When God Speaks: How to Recognize God’s Voice and Respond in Obedience
Today’s study dealt with seven different ways that the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to us.
- Helper – Helps you do things impossible on your own
- Teacher – Reveals spiritual truths to you
- Reminder – Brings to mind things God said to you in His word
- Spirit of Truth – Reveals God’s perspective of your situation to you
- Spirit of Conviction – Confronts the sin in your life and convinces you that Jesus is Lord
- Guide – Leads your life into His activity around you
- Glorify Christ – Works in your life to exalt Christ to the world around you
In John 14:16, the Holy Spirit is presented as a Helper in most translations. I like the NET translation as an Advocate – Because an “advocate” is someone who “advocates” or supports a position or viewpoint and this is what the Paraclete will do for the preaching of the disciples. It’s important to remember to place yourself in the shoes of the people listening to these words.
One of the thoughts that occurred to me as I was reading today was that the relationship between the Holy Spirit and a believer is like the old apprentice system. You learn by example, the teacher tells and shows you how to do something, then you do it and repeat this process until you become a master craftsman, able to grasp the entire realm of the craft.
Same with the teachings of Christ. The Holy Spirit imparts the knowledge and wisdom that you need but without application, you cannot become proficient at what you do. In other words, I cannot fully understand God’s words unless and until I put them into action. And when I master one aspect, He gives me another to master.
One of the thoughts that came to me today is that I need to eliminate the distractions in my life so that I can focus on the purpose that I’m here for. Obviously, I need discernment to determine what is standing in the way, I can’t just discard everything that is my life and go stand on a mountain somewhere waiting. That isn’t purpose. Purpose is doing those things that God has placed in front of me – just remove whatever things are taking my time and money away from whatever is staring me in the face.
After reviewing these seven aspects or characteristics of the Holy Spirit, I’m pretty comfortable with what I’m doing, just need to let Him expand them in me.
Matthew 5:14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Here at the plantation, DR’s interest in things spiritual is growing. He came to our class a while back to meet BIL but it probably isn’t the place for him. He’s visited a couple of churches in the last several weeks; perhaps one of them will meet his needs. In the meantime, I had SU pick up a copy of Ragamuffin Gospel for him and gave it him this morning.
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