We need wisdom in every area of our lives! The Holy Spirit will personally help us. How can we be in step with the Holy Spirit? Learn how to listen close to God and follow his steps.
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Transcription:
Welcome to the Bonfire. We’re in Season Three and we’re talking about the Holy Spirit. Now, we’ve talked about the power of the Spirit, we’ve also talked about the comfort of the Spirit, and today the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We all need God’s guidance, and God guides us personally. We believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the time we’re in right now, we’re in between Christ’s first coming and his second coming. In that dispensation, in this section of time, God has a plan. God sent the Holy Spirit as Jesus ascended into heaven and there was Pentecost, and we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. Whenever you put your trust in Jesus, you know the Holy Spirit is inside of you now. The rest of your life you have this relationship with the Holy Spirit. Very internal, very intimate and yet powerful and comfort and guidance.
Why does God give us the Holy Spirit? Because we need God’s power, we need His comfort, we need His guidance. It was true at Pentecost. The church was retreating, the church was discouraged, the church was intimidated, the church was running out of hope. They watched their Savior murdered and really struggling and then also, even with the ascension, there’s still persecution and opposition and there’s no game plan. How are we going to reach the world? They didn’t have the power, the comfort or the guidance. We need the Holy Spirit. Not much has changed. Today, right now, the followers of Jesus, we need the Holy Spirit just as much as at Pentecost. And the times we’re living in right now, the closer we get to Christ’s return, we need the Holy Spirit. That’s why in this season I really wanted to stop and focus on the scripture, the truth, the love of the Holy Spirit and to grow in our depths with God, grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Let’s focus on guidance. Guidance is something we need. God gives us wisdom, He gives us guidance, but the key is do we really want to be led? Do we really want to follow God’s plan? Do we want to follow His direction? All of us are tempted every single day in the flesh to say, “My way, I’m going to call the shots, and once in a while I’ll let God do it. If it’s not working, then I’ll maybe be open to letting God lead.” That’s not the picture. The picture in the Bible is trust. The picture is that we flourish when the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us.
I want to think through scripture today and then I want to get real practical. As you consider scripture, Jesus was filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit. He’s our example and in Luke chapter four, verse one, we see how the Holy Spirit is leading Jesus. Now Jesus, as He was led by the Spirit, is going to have discernment and wisdom. He would pull back from the crowd. Early in the morning, often he would get alone with the Father, he’d be listening, and then led by the Spirit, He would know where to go. He would tell His disciples, “We’re not going to stay here today. We’re going to move on to the other villages.” He had that clarity. When you submit to the Holy Spirit and you want to be led, you’re going to have more clarity. It’s not necessarily going to be the easy road, but there’s going to be a path that God says, “This is the way. Walk in it.” And Jesus knew, because he was intentional, to listen. We want to be intentional, to listen, be tuned into the Holy Spirit every single day.
Something I like to do is at the beginning of the day, write down, as I spend time with God, what do I sense God’s saying? “This is for today. This is the priority. This is what the schedule looks like. Here’s what I want you to focus on.” Tune into God. Don’t just go into automatic pilot. Don’t let other people control your life and your schedule. Stay abiding with God, tuned into the Holy Spirit, and let the Holy Spirit write the script for the day. Jesus does this over and over again, knowing His words, the places He goes, the priorities.
There’s interruptions. How do you respond to the interruptions during the day? How do you know if an interruption is from God and you should enter in, stop what you’re doing and watch what God will do to transform lives and bring healing and hope, or set a boundary and say, “I can’t do that. That’s not for today. Can’t meet with you, can’t talk with you. I can’t text right now.” How do you respond to all the different texts, the emails during the day? There’s a closeness with the Holy Spirit, and the more you want to be in step with the Holy Spirit, the more you’re going to receive those confirmations and you’re going to grow in your sense of, “This is what God wants me to do. My name is on it. I feel that joy, that peace.” The Bible says, ‘Compelled by Christ’s love.’ “I feel that sense that I know this is part of faithfulness to God. This right here needs to be included in my day.”
Jesus would get interrupted all the time. “We’re going to have so many people coming with needs, requests. There’s going to be projects, meetings, conversations we could have. We need to know, God, do you want me in this or do you not want me in it?” Do you know your calling? Stay in your calling. Stay in your lane. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. Don’t be trying to imitate everyone else, chase after what everyone else has in terms of gifts and methods and styles. Have your own relationship with the Holy Spirit so you can have confidence to know, “This is what I’m going to focus on. This is where God’s leading me. This is what God’s communicating to me.” And the Holy Spirit will speak to your soul, your mind, your heart.
