Chapter 12: How to Be Led by the Holy Spirit 

In many places the Bible promises that God will lead those who love and obey Him in paths that end in eternal life. “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27).  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths" (Prov. 3:5-6).  “The steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 34:23). “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). 

In Scripture we find examples of divine guidance by various means—by visions, by dreams, by the appearance angels, by prophecies, by inner voices, and a number of other ways. The burden of this lesson is to discuss the various ways God leads us, and to help us be more sensitive to His leading. 

The Holy Spirit Guides Chiefly Through Scripture: 

II Tim. 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” 

Divine revelation found in God’s Word is His primary means of guiding us, and any supposed revelation that contradicts the clear text of the Bible must be false.

We are told to test the spirits to make sure they are from God (I John 4:1) and to judge every word claiming to be from God (I Thess. 5:21). Many false prophets and teachers, with deceiving spirits, are in the world (I John 4:1). The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible and will not contradict Himself (II Pet. 1:21). When the Word of God speaks, the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb. 3:7). Therefore, the Bible is our infallible guide.

The right way to handle Scripture is to study and meditate on it in order to let it be a guide for our lives. By getting into the Word, we get the Word into us. We learn to think God’s thoughts after Him. The Bible worldview becomes our worldview. So almost without thinking we react to life’s situations as God wants us to. Most often we need no further guidance than what God has already given us in His word. For instance, we don’t need special guidance to share the Gospel, show charity, and do good to all men (and especially to other Christians) as we have opportunity. We know we are to love our wives, teach and nurture our children, love all men, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. Therefore, in most situations we need no special word from God.

There is also a wrong way to be “led by Scripture”: that is by using the Bible as a kind of divination tool, like a ouija board. Most seasoned Christians have had a scripture come to mind, which proved to be useful and timely—as though the Lord Himself had given it. Sometimes we ask God for a scripture to confirm or disprove a doctrine, or to serve as guidance; and God gives it. 

But not always! People who open the Bible at random and assume that God will always direct them to a meaningful verse are setting themselves up to be deceived. I’ve asked God for scriptures to confirm something I thought He was showing me and had verses come tumbling into my mind, verses which confirmed my meditation. I believe that was God answering my request. But I have also asked God for a chapter and verse and gotten the most foolish and laughable answers. This is no way to use Scripture as a general practice.  

But not every situation is covered by the general revelation of Scripture. Many, many times we need a more direct word from God. God has made provision for just such occasions. 

The Holy Spirit Guides by an Inner Voice Speaking to our Spirits:  

I John 2:20, 27: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things...27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie...(NKJV). 

This is the ordinary way the Holy Spirit guides us today—through words and thoughts that arrive in our minds. Dreams, visions, and angelic appearances do occur today, but they are not the ordinary means for most Christians. For most of us there is a sudden ‘knowing’ that answers to our present circumstance. Some people see images or symbols in their mind, which point them in the way God is leading. For most Christians, I think, the “still, small voice” is the most common way that they “hear from God.” 

This is very subjective and open to error. We need some experience and a pure motive if we are to distinguish truth from error. Unfortunately experience usually comes through trial and error. The writer of Hebrew rebukes his readers for their lack of discernment because they had not progressed in understanding God’s Word. 

Heb. 5:11-14: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” 

By constant use, experience, trial and error we learn to recognize God’s voice. One of my main prayers is this: Lord, teach me to distinguish your voice from all other voices. How do we learn the Lord’s voice? By getting to know it—its tone and timbre. When Jeanette calls me on the phone, she doesn’t say, “Hi, this is Jeanette.” Why?  Because I know her voice. Likewise, we must learn God’s voice  through fellowship, prayer, and (above all) through His Word. 

Have you wondered why God makes things so hard?  I have. We have to pray and keep on praying. God allows false teachers and false prophets to thrive. And we have to work hard so that by constant practice “have our senses trained to discern good and evil.” I think I understand why. God ordains a certain degree of difficulty for us so that He can test our seriousness, our real desire to know and do His will. He hasn’t made it easy. In fact God discourages the efforts of people who are seeking Him for the wrong reasons or with wrong hearts.  

Matt. 13:10-17: “The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’ 11 He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “`You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” [Isaiah 6:9,10] 16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.’” 

God declared that only people who seek Him with all their hearts will find Him (Jer. 29:13). From the rest He hides Himself (Isaiah 45:15).  Jesus said: “If anyone is willing to do His [the Father’s] will, he will know...” (John 7:17).   

So the first principle of guidance is that we must seek earnestly to know God’s will so that we can obey it. 

Another very important principle of guidance is that we not demand to hear from God when and how we wish. The Lord is God, and we cannot command Him.  Mark it down as a most important warning: God is not obliged to answer our requests for guidance at the time or in the way we expect or wish. We can get into big trouble by making demands on God.  

We all remember Balaam, who wouldn’t take God’s ‘No’ for an answer. So God let him go to Balak as he wished, and with tragic results. Balaam became numbered among the enemies of God (Num. 31:16; Jude 11).  

