Learning to be guided

I have written before of the gradual unfolding of the revelation of God to mankind. I want to show you the progression again in that which is "sent" into this realm by God. During the first 2000 years it is difficult for us (who have had so much available to us of God, i.e., the Bible, teachers and pastors, a prophetic word and fellowship of believers) to understand what and how people knew God. But in that period, we see men who were righteous and walking with God such as Enoch and Noah. What God taught Adam was taught to each generation. How Enoch must have drawn from Adam to know every word God had told him! I have wondered how Adam felt when he saw Enoch putting that into practice and walking with God! Men lived so long that they could talk together and teach many generations and see that they followed exactly what they had received. They understood the value of covenant and it was practiced in their daily lives. This gave them understanding of the value of God's word to them and the family line became separate from the rest of the world that turned away from God. So we can see that God "sent" longevity and covenant understanding as a means to bring man into relationship with Him.

Nearing the end of 2000 years, God gave to Abraham a covenant relationship with Him. This gave to Isaac and Jacob a new relationship to pass on to their future generations. Again, they became the teachers and guardians of the access to relate to God. Then God sent Moses to the Israelites to lead them to God's promise. At Mt. Sinai, Moses received the written commandments of God's covenant. Now what God had given became a focal point. The tabernacle with the Ark of Covenant became the place where people could go to make contact with God.

God sent judges and priests and later prophets to give direction and warnings. Then He sent His Son to live among us, teach us and die for us. Jesus and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to this realm to be our Guide and Counselor. True to covenant ways, what God could and would do in any generation depended on the response given by man. Those who wanted more of God responded to God. God has not changed nor has response changed. Methods may change but the heart that yearns for God and cries out to Him is the same. God hears the cry of the heart and responds to that cry. Many things come in to dull that response and even refocus it to another direction. The study of methodology is one way that attention can be taken off of God and directed to the means of finding Him. Doctrine can become a god to be worshipped. Church affiliation can become a god to be worshipped. Even the study of the scriptures can become a focus and no longer a way to intimacy with God. What God sends to us can be a deliverance to freedom in Him or become the idol that blinds our eyes. The bronze serpent that Moses raised to bring deliverance to the Israelites became a god they worshipped and had to be destroyed. Doctrines and creeds can become a goal and not a way. Leaders, preachers and prophets can lead us to Christ or to their own selves.

Raised in Pentecost and knowing the power of the Holy Spirit from a small child, I saw the experience of the receiving the baptism of the Spirit become the goal and not the beginning of a walk with God. The power and the guidance that experience was to bring into lives faded when the focus was no longer on the Lordship of Jesus over lives but on the blessings that could be felt and achieved. I have not given up teaching that we must receive this baptism or indwelling of the Spirit but I also teach the making of friends with the Holy Spirit so He is free to guide our footsteps and thoughts.

How does the Spirit guide us? First, you must want to be led. Second, you must learn to know His Voice. Third, you must respond in obedience. Those three steps will open a life of power and joy to you that you cannot give to anyone else no matter how much you want to do so. Only the Holy Spirit can give that to another human being. You can tell them how you received it but they must open and give response to the Holy Spirit to receive for themselves. Why? Because the response we give is the price we pay. It costs you your own control, your own opinions, the desires of the flesh and the comfort zone you have chosen to escape the stress and demands of this world. You give yourself to the Holy Spirit to direct you into the Life of God. Many people want the results of living for Him but do not want the life lived in Him. Meditate on the following scripture and let the Holy Spirit make it personal to you.
Romans 8:12-17(NASB) So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.