The Holy Spirit also communicates to us with scripture, and the Holy Spirit and scripture are always in agreement. When you read the Bible and you spend time and that becomes your habit, you cultivate that habit, you’re spending time with God, you’re listening to God, and the Holy Spirit is going to reveal things as you read. The Holy Spirit is going to guide you with scripture and through scripture. The Holy Spirit guides you to scripture. And that revelation, that enlightenment, that opening up your eyes, there’s going to be certain verses that jump off the page. They’re going to be good. You’re going to know there’s application from God and you’re going to be a doer of the Word. The Holy Spirit is going to empower you, help you, guide you, and these are all ways that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. Very personal. It’s not an audible voice. That’s not what you’re going to hear. But that still, tender, gentle voice of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to become so familiar and you’re going to be tuned in during the day. And you sense God’s pleasure, and then you sense when you’re going the wrong direction.
Here’s how the Holy Spirit works in the church with guidance, and there’s different examples when you look through the Book of Acts, but Acts chapter six, there’s a problem and then there’s a solution, and that’s our pattern. We have problems. We get stuck. It’s frustrating. We don’t know what to do. There’s too many needs. There’s too many options. We feel overwhelmed. At the church, the widows were being overlooked. These are Greek widows and they were being neglected. And what happened? People realized, “We’ve got a problem here. On the one hand, we need to continue to pray. On the other hand, we need to make sure everyone gets food. On the other hand, we need to make sure the Word’s getting spread to the community.” There’s a lot in the vision.
If you’re following God, you’re going to feel that tension that God is moving you out of your comfort zone, you can’t do everything, and you need the clarity, the priorities, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Here’s the solution. We’re going to find some people who are full of the Spirit. Why did they find leaders who were full of the Spirit? Because they’re going to need discernment. They wanted to find people who are in step with the Spirit, who listen to the Spirit. And they chose those people and they cared for the Greek widows, they cared for the people, and others focused more on prayer. Others focused more on bringing the Word and taking it to other people. Don’t envy. Don’t have jealousy. Don’t go down the comparison trap. Listen to the Spirit and then know your calling. Know your role. And as you do it, the Spirit’s going to empower you.
The church at that time was listening. They were led by the Spirit. And the result? The Word of God spread, prayer and intercession was growing and increasing, people were being cared for. Why? Because the body came alive. No one knows how a church is supposed to work like the Holy Spirit knows. Nobody knows. Yes, you can go to seminary. Yes, you can have good intentions. Yes, you can have plans. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit has the best solutions for the problems. And there’s going to be continual problems. Those problems are not going to go away. But when you’re Spirit-led, you’re going to see solutions for those problems, and a lot of times it’s not what you came up with. It might be that God speaks through His Word to you. It might be that God speaks through someone else. The Holy Spirit is in other people and will speak through other people. The Holy Spirit will speak through the Word. The Holy Spirit has so many ways of communicating.
For me, when I’m going on a walk, when things slow down, when things are quiet, I slow down, I give God my attention. My ears are open and I want to be led. When you enter into that position with God and do it frequently, yes, you do it on the fly, yes, you do it during the day, and there’s going to be times where there’s eight moving parts and you’re still going to need to go to that space of quiet, surrendered listening, leaning in, ready to be led, trusting. And then say yes. God blesses. If He’s leading, it has His blessing where God gives the vision, the provision. You’re going to waste a lot of time and energy if you’re always leaning on your own understanding. If you’re always just trying to come up with your own solutions and you’re not really tuned into God, you’re going to say no to a lot of good things.
In your growth right now in terms of your leadership, serving God, your next step might be learning what to say no to. For the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 16, he wasn’t going to go to Macedonia unless he said no to a bunch of other things. If you’re saying yes to everything, you might be missing the very best from God. And the Holy Spirit is frequently saying no. No to temptation, no to distraction, no to sideways energy, no to chaos and confusion. No to a lot of good things that are not the best thing. You need to get real comfortable saying no. If you don’t have a firm no, are you really being led by the Spirit? The Holy Spirit is going to be saying no frequently. Why? Because the Holy Spirit wants to protect you, provide for you, guard you.
Let’s get real practical. Let’s talk about some areas of life where we need guidance. Let’s talk about dating and marriage, both stages in terms of relationships. In dating, how many times have people dated and not checked in with God? Not checked in with God like, “God, how do you want us to date? What does purity look like? God, are we supposed to be together? God, what does this relationship look like?” Discernment. God will guide you. God sees the whole picture. He already knows the other person. He knows you. God’s going to give wisdom. Don’t stay in a relationship if God’s not in it. Just because you’ve had that relationship for a while, just because it’d be painful to break up, don’t stay in that relationship if it’s not from God. That other person’s blocking you from who God wants to bring in your life.
