Question from a friend of WordTruth Ministries:

WordTruth.Com Response:

This is a good question that many believers have. The answer is both simple and, yet, not so simple. The simple answer is that the Holy Spirit who directed the prophets and apostles in writing the Bible (2 Peter 1:21) will never lead you to do anything that contradicts the word of God we have in the Bible.

10 ...The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:10-12, NIV)

God has given the Holy Spirit to us when we first hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit, in turn, helps us to understand God's word and His will for our lives. Now there are different levels on which we rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us:

Direct Commands

There are direct commands - both positive (love one another, speak the truth in love, etc) and negative (flee sexual immorarility, be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit). The Holy Spirit will remind us of these direct commands when we are regularly studying the Bible. He will also prompt godly people in our lives to give us such direction on God's commands.

Application of Principles

There are also situations in life where there is no direct command in the Bible. For instance, which job offer do I accept? In such cases, you have to take the principles taught in the Bible and apply them to your situation. Perhaps job #1 is a local job and job #2 requires a lot of travel. If you have children at home or a needy family member, then the principle taught in 1 Timothy 5:8 would help you make this choice:

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8, NIV)

Obviously job #2 would make it difficult (and impossible at times) to provide the care and support for the children/needy family member so job #1 would be the way to go.

Direct Guidance by the Holy Spirit

There are other times in our lives where we simply depend on the prompting of the Holy Spirit to guide us. We may hear of a friend who is sick. At the same time we have a ball game that a child or relative is playing and we want to go see it. But we get a specific compulsion that we need to go visit the sick friend. Both are two worthy activities - supporting a child through involvement in his/her life or visiting a sick friend. We see examples of this in Scripture: Jesus led by the Spirit to a time of fasting (Luke 4:1) The church led to choose specific people for a mission (Luke 13:2) Paul being warned in his inner being of danger (Acts 20:23) There are many more example but the point should be clear. When we are following Christ (loving God and loving others as He loves us), then we have clear access to the direction of the Holy Spirit. We need to trust and rely on the certaintly that He wants to guide us and will provide the direction we need. Sometimes we have to wait for that direction because He wants us to wait. Nevertheless, we can live with confidence that He loves us and will guide us in the proper time.

What if it is "self" that is leading me? OK, most of the time you know when it is "self" as opposed to "God" leading you to do something. Our inner self drives us to satisfy the desires of the flesh as opposed to the Spirit of God that leads us to glorify Christ in all we do. But maybe the issue is one of freedom - do you have the freedom to make such choices in your life? Absolutely - when you are following Christ (loving God and loving others as He loves us) you will not want to satisfy the desires of the flesh. So don't overcomplicate your decision-making process.

Remember too that there are many decisions in life that are not important in the big scheme of things. I have been given a choice to eat either a ham or a turkey sandwich. Just pick one you like - I don't see any indication in Scripture that we need to fast and pray about such decisions. Should I drive in the left, middle, or right lane on the highway? Again, this would be your preference - assuming there are no other cars in the way ;-) The Holy Spirit is our Guide through life but not a weight upon our shoulders.

I hope this helps to answer your question. Let me know if you have any other questions.

May God bless you with His wisdom and the courage to follow Jesus!

Rev. Randy Lariscy :-)
Director - WordTruth Ministries