Being Led by the Holy Spirit (Pt. 1)

Contributor:
Terry Whitson

You can be led by the Holy Spirit in all the affairs of life. HE will direct you where you’re to live, where to work, who to marry, where to go, when to stay put and when to move
on. HE will direct your steps and navigate you through life if you will take the time to learn how He leads. (This part one of three articles on being led by Holy Spirit)

You Have Built-In – GPS
GPS as you may know means “Global Positioning System”. If you have a smart phone it can normally pin point your exact location. Of course the Lord knows exactly where we are, and He knows exactly where He wants us to be. As believers in Jesus we hear some say, “I wish I knew what direction the Lord wants me to go in”. Or they may say, “I’m not sure if I should move away and take that job or not.” I’ve got good news for you! You can know what direction to go in and whether to take a new job or not.

The Spirit of the Lord will direct your steps, after all – as a believer HE dwells in you.
Therefore you have “built-in GPS”! The Holy Spirit is in you and He is your Guide.
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”Romans 8:14.
Having received Jesus, we are now children of God and the children of God are to be
led by the Spirit of God. We are Not to led by tarot cards, Ouija boards, Horoscopes,
psychics or palm readers. These are directly connected to the occult and demonic
spirits. If you have ever been involved with any of these, ask the Lord to forgive you,
renounce them in your life and repent. Declare to the Holy Spirit – you are my Guide!
After all, Holy Spirit is the one who led you and drew you to Jesus in the beginning.

Jesus was Led
The scripture clearly tells us in Matthew 4 that Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into
the wilderness. Jesus was led by Holy Spirit throughout His ministry. He was led when
He chose the 12 disciples, He was led when He changed the water into wine and He
was led when He spoke to the Jews who tested Him about stoning the women caught
in the act of adultery. Jesus is our example and He was led by Holy Spirit. In these
articles I will be referring to Him as Holy Spirit instead of “the” Holy Spirit. Reason
being is because that is what is name is- Holy Spirit.

How I was led as a New Believer
I was Born Again and called into the ministry while serving in the Marines. After being
discharged, I came home, got married, and finished college. I knew I needed to be
trained for ministry so I was looking to the Lord to guide me. I initially wanted to go on
staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, but Debbie had no leading or witness that we
were to do that. This was the Lord using her to stop the direction “I” wanted to go in.
When you have a believing spouse, you need to be careful to see if they have the same witness as you do concerning the decisions in life. It would be some twenty-two years later, the Holy Spirit would lead me to be on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, where I served for over 5 years. So as newly weds, the Lord had put us on a path that would take me to bible school.

As a new believer I had NO teaching on how to be led by HolySpirit. One day I was visiting at my parent’s home and picked up a magazine called, The Word of Faith. I knew “nothing” of the ministry, which published the magazine. However, while reading through it, I came across a advertisement for Rhema, a Bible school the ministry had started. Immediately I knew in my heart (my spirit) I was to go Rhema, even though I knew nothing of the school or who led the school. I simply knew inside of me that I was to go there.

You might ask how I “knew” that Rhema was the right school? It was a witness, a perception and a knowing on the inside. Just like you know you’re a child of God by the witness of the Spirit, I knew I was to go Rhema school (Rom.8:16). I then shared with my wife, my witness (a knowing) that the Lord was leading me to that school. She responded in agreement that she had the same “knowing,” the same witness. The Holy Spirit was clearly leading us and teaching us how to be led by Him at the same time. I will talk more about this in article three.

Follow your peace
Holy Spirit will lead us in the pathways of peace. To put that in simple terms—follow
your peace. If you don’t have peace in your heart about a decision or direction, don’t
do anything until you have peace.

My wife and I had gone through a long process of paperwork to refinance our home a number of years ago. We had virtually finished all the paperwork and one morning I was sitting at the kitchen table talking to Debbie about it. As we were talking, I realized I didn’t have peace In my heart about refinancing our home. I got up from the table and took all the paperwork and threw it in the trash. I knew immediately the Lord was not leading us in refinancing our home.

When we’re lead of the Spirit of God there will be peace on the inside. Interestingly, about two weeks later, while asleep, the Lord dealt with me to sell our house and that’s exactly what we did. That path was the path of peace.

Read more – Being Led by Holy Spirit -2