On the other hand, if God doesn’t have someone for you right now, then focus on God, focus on growing, focus on serving, focus on friendships. Focus on those things as God prepares you for that time when someone comes. If God’s called you to singleness your entire life, then say yes to God. The Holy Spirit knows and will lead you. And know in Scripture that’s not second rate. There’s going to be benefits. There’s going to be freedoms. But there’s also probably going to be a lot of times where you’re crying out to God and you feel like you want to be married.
Those are all situations in dating where we need God’s guidance. There’s going to be times where you’re going to need to take some risks. If you’re dating and God’s in it, you’re going to need to take risks and be vulnerable and forgive. That’s part of the process. You say, “Well, I’ve been hurt in the past.” Well, just because you’ve been hurt in the past, it doesn’t mean that you can’t really enter into the next relationship, or you end up with a lot of cynicism. You’ve got to stay listening to God. Let God bring healing.
Guidance is so important in dating, and purity. How many people are listening to God and honoring the Holy Spirit when it comes to purity? The percentages say, of followers of Jesus, there’s almost nobody listening to the Holy Spirit when it comes to purity right now. I’m saying when you block God out, you end up in some places you don’t really want to be. We get stuck.
What about marriage? Marriage is not a formula. If it was just a simple checklist, it would be appealing, because there’d be a routine, there’d be predictability. That’s just not how marriage works. I’ve been married for a long time now. Every day is different. One day it could be, “Help with this job around the house,” but a different day it’s help with something with the kids. On a different day, it’s help with a financial decision. It’s going to be different every day. The lack of predictability shouldn’t discourage us. The lack of a formula shouldn’t cause us to want to tap out and give up.
Where it drives us, and this is the key, this is more than about dating or marriage. We don’t have life figured out on our own, and if you don’t have that deep conviction, you’re going to keep charging ahead full speed. A key to the guidance of the Holy Spirit is to be fully convinced that I need God’s wisdom and I need His guidance and it’s so much better than when I try to call the shots on my own. If you don’t have that deep conviction, you’re not going to lean in, and it’s true in marriage. Just because you’re married for 30 years, it doesn’t mean it’s smooth sailing. You’re going to need reliance on the Holy Spirit every day in that relationship. The Holy Spirit understands relationships. Yes, I know it’s nice when there’s solutions, principles, and the Holy Spirit communicates and brings that through the Word and all the time. But also there’s relationship dynamics, there’s EQ, there’s listening. There’s your response, there’s tone, there’s non-verbals. There’s serving, there’s connecting. And a lot of times we’re really missing it without the help of the Holy Spirit.
In your relationships, dating and marriage, make sure that you really want to be led by the Spirit and then slow down enough. And if the Holy Spirit says, “Forgive right now,” that’s one thing the Holy Spirit says, you need to forgive fully. If the Holy Spirit says, “Keep some distance from this friend,” then keep some distance. You’d think, “Well, that doesn’t sound like the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would just say, ‘Be close to everybody’.” No, the Holy Spirit’s not saying be close to everyone the same. The Holy Spirit is not saying every opportunity is for you, every task is for you. That’s not the voice of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is very discerning and God gives wisdom that’s very specific.
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Let’s move to finances. When you think about finances, I sensed this when I came to church. We had a $2.3 million debt. I felt it so strong from the Holy Spirit, saying, “We need to tackle the debt and get out of debt.” Well, how is that going to happen? We don’t have the finances. Where’s that going to come from? I don’t know, but I know what the Holy Spirit is saying and God provided. People were generous. People were faithful. It started with conviction. It starts with listening to God.
When I went to seminary, I had no money. Now, I paid off my college debt. I was thrilled about that. But I had no money. This was four years of seminary. And it was clarity from the Holy Spirit; graduate with no debt. Come in with no money, graduate with no debt. I prayed that every single day. I knew God convicted me to pray every day I’d have no debt. God provided miraculously. People I didn’t know, stuff that’s beyond explanation. People who were praying and then decided to give because God nudged them. People that didn’t even know me. Crazy stories of God’s provision.
Again, that’s where I sense the Holy Spirit leading. If you haven’t picked up on it already in this episode, this is a faith journey. This is a listening and a faith journey. Yes, it’s great we have scripture. Everything’s written down and that’s such a blessing. You’re also going to be in a lot of situations, in dating, in marriage and also in finances and ministry and many other areas of your life, where you’re not going to be able to just go to a specific verse and get the answer. There’s going to be situations in parenting where there’s biblical principles and I want to apply those and that’s so helpful, but there’s specific situations where what is the best solution?
