How the Holy Spirit Leads Us

foreign [Music] this is a new day I'm calling out the Mighty Hero [Music] the forces that are for you are greater than any Force that's fine to stop you and we believe today God that you will do what only you can do he calls you a barrier breaker a prize foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] through you can do [Music] hello from Lakewood Church in Houston Texas we sure are glad you have tuned in tonight thank you for being a part of this church of this Wednesday night service and we love you we're praying for you we always love to see your comments in the chat and I just believe that God is going to speak to you tonight that he was going to encourage you that you're going to learn from him tonight you're going to grow in the knowledge of God's word and so I hope you'll be blessed you can turn in your Bible if you'd like to with me to John 14 26 and we will read that in just a moment let's just get on into the word of God and I will remind you that the outline is always available online if you'd like to have all the main points and scriptures the link should be in the chat but I do that just for you because sometimes it's hard to remember everything and take all the notes in the scriptures and I'd like you to have that scriptural basis and so that's why I do it well I have been teaching a series on the Holy Spirit and the first message I taught I spoke on the Holy Spirit your constant companion and we talked about how the Holy Spirit helps us in our daily life and how we should be more aware of his presence he is always standing by to assist you that's one of his names the Bible gives you he is your standby he will strengthen you and he will counsel you there are so many aspects of the holy spirit that we need to understand and so be sure and listen to that first message if you missed it because we talked about all of those aspects and how the holy spirit will help you in your life tonight I want to talk about how the Holy Spirit leads us this will be part two in the Holy Spirit series and I'm going to give you several ways you can recognize the leading and the voice of the holy spirit in your personal life and then we will continue on next week there's there's a lot of ways that God that the Holy Spirit speaks to us and leads us and I don't want to rush through this topic because I want you to understand it I want you to have a Bible basis I want to give you some illustrations that will help you understand how to be led by the spirit and how to recognize when he talks to you when he speaks you when he leads you so to begin with I'm going to say something that I said last time there are many believers who go through life without any Supernatural Direction and that is not God's plan for your life he gave you his holy spirit to live in you and to lead you and so he wants to give you divine Direction when Jesus was on this Earth he depended on the holy spirit in his own life and Ministry he had a relationship with the Holy Spirit and we can have that same type of relationship we can hear his voice we can be led by the spirit the Bible says those who are children of God should be led by the spirit but let's look at John 14 26 these are the words of Jesus and I'm going to read it to you it says this but when the father sends the advocate as my representative that is the holy spirit he will teach you everything and he will remind you of everything I have told you Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to this earth to live in all believers he is our Helper and he will lead us through life and so I wanted you to see that scripture even though we mentioned it last time and I want to talk to you about this in order to understand how the Holy Spirit leads us we can look at the life of Jesus and so let's flip back to Luke 4 chapter 1 and 2 and let me read a couple of scriptures to you that will show you the ministry of the holy spirit in the life of Jesus Luke 4 1 says this and Jesus full of the Holy Spirit left the Jordan and he was led by the spirit Into the Wilderness where there for 40 days he was tempted by the devil Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit look at verse 13. it said when the devil had finished all this tempting he left Jesus until an opportune time Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit and news about him spread throughout the whole Countryside and he was teaching in their synagogues and everyone praised him you see when Jesus was on this Earth he was given the name Emmanuel that name means god with us he was God in a human body and as Jesus was entering into his three-year ministry as a man he needed the Holy Spirit to lead him and to empower him he did no Miracles he had no Ministry until the Holy Spirit came upon him when he was water baptized and God said this is my beloved Son and whom I am well pleased so if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit how much more should we need the Holy Spirit if he was full of the spirit if he was led by the spirit if he walked in the power of the Holy Spirit we can do the same you know one time Peter had been fishing all night and he caught nothing when Jesus said to him Peter cast your nets out again well Peter started making excuses because he had fished all night and he was an expert fisherman and when Jesus said that it didn't make sense to him but he stopped and he said Master because you say so I am going to cast the Nets out again you see Peter almost allowed his reasoning to get in the way of hearing God's voice but he didn't and when he obeyed Jesus they caught so many fish they could hardly contain them in the boat Romans 8 14 says this and I mentioned it already for those who are led by the spirit of God are children of God listen when we listen to God when we listen to the Holy Spirit as Peter did we will get the god kind of results we will see God work in our lives the Bible says so we're to be led by the spirit as children of God I think about this as