When directed by the Spirit of God, it means that a person is being guided by the Holy Spirit in their thoughts, actions, and decisions. This guidance is often understood as a sense of peace, conviction, or prompting that aligns with God’s will and Word. Essentially, it’s about surrendering one’s own desires and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and direct one’s life.
Here’s a more detailed explanation:
- Guidance and Alignment: Being led by the Spirit involves aligning one’s life with God’s will and purpose. This can manifest in various ways, such as a clear sense of direction, a prompting to speak or act in a certain way, or a feeling of peace and confirmation about a particular course of action.
- Relationship with God: The leading of the Holy Spirit is often connected to a close relationship with God and a willingness to be teachable and responsive to His guidance. It’s about listening to God’s voice through His Word, prayer, and the inner promptings of the Spirit.
- Discernment: It’s important to discern whether a prompting is truly from the Holy Spirit or simply one’s own desires or emotions. This discernment process involves comparing the leading to God’s Word, considering the fruit it produces (love, joy, peace, etc.), and seeking wise counsel.
- Living by the Spirit: The concept of being led by the Spirit is often contrasted with living according to the flesh or one’s own desires. When believers live in step with the Spirit, they experience freedom from the constraints of sin and are empowered to live a life that is pleasing to God.
- Examples in Scripture: The Bible provides numerous examples of individuals who were led by the Spirit, such as Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, or Paul being guided by the Spirit to preach the gospel in different regions.
- Not Coercive: The Spirit’s leading is not a force that compels or coerces, but rather a gentle and persuasive influence that invites believers to follow. It is a partnership between the believer and the Holy Spirit, where the believer willingly surrenders their will to God’s leading.
How do we know the difference between our spirit and God’s Spirit.
This is my understanding, from my experience and from The Word of God. Before we are born-again, we are spiritually dead. Our spirit realm is dead. When the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) comes into our spirit (which was dead), we become spiritually alive. Romans chapter 8 says if we are a Christian, we are controlled by the Holy Spirit. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God”. (see Romans 8: 9, 14) So I think the Holy Spirit comes into our spirit, so they are now one.
Just as God is a triune being, so are we. We are 3-part beings: body, soul, and spirit. I think many confuse the spirit and soul. The soul is the invisible “us” and consists of our mind, our emotions, and our will. The soul, once conceived, lives forever. That is the miracle of life. And the spirit, once regenerated, also lives forever. But the soul and spirit are different. So there is the Holy Spirit and then there is our mind, emotions, and will (the soul). Only the physical body is temporary.
So I think the question should be if we are following our soulish realm or the Spirit? (rather than God’s Spirit vs. our spirit). We should learn to not be controlled by our emotions or by our own thinking or by our own will, but we should learn to follow the leading of the Spirit. The problem with many Christians is they are controlled by their soulish realm and not by the Spirit, or they don’t know the difference. The major factor to which one is prominent is which one is being nourished and exercised the most? It takes effort to quiet the clamor in our mind and the noise of the world around us. Many try to analyze everything to death. To follow the Holy Spirit, we must be listening. His voice is not loud or forceful. We need an awareness of His Presence in our everyday life. We must learn to know His voice and to recognize His small nudges. It also helps greatly to know the Scriptures to affirm what He is saying. He often speaks to me through Scripture, bringing a verse to mind that I may not have read for years. When God puts a thought in my mind, or nudges me to do something, or brings a Scripture to my mind that I was not thinking about…then I know it is Him, because it surprises me and I know it didn’t come from my own thoughts. And as we practice to be quick to obey because we have learned to know His voice and to trust Him… we hear more. Why should He continue giving us instructions if we never listen nor obey? I’m not talking about being weird or hearing so many details about everything. I wish I could hear His voice everyday, but I don’t. It is always a privilege and a blessing to hear guidance from Him and to be part of what He is doing.
There are many examples in the Bible of people who followed their own thinking or logic rather than following what God had said. We can learn from their mistakes. A couple of big mistakes that had HUGE ramifications were (1) Adam and Eve listening to the serpent and eating the fruit, thinking they could become like God, and (2)Abraham being convinced by Sarah to hurry up God’s plan and God’s will by having a child with the maid. Also remember when Peter tried to rebuke Jesus when Jesus was telling them He would be killed. Peter was controlled by his emotions and said “No Lord, may it not happen.” Jesus came back with “Get behind me Satan, you have the thoughts of man, not of God.” Peter had good intentions and loved the Lord, but he was not helping Jesus fulfill God’s plan. So you see, operating in the soulish realm can be dangerous and displeasing to the Lord. We really need to hear and follow the Spirit of God.
Now for some things, we should not have to be told what to do – I’m talking about things that are commonly known and written in the Bible. If we are tempted to lie or steal, etc, we already know that is not God’s will. But for the unwritten things, we need to have a continuous attitude of seeking God’s will and open to hearing from Him, being flexible, and if we are not hearing specific details, we are trusting God to guide us. It is my practice to keep doing what He already told me, and not change it or stop it, unless I hear differently. It is my experience that the Holy Spirit can use a few words to illuminate or change a situation, like nothing else can do.
And then there is the Spirit vs. the flesh. They oppose one another. The flesh is not the soul. The flesh is the old sinful nature. If we follow the Holy Spirit, we do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Some examples of desires of the flesh could be lust (of food, of sex, of power, etc), or simply choosing the easy way rather than God’s way.