What I’m not saying is that I’m so in touch with the Holy Spirit that every decision I make is just perfect and I’m listening to God all the time. That’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that it starts with the humility to know that you want to be led, and then it’s a relationship and it ties into trust in submission. And as you do that, you’re going to grow in your sensitivity to the Spirit and tuning in and you’re going to sense when God’s saying yes and when God’s saying no. And as you continue to live that out over the years, that’s going to grow and God is going to grow you, which is exciting, because you’re going to learn more and more how to set limits, how to say no, what to say yes to, and then how to do things. And you’re going to look back and the biggest blessings, the most incredible stuff, you’re going to have a sense of, “How did God do that? That was God’s leading. I never would’ve picked this career. I never would’ve picked this ministry. I never would’ve done it that way.” There’s going to be a lot of those stories and that’s the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And what’s really cool is in the moment, sometimes you’re not even going to know how it’s going to unfold. It’s just going to look like, “Well, I just did this because I don’t know, I just kind of sensed that.” You’re not even going to be able to put words on it. That’s okay. You don’t have to perfectly explain everything. And even be careful about everything you’re doing, constantly talking about the Holy Spirit, because what’s not helpful is if you’re saying, “The Holy Spirit this,” and, “The Holy Spirit this,” and, “The Holy Spirit this,” and then you look back and it was like, “Actually, some of that was not from the Spirit,” but you’re trying to accredit the Holy Spirit with things that are not coming from the Holy Spirit.
So I’m not promoting just say ‘Holy Spirit’ every sentence and every decision. Like, “I chose this cereal in the morning because of the Holy Spirit.” That’s probably not necessary. What I am saying is that as you tune in, there’s going to be incredible things that happen. And what you’re going to realize is in the moment, “I was just sensing this from God, so I did this. I took the step of faith. And then as I did that, wow, look what God did.” It’s in the miracles in the Bible. What happens? Jesus says, “Give us the five loaves and the two fish,” and then God feeds the masses. The Holy Spirit works that way. You’re going to be led to do something. Naaman has leprosy. “Dip in the Jordan seven times.” Why the Jordan? Why seven times? I don’t know. God’s in it. Jericho. “Why are we going around seven days?” I don’t know. “Why are we walking around again today?” I don’t know. God’s in it. God’s going to choose ways that are kind of humbling, ways that don’t always make sense. They’ve got the choir in front of the army. What’s going on? And they win the battle. The praise team’s at the head of the army. Nobody does that. What’s going on?
God’s going to lead you in ways that don’t always make sense. They’re not always logical. They’re not always efficient. What’s going to happen though? God’s going to be glorified. You’re going to be humbled and realize God was leading. God worked through me. Lives are going to be changed. People are going to be blessed. People are going to experience the hope and the joy of the Lord. They’re going to experience Jesus. And you’re going to look back and say, “God just took me on a pretty wild ride. Pretty exciting ride.”
When you read the book of Acts, look at the church before Pentecost and then look what happens when they get filled with the Spirit. What would you say? They went all out for Jesus. They really loved each other. They took all kinds of risks. There was opposition everywhere. There was persecution. It was a wild ride, it was messy, but God’s kingdom grew. God did new works in new cities. It was bigger and more exciting than anything they could imagine. It was more difficult than anything they’ve ever done before. All of this is true. There’s a sense of love, compulsion. “This is bigger than me and God is leading it.” God would lead to new cities, new conversations, new risks in sharing their faith. New leaders raised up some new systems, some new organization. All of this, it came out of life of devotion. A devoted life, it’s fertile ground for the Holy Spirit to move. When you devote yourself to prayer, to fasting, to scripture, to worship, to serving, when you devote yourself to the teaching, to scripture, when you devote yourself to these things, you’re basically saying, “Yes, Holy Spirit, I’m making room in my life for you. I want you to come in and move and take over.”
The Christian life is not a self-help life. There are principles, there’s best practices, there are wise habits that you can cultivate. This is so much bigger. And when you think about church life, there’s the stuff that can be put together. You can put together a weekend service. We’ve got worship. We’ve got a message for 40 minutes. You can put together life groups. “We’re going to gather in this home. It’s going to be 12 people. These six couples or a group of singles, we’re going to gather.” You can put it on paper. You can say, “We’re going to do drive-through prayer on the busiest street in our city.” You can put it on paper, but there is a supernatural piece of God’s grace, His leading, the guidance of the Holy Spirit where God brings people into drive-through prayer. God moves in dynamic ways during the life group. On a weekend, we don’t even know all the ways that God is bringing healing, restoring marriages, bringing hope. It’s amazing what God does.
