Skip to main content

It was the Holy Spirit


            Do you know when the Holy Spirit is leading you?  How can you discern the differences between your own ideas, feelings of guilt and the Holy Spirit?  When are you confident that you have done what the Lord has asked of you and not just followed your own way?
            It’s not the easiest lesson to learn.  It has taken me years to recognize the Holy Spirit; and I’m just now somewhat confident.  I don’t always know for sure that it is the Holy Spirit, and I often question myself. When I sense Him asking something of me, I think it might be God; but I never know for sure until I do it.  A lot of times it just comes down to a feeling of supernatural peace after I do something, which is irrational from my human perspective.
            1 Corinthians 2:14 says: The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  I often consider something the Holy Spirit might ask of me as foolish, yet that is the time I’ve learned to obey the most.  The Spirit of God goes against my self-will.  My sinful spirit naturally considers that the things of God are foolish.  I don’t want to be kind to my enemy.  I don’t want to keep inviting the neighbor who has shown strong signs of rejection over for a fourth or fifth time.  I don’t want to make the effort to give a cup of water in Jesus’ name.  What good is a cup of water anyway?  You get the picture.
            What is life about if we do not pay attention to the Holy Spirit?  What is the purpose of life if we do not attempt to get better at speaking and understanding the language of the Holy Spirit?  When we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit we become self-indulgent, distracted, small minded, selfish people.  The Holy Spirit knows how to show us the best things in life.  When I am listening to the Holy Spirit, He helps me notice things I have never seen before.  I learn to really see the world and smell the air, taking in the shaft of light as a touch from heaven. 
            In addition to getting more out of each and every ordinary day, I also get to see how much better I can be than who I am.  I absolutely get ideas and again an understanding of myself and others.  I can explain spiritual concepts.  I have the strength, power and wisdom to do what is impossible for me.
            Spiritual maturity is becoming more and more confident of when it is the Holy Spirit.  The great thing is that the Holy Spirit is the one to teach you how to sense His guidance and obey Him.  He will show you how to hear Him; you just need to want to hear and obey what He has to say.

Copyright ©2015. Deborah R Newman  teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...
2 comments
Read more

Why Me?

              When something tragic or unexpected happens, our first question seems to be, Why me?   It’s only human to feel this way and wonder why life has got to be so hard.   God has helped me look at my unwanted circumstances with a different question.   Rather than keep the focus on my pain and ask, Why me?   I focus on Him and wonder, How can You be glorified when everything is going wrong?             Adding one more word to that question makes a huge difference spiritually and opens my soul to find so much more than just my pain.   Another way to look at life’s tragedies is, Why not me ?   Sure, we each have our own amount of personal sorrows. These are the kind of sorrows that have no answers.      We can't explain away death, cancer, rape, bankruptcy and other heartaches.   It is easier to explain...
Post a Comment
Read more

Holy Saturday

Nothing is written about the events of Holy Saturday except Luke 23:56, “they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” These few words speak volumes about our life with Christ.   What was it like for these ladies to rest on the Sabbath?   They had watched carefully, they knew how quickly Jesus’ body was laid in the grave. The men had brought spices and linens, but they had little time to properly anoint this most precious of all bodies.   As the women watched carefully, they made mental note of the supplies that would be necessary to complete this sacred act of burial as it should be. They spent the last few hours before sunset to prepare the spices for this holy act of reverence. The Sabbath signaled the time for rest.   I’m sure they didn’t feel like resting, but by complying out of obedience they were probably served by its benefits.   Their minds racing from the horror they had just witnessed, at best they could allow their bodies to rest and ...
Post a Comment
Read more