LEARNING DAILY

John 14:16-17, And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I am going to be very honest; I truly needed to hear the words Pastor Maurice Cox spoke this weekend at Community Bible Church; I also needed to hear the words shared by Pastor Jonathon Moore of NorthRock Church as I will share tomorrow. I gave my life to follow Jesus Christ the third week of July 1976. That was 49 years ago last week and I find I am not perfect – I still allow my mouth to speak when it shouldn’t and fail every day. Imagine that! Perhaps I can explain what these two men spoke about that touched me like it did.

Pastor Cox spoke about the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Believer. Pastor Cox asked, “Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what you are not doing?” Strange question, right! But he went on, “Are you trying to live a godly life without the help of the Holy Spirit? The Believer cannot do what God called you to do without the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit, doing what He led Him to do. Jesus never intended Believers to follow Him in our own strength. When Believers try to live a godly life without the help of the Holy Spirit, it leads to imitation with no real transformation. That leads to imitating the Christian life, a form of godliness that denies its power.”

The verse from John above is important to know and believe. When one gives their heart and life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of the Believer. Ephesians 1:13-14 confirms this, “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Let me write again, once you place your life into Jesus’ hands you are sealed with the Holy Spirit! “You are sealed but you must then yield to being led by the Holy Spirit. You can know about the Holy Spirit without surrendering to His guidance. That is called surrender” (PC).

Pastor Cox gave three examples of not being led by the Holy Spirit. It leads to compromise – having Jesus in your life but still doing what I want to do. Ouch! No, it is Jesus only! It leads to thinking that if what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do is not comfortable, then it must not be from the Holy Spirit. Following the Holy Spirit is going to cost you; the Believer is not going to be comfortable while on earth. Ouch! Being comfortable – that’s in heaven. And not being led by the Holy Spirit leads to consumerism – Pastor said this is thinking everything is about you (me). The music sung is to be what I want to sing, for example. Ouch! No, being led by the Holy Spirit is about helping others, reaching the lost.

“To be led by the Holy Spirit means to slow down, to yield; the sealing is God’s work, and the yielding is on the Believer” (PC). Believers are to yield to His conviction; “And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (john 16:8). The conviction of sin in your life is not condemnation but the assurance that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ when one gives their life to Him. When Believers yield to the Holy Spirit, He gives guidance. “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13). “You cannot know truth without the Holy Spirit! When you open God’s Word, ask the Holy Spirit for His illumination before you begin reading and studying.” (PC).

Yielding to the Holy Spirit empowers the Believer. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit gives the Believer the power to witness in word and through their lifestyle (The Fruit of the Spirit).

And last, the Holy Spirit gives the Believer help, especially when you don’t know what to do or what to pray. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26). “Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Turn down the noise of the world. Be obedient to what He leads you to do. As Believers that is our responsibility.” (PC).