And I’m making room here for both/and. Yes, there’s the plans. Yes, there’s the principles. Yes, there’s the best practices. But there is another element that goes so far beyond that, and it’s the guidance and work of the Holy Spirit. In your life, what are you thinking about the Holy Spirit these days? Are you hungry for more of the Holy Spirit? I mentioned money, I mentioned dating, temptation. The Holy Spirit is there. God doesn’t tempt us. God gives us a way out. The Holy Spirit will talk to you. You’re in the middle of sin? The Holy Spirit’s going to convict you. Say, “This isn’t right. We want to change. There’s a better way. There’s a way out. There’s something better for your schedule, your purity, your eyes. There’s something better for your mind. There’s something better for your relationships, something better for your mental health.” Don’t go down that pit of despair. Don’t keep giving into anxiety. The Holy Spirit’s going to lead you to pray, to give burdens to God, to have freedom from these sins that are trapping you. The Holy Spirit is going to guide you out of the mud, the mire, the pit, the addictions. The Holy Spirit, with power, with guidance, with love, with comfort, it’s going to lead you out. There’s power with the Holy Spirit.
Again, I go back to relationships, priorities. Do you know how many people work their jobs their entire life and then realize, “My priority should have been my family,” or, “My priority should have been time with God. My priority should have been” … There’s a lot of performance traps in our culture. How do you break out of that? The Holy Spirit gives revelation. The Holy Spirit gives clarity. There’s patterns of the world that are not coming from God. The Holy Spirit reveals that to you and guides you. It’s a gift to say, “We’re not staying in Egypt in slavery. We’re going to keep moving. We’re not staying in the wilderness. We’re going to keep trusting God. We’re going to go to the promised land.” It’s a process where God is leading His people and whoever wants to be led will be led. Caleb and Joshua, they will go to the promised land. A generation will go to the promised land and not stay in the wilderness.
It’s easy to be religious and stay in the wilderness. It’s easy to just have the religious rituals, to have the religious knowledge and stay in the wilderness because the relationship with the Holy Spirit is not deep, it’s not intimate, it’s not personal. And without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we won’t get to the destinations that God has for us. We want to trust God. We want to move forward. We don’t want to be stuck.
This is my heart, that your relationship with God would grow. It would deepen. You would love the Holy Spirit. Listen to the Holy Spirit in fresh ways and God is going to lead you, as you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone, as you’re willing to take risks, as you’re willing to not just try to do everything in your own understanding and your own strength. You’re going to make room for God to move and the Holy Spirit is going to do exciting things in your life. And you’re going to develop this trust where if God says, “Stay,” you’re going to stay. If God says, “Go,” you’re going to go. If God says, “Speak up,” you’re going to speak up. If God says, “Pray,” you’re going to pray. If God says, “Listen well,” you’re going to listen well. You’re going to get in step with the Spirit, and then you know what happens? The Christian life, instead of just a checklist and duties and kind of stuck, now it’s dynamic, now it’s vibrant, now it’s alive, and you want to let other people know.
The Holy Spirit will do amazing things in your life, and if you talk to the church before Pentecost and after Pentecost, the message as you talk to each of them would be, “Trust the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit’s going to guide us.” Where are we going to go? How are we going to do it? So much opposition in the culture. The Holy Spirit has it figured out already, and we just need to listen. We need to trust. We need to take action and we need to be guided.
That’s one of the aspects of the Holy Spirit that I’m so grateful for; the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I’ve ended up in ministry when I never saw that coming. I’ve ended up in different places in ministry. I never thought I’d be leading the church as a pastor. Digital ministry. These steps, I make a lot of mistakes. I mess it up. There’s static on the line. There’s a lot of that on the way. Give yourself grace. You’re going to be learning and growing. But keep coming back to that sweet place of abiding with Jesus, saying yes to the Holy Spirit. Align with God’s Word and God’s going to direct your steps.
Let me pray for you. God, I thank you for my friends, my brothers and sisters who are trying to figure out life with dating, marriage, relationships, finances, priorities, career, ministry. There’s a lot in the mix and I pray thanking you that you are not a God of confusion and chaos, but a God of clarity, compassion. And I pray that you give my brothers and sisters courage today as they lean and listen to do what you’re calling them to do in your power, in your wisdom, in your guidance, and we trust you and praise you together. In Jesus’ name, amen.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend, rate and review the podcast. Let’s bring hope to more people. The Bonfire is growing. Everyone’s important. Everyone’s story’s important. And most of all, we’re seeking God together. God is growing us and we give God the praise. So glad you’re here to journey together and let’s continue to trust God as we take steps forward.
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