Someone asked me today, how do you know when you are led by the Spirit? What does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God? I think to answer this deep question, we need to start from the beginning.
When we accept Christ into our hearts and, by faith through the grace of God, we accept Jesus as our Savior, He then lives in us from that moment on and for the rest of our lives. When Jesus left this earth, He left us with His Spirit so He could be with all of us—at the same time. Because we were created in God’s image, He gave us a spirit too so we can communicate with Him via the spirit.
There are certain things that we just know are wrong to do. For example, we know it’s wrong to steal. We know it’s wrong to commit adultery or to kill another human being. We don’t need the Holy Spirit to tell us that or to remind us that those actions are wrong. Then we also have our moral compass based on our upbringing and our life experiences, we know certain actions are wrong. For example, we know that it’s not ethical to alter the company’s profits to show the shareholders better numbers. Yet people across time and generations do all of those things mentioned here. Why? Because they are human beings and humans sin—every day. We have the ability to ignore our own moral beliefs and ethical standards. Our flesh wins over our spirit. We do what we know is wrong. Like Paul said, “I do those things I shouldn’t do and I don’t do the things I should.”
In the workplace, when I don’t know how to handle a specific situation, I ask God for wisdom. I also gather all the information I can so I have facts. Lastly, I go with my gut feeling. If I have peace in my heart with a decision after I have prayed and asked God to give me wisdom, I go that way. If I don’t have peace, I don’t pursue until I do. That is one of the major clues to me to know if I’m being led by the Spirit.
There are other situations when we, out of the blue, have a sense that we need to pray for somebody, for no reason. In those instances, we should stop what we’re doing and pray for that person. Those are great examples of being led by the Spirit. We are to pray for one another and because God knows all of our needs, He puts somebody’s name in our hearts at the precise moment when that person needs prayer.
We also have heard of many stories when feel prompted to do something so strongly we have to do it. For example, we leave home and all of a sudden we feel the strong need to go back home. We don’t know why but we do it. We get home and find something on the stove that could have burnt down our house or we had left the house unlocked. Sometimes these situations are very small and other times, they could be catastrophic in our lives. Sometimes we feel the urge to call someone we haven’t talked to for a while and we follow through. We call them just to say hi. Then a week later, we hear that person died. How did we know to call that person? I believe those are small promptings from the Holy Spirit directly to our human spirit. I take those promptings very seriously and always follow through because I trust that God knows everything. My part is to do the small thing He puts in my heart to do.
Yet there are other times when some of us clearly hear words in our minds to do something or not to do something, to say or not to say something, to hug a person, to say a “word of encouragement” to a person in need. God manifests to us in many ways. Other times, we look to the Bible and the right passage shows up or the Lord reminds us of a specific Scripture at the right time when someone needs to hear those words of encouragement.
Lastly, in order for us hear the voice of God either in an audible way by hearing words in our hearts or by following a prompting in our spirit is to be in tune with the Spirit of God at all times. How are we in tune with the Holy Spirit? By spending time with God in prayer, just practicing hearing His voice, feeling His love, and being receptive to His promptings. This is very hard to do because we’re all so busy and have a hard time being quiet in front of the Lord. We can also be in tune by reading the Bible often, by studying and meditating on what we read, and by asking God to reveal to us what the Scriptures say. When we are constantly meditating or thinking about a specific Scripture in our minds, we become more receptive to the voice and promptings of God.
So, how are you led by the Spirit? How do you know it’s the voice of God talking to you? Because you are His child, you will know the voice of your Father. You will have peace in your heart. Stay in tune with Him and let Him guide your steps each day.