A more modern example is John Wesley, who used to cast lots to find out God’s will. I’m not sure how he did it, but it would have been like flipping a coin—heads you do this, tails you don’t. On one well-known occasion Wesley tried to keep George Whitefield from sailing to America because the lot Wesley cast said for him not to go. The younger, and in this case wiser, man went to America anyway, and won many to Christ. At length Wesley abandoned the practice. If God has not promised to do a thing, we must not demand it of Him. And even if He has promised to do it, we must wait on Him for His own time. 

Scripture tells us to “wait on the Lord.” What does that mean?  Does it mean, as some have suggested, to empty our minds and wait for a word or impression from God. Absolutely not! God has given us our conscious minds as the gatekeeper of the soul. Eastern meditation involves an emptying of the mind; Biblical meditation involves a quieting of the soul, but not an emptying of the mind. Biblical meditation is rumination, the calm, prolonged thinking on a subject until the soul digests it and draws nourishment from it. God wants us to meditate on His Word “both day and night” (Psalm 1:1-3). God’s best guidance occurs when our mind and reason are fully engaged, when we are meditating on the facts of the situation, when we are open to the counsel of others, and when our hearts are pure. We’re not permitted to demand anything of God. But we are told to Ask, Seek, and Knock.  

Another way to assure that the guidance you receive is from God is to cultivate a holy indifference. Kick your own will out of gear, so to speak. If you want too strongly to go in a certain direction, you will probably hear what you want to hear. Your best protection from deception is: Not my will but Thine. 

What I have been describing is not generally thought to be supernatural, but the regular way God leads. Similar to this are what I call Supernatural Utterances. 

The Holy Spirit Guides Through Supernatural Utterances: 

This includes prophecies, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, revelations, and other kinds of knowledge given directly to the mind. "Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:19-21). 

James tells us that we can ask God for wisdom with confidence that He will give it (James 1:5). Words of knowledge and words of wisdom are little parcels of God’s omniscience dropped into our spirit as the Holy Spirit wills. A prophecy is a word from God, the prophet being God’s mouthpiece. Some say that preaching takes the place of prophecy today, but that is not so. Some preaching may be prophetic if the preacher has sought God for a fresh word. But prophecy is a supernatural word from the Lord. 

Personal prophecies have an important role in Kingdom life. Paul says that the purpose of prophecy is for “strengthening, encouragement and comfort” (I Cor. 14:3). It is most encouraging to receive a personal word from God through a prophecy. It reminds us that we are in God’s thoughts and under His care. It is especially useful when it warns us away from some dangerous course. 

But I have seen much mischief come about because of personal prophecies. At best such personal words should confirm what the hearer is already hearing from God. The only example of personal prophecy in the New Testament was when Agabus warned Paul what would happen to him if he went to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-11). Paul went anyway because he was convinced in his own spirit that he must. 

Acts 20:22-23: “And now, compelled by the Spirit [or better, ‘bound in spirit’], I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit  warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.” 

When I have observed people with a ministry of personal prophecy, much of it seemed like clairvoyance and not real prophecy. And some has been clearly false. As with all deceptions, some truth was mixed with error. “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” 

The Holy Spirit Guides by the Peace of God in Our Hearts:  

Col. 3:15: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”  

When Paul says to let the peace of Christ “rule in your hearts,” he uses a word found nowhere else in the New Testament. The word is brabeuein, which means “to act as an umpire.” In classical Greek it referred to the judge in various contests, particularly the Olympic games. The brabeus, or umpire, decided the victor and awarded the prizes. The verb means to arbitrate, to decide between contestants. Our modern word umpire exactly translates the Greek word. Our umpires decide whether it’s a ball or a strike, whether one is safe or out, if it is fair or foul. So Paul seems to be saying, let yourself be guided and directed by the presence or absence of the peace of Christ in your heart. The absence of peace indicates a warning from the inner man, a strong reason to doubt the course one is on or is planning. On the other hand, if we have peace, that is a valid reason to proceed. 

However, the presence of peace is not the only factor to be considered; it is merely an indicator that God is leading if the action is otherwise moral and scriptural. No amount of “peace” can justify disobedience. One can have the false peace of a dulled conscience. The God-given arbiter or umpire is only effective if 1) we really want to know God’s will, and 2) if we are sensitive to our inner Prompter. Given those two conditions the presence or absence of peace is an invaluable indicator of God’s leading.

The Holy Spirit Guides by the Godly Counsel of Other Christians:

 "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14). Often this guidance comes in the form of confirmation of what God is already showing us. God provided a plural leadership for His people in the persons of elders. No one man, “the pastor,” should have the responsibility of an entire flock.

Added to the Holy Spirit’s guidance are the inscrutable workings of Providence.

What the world calls coincidences we Christians see as the ordering hand of God as He “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will” (Eph. 1:11).  God mercifully opens and closes doors for us to walk through. God’s ideal for us is that we could say, like Jesus: “I always do what I see the Holy Spirit doing.” 

Summary:  God’s Spirit guides us

• Through His Word
• Through our thoughts
• Through peace in our hearts
• Through special words from others

Dear Father, train our spiritual senses to hear the gentle voice of the Heavenly Dove. Make it our food and drink to do your will. Then we will be filled with the Spirit and guided into all the truth we need to know. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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