children we look to our parents for Direction so the same way we should look to our Heavenly Father for leading and direction we should expect Supernatural Direction Supernatural Insight because we belong to God and to be led by the spirit means that you pay attention and listen to your spirit where the Holy Spirit dwells in you he doesn't dwell in your mind he doesn't dwell in your physical body he speaks to your spirit you tune in to his voice in leading in your spirit and it means to be led by the spirit means that you also seek his Direction and leading we have not because we ask not so we have to start seeking the direction and the leading and the counsel and the strength of the holy spirit in our lives and so tonight I want to talk about six ways that you can recognize the leading of the holy spirit in your personal life next week I'll share more ways the spirit leads us but let's get started let's just jump in number one the first way that the Holy Spirit or one way the Holy Spirit leads us is he will drop a thought into your spirit that's how I describe it something you need to know maybe something you have been praying about it's not necessarily an audible voice but you sense it in your spirit and not necessarily in your mind it's an impression that registers in your spirit Proverbs 20 27 says this it says the human spirit is the lamp of the Lord that sheds light on one's most inmost being what does a lamp do it gives light to a room in your spirit God gives you light and understanding that's where you sense his voice in leading in First Kings 19 12 uh this illustrates God's leading as a still small whisper or voice that's still Small Voice that you hear in your spirit so many times when this happens I do this automatically wow that didn't come from me I wasn't even thinking about that I didn't I it didn't come to my mind but out of my spirit and it always surprises me and excites me when I hear the Holy Spirit speak to me we are Spirit beings and this is where God speaks to us we live in a body we have a mind our will and emotions but God speaks to our spirit our Spirits are Eternal when we leave this earth we will spend eternity with Jesus God is a spirit so he speaks Spirit to spirit with his people a lot many times we call this the inward witness because our spirit Witnesses with what the holy spirit is saying to us you know in Acts 15 some of the Jewish Believers were insisting that the Gentile Believers had to follow their Jewish laws in order to be saved well there was there was a dispute about it so the apostles got together they discussed it they prayed about it and their response was this it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden the Gentiles with this law they followed the inward witness of the Holy Spirit what seemed best in their Spirit the Holy Spirit may give you a thought about your job an idea an invention he may give you a thought or wisdom about your children and how to raise your children he may give you a Word of Wisdom on how to handle the situation but let's start paying attention to the voice of the holy spirit in us let's ask God for wisdom and Direction more often you know in Mark 2 when Jesus approached a paralyzed man he said to him he said your sins are forgiven and some of the teachers the teachers of the law they got all out of sorts they didn't like that Jesus said that and they were thinking to themselves why does this man talk like that he's blaspheming who can forgive sins but God Alone and the Bible says immediately Jesus knew in his Spirit what they were thinking in their hearts I want you to catch that phrase Jesus knew in his Spirit that's another way to describe the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit you know in your spirit it is in knowing that didn't come from your mind and I will tell you this because this has happened to me you might miss it at times but we learn by our mistakes that's one of the ways I've learned to recognize God's leading in my life by not by not recognizing it at the time and so after it happened and I think okay God was speaking to me I missed that I didn't understand that he was I didn't understand at the time that he was speaking to me so I know what to look for next time I know what to listen for next time that's how we learn we all learn and we grow to recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit just as you recognize let's say your mother's voice because you spent a lot of time with her as you spend time with the Lord you will begin to recognize his voice so let's start by being more aware of the holy spirit's presence and let's start asking for his help more and more I want to give you just a practical example from my own life when I have a problem or a need God's leading if I haven't if I need God's leading and I can't figure out what to do I'll just ask God and then I'll release it and I'll ask him to show me what to do when I when I quit trying to figure it out for myself it just helps me to get quiet and it and it allows God to speak to me see and that's when the Holy Spirit may drop a thought into my spirit or the answer could come through the reading of my Bible when I'm reading my Bible or it could come through another person who speaks something into my life or it could come from a sermon but it Witnesses with my spirit and I know the Holy Spirit has spoken to me you know in uh I've written two major books in the last 10 years and for both of those books I pray that God would give me the title I knew what I wanted to write I had the books written but I didn't want to just make up a title I wanted it to be from God it was just very important to me so I didn't think about it much but I prayed and I asked God to show me what the title was well I was about to sit down in an airplane I think I was in San Francisco coming back home and as just before I sat down the words came up out of my spirit You Are Made for More and I knew immediately that was the title of my first book I got so excited