XXIII. THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT

     ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.’ -- Rom. 8:14,16

     It is the very same Spirit that leads us as children who also assures us that we are children.  Without His leading there can be no assurance of our filiation.  True full assurance of faith is enjoyed by him who surrenders himself entirely to the leading of the Spirit.

     In what does this leading consist?  Chiefly in this, that our whole hidden inner life is guided by Him to what it ought to be.  This we must firmly believe.  Our growth and increase, our development and progress, is not our work but His: we are to trust Him for this.  As a tree or animal grows and becomes large by the spirit of life which God has given to it, so also does the Christian by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Hos. 14:6,7;  Matt. 6:28;  Mark 4:26,28;  Luke 2:40;  Rom. 8:2)  We have to cherish the joyful assurance that the Spirit whom the Father gives to us does with divine wisdom and power guide our hidden life, and bring it where God will have it.

     Then there are also special directions of this leading.  ‘He will lead you into all the truth,’  When we read the word of God, we are to wait upon Him, to make us experience the truth, the essential power of what God says.  He makes the word living and powerful.  He leads us into a life corresponding to the word. (John 6:63, 14:26; 16:13;  1 Cor. 2:10,114;  1 Thess. 2:13)

     When you pray, you can reckon upon His leading: ‘The Spirit helpeth our infirmities.’  He leads us to what we must desire.  He leads us into the way in which we are to pray, trustfully, persistently, mightily. (Zech 12:10;  Rom. 8:26,27;  Jude 12,20) 

     In the way of sanctification it is He that will lead: He leads us in the path of righteousness.  He leads us into all the will of God. (1 Cor. 6:19,20;  1 Pet 1:2,15)

     In our speaking and working for the Lord, He will lead.  Every child has the Spirit: every child has need of Him to know and to do the work of the Father.  Without Him no child can please or serve the Father.  The leading of the Spirit is the blessed privilege, the sure token, the only power of a child of God. (Matt. 10:20;  Acts 1:8;  Rom 8:9,13;  Gal. 4:6;  Eph. 1:13)

     And how then can you fully enjoy this leading?  The first thing that is necessary for this is faith.  You must take time, young Christian, to have your heart filled with the deep and living consciousness that the Spirit is in you.  Read all the glorious declarations of your Father in His word concerning what the Spirit is in you and for you, until the conviction wholly fills you that you are really a temple of the Spirit.  Ignorance or unbelief on this point makes it impossible for the Spirit to speak in you and to lead you.  Cherish an ever-abiding assurance that the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Acts. 19:2;  Rom. 5:5;  1 Cor. 3:16;  2 Cor. 5:5  Gal. 3:5,14)

     Then the second thing that is necessary is this: you are to hold yourself still, to attend to the voice of the Spirit.  As the Lord Jesus acts, so does the Spirit.  As the Lord Jesus acts, so does also the Spirit: ‘He shall not cry nor lift up His voice.’  He whispers gently and quietly: only the soul that sets itself very silently towards God can perceive His voice and guidance.  When we become to a needless extent engrossed with the world, with its business, its cares, its enjoyments, its literature, its politics, the Spirit cannot lead us.  When our service of God is a bustling and working in our own wisdom and strength, the Spirit cannot be heard in us.  It is the weak, the simple, who are willing to have themselves taught in humility, that receive the leading of the Spirit.  Sit down every morning, sit down often in the day, to say: Lord Jesus, I know nothing, I will be silent: let the Spirit lead me. (1 Chron. 19:12;  Ps. 62; 2,6; 131:2;  Isa. 43:2;  Hab. 2:20;  Zech. 4:6 Acts 1:4)

     And then: be obedient.  Listen to the inner voice, and do what it says to you.  Fill your heart every day with the word, and when the Spirit puts you in mind of what the word says, betake yourself to the doing of it.  So you become capable of further teaching: it is to the obedient that the full blessing of the Spirit is promised. (John 14:15,16;  Acts 5:32   

     Young Christian, know that you are a temple of the Spirit, and that it is only through the daily leading of the Spirit that you can walk as a child of God, with the witness that you are pleasing the Father.

Precious Saviour, imprint this lesson deeply on my mind.  The Holy Spirit is in me.  His leading is every day and everywhere indispensable for me.  I cannot hear His voice in the word when I do not wait silently upon Him.  Lord, let a holy circumspectness keep watch over me, that I may always walk as a pupil of the Spirit.  Amen.

1.  It is often asked: How do I know that I shall continue standing, that I shall be kept, that I shall increase?  The question dishonours the Holy Spirit -- is the token that you do not know Him or do not trust Him.  The question indicates that you are seeking the secret of strength for perseverance in yourself, and not in the Holy Spirit, your heavenly Guide.

2.  As God sees to it, that every moment there is air for me to breathe, so shall the Holy Spirit unceasingly maintain life in the hidden depths of my soul.  He will not break off his own work.

3.  From the time that we receive the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to do but to honour his work: to keep our hands off from it, and to trust Him, and to let Him work.

4.  The beginning and the end of the work of the Spirit is to reveal Jesus to me, and to cause me to abide in Him.  As soon as I would fain look after the work of the Spirit in me, I hinder Him: He cannot work when I am not willing to look upon Jesus.

5.  The voice of the Father, the voice of the good Shepherd, the voice of the Holy Spirit is very gentle.  We must learn to become deaf to other voices, to the world and its news of friends and their thoughts, to our own Ego and its desires: then shall we distinguish the voice of the Spirit.  Let us often set ourselves silent in prayer, entirely silent, to offer up our will and our thoughts, and, with our eye upon Jesus, to keep ear and heart open for the voice of the Spirit.