and that means letting go of what you want. “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:7-8. What you “need” is not necessarily what you “want”.

Second, get ready to accept the answer. This is what we call “obeying”. When you are no longer asking Him for things that gratify you, but instead for things that glorify God and grow your own fruit, you may be afraid of the answer. The reason why is two-fold. First, the enemy doesn’t want you to feel the Spirit’s confidence so he puts fear into you that you cannot do what is being asked of you. Second, you don’t want to do any work that may seem hard or unpleasant. Remember God knows what things are best for you and will grow your fruit.

Keep in mind that “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” are the ultimate goals to help you in life, and will benefit you and others around you no matter what work you have to do or go through in the meantime. Whatever He asks you to do may seem unpleasant or difficult, but at least you know that it will not be a sin, as He cannot sin, and the ultimate goal is to grow your fruit to please your Father in Heaven. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11.

Many people in the Bible were guided by the Spirit to do things that they probably did not want to do, but did anyway. "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.” Acts 20:22-23. When you follow His guidance, you rest assured you are in line with what God’s will is in your own life, and you have done what God wanted you to do.

Start depending on the Spirit, to be your guide, no matter what it is that you are doing. This applies to everything from ordinary, everyday decision making to understanding scripture, to practicing the gifts that the Spirit gives to us.

In doing so, you show others God’s real truth in motion…