I thought that didn't come for me that came from God it never entered my mind and I loved that because that's what God is saying to his people he created you on purpose and for a purpose and and he has so much more in store for you no matter what you have been through and so that was my first title on the second book I was talking to my assistant Leslie about a shorter title for a sermon that I'd been preaching and you know when you're preaching a lot and it's hard sometimes to find the right title but my title at the time was don't give up the answer is on the way and so I asked Leslie have you you have any thoughts and she said well why don't you just shorten it to it's on the way well when she said that it resonated in my spirit and I knew right then and there that was a title of my next book so thank you Leslie I knew that was from the Holy Spirit and do you know what my publisher loved both of those titles God is so good to answer us and so you know that's just something that happened in my life but if you'll ask God to lead you in the little things and the big things he will begin to do that number two how else does the Holy Spirit lead us well the holy spirit will lead you through the presence of peace the holy spirit is peace he will help you make the right decisions especially major decisions as you consult him remember the presence of God in you is peace his voice is a voice of Peace he leads you in the way of peace I love that Psalms he leads you beside the Still Waters Colossians 3 15. let me read it to you it says this Let the Peace of Christ the inner calm of one who walks daily with him be the controlling factor in your hearts deciding and settling questions that arise let that inner calm of the Holy Spirit be the controlling factor that helps you make decisions you see you can recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit when you sense a peace or inner calm in your spirit a lack of peace in her spirit that's a no from God that's a not now from God don't move on that until you have peace in your spirit when you make major decisions you know you have to check your spirit what is the holy spirit saying to you do you have peace do you have a lack of peace his voice does not bring confusion it does not bring frustration or doubt God is not a god of confusion his voice never contradicts the word of God his leading will not make you feel pressured so these are questions you can ask yourself am I confused about that this decision well Mark that off because that's not the Holy Spirit do I feel pressured to make this decision well Mark that off because that's not the Holy Spirit people pressure you but the Holy Spirit doesn't pressure you Proverbs 19 2 warns us that whoever makes haste will miss the way the New Living Translation says haste makes mistakes so consider the source when making decisions when trying to discern God's leading consult the Holy Spirit weigh everything in the light of God's word I read this somewhere lately and I want to share it with you and remember it will be on my outline so you don't have to worry about writing it down this is what it said the Holy Spirit steals you Satan rushes you the Holy Spirit leads you but Satan pushes you the Holy Spirit reassures you but Satan frightens you the Holy Spirit enlightens you but Satan confuses you the Holy Spirit encourages you but Satan will discourage you the Holy Spirit comforts you Satan worries you the Holy Spirit calms you Satan will upset you the Holy Spirit convicts you Satan condemns you isn't that good I just love that because these are good reminders of how to recognize the voice of God and how to recognize God's leading in your Holy Spirit whenever I feel like pressure to make a decision I have to do it right now I just stop and I say no I'm not going to be pressured you know the world's not going to come to an end if I don't make this decision right now I'm not going to miss the will of God I'm going to wait on the Holy Spirit until I have that peace that passes all understanding you know the the Amplified Bible of uh the Amplified version it's actually the class Amplified classic Version of Colossians 3 15. it says this it says Let the Peace of Christ rule as an Umpire in your heart now this is a great illustration for us an Umpire calls a person safe or out so peace means that you're in a safe Zone a lack of peace in your spirit means that you are in an unsafe Zone you don't want to make that major decision if you are Disturbed in your spirit that's the time to step back and wait to the wait on the Holy Spirit I heard someone say this head in the direction that gives you the most peace that's a good thing to live by you can liken it to how God led the Israelites in the wilderness through a cloud by day and a pillar of Fire by night when the cloud moved the Israelites moved when the fire moved they moved it lit the Darkness at night it was their sign it was their signal and our sign and signal is God's peace in our spirit we can know God's leading by whether we have peace or a lack of peace in our spirit and you know I I think this goes without saying but I'm going to say it anyway the holy spirit is not going to tell you everything we have the word of God and the wisdom of God to help us make daily decisions we learn so much on how to live this Daily Life by being in the word of God also remember this God is watching over our lives every day he's directing our steps and so when we don't sense his voice are leading he's still leading us he's still directing ourselves but one of the major ways that we are led by the spirit is through following peace if you don't hear from the the Holy Spirit then just keep doing what God asks you to do keep doing what you know to do number three is this the holy spirit will remind you of a scripture that you need to meditate on I love it when this happens to me I really believe this is the way that that God encourages us the Holy Spirit knows what you're going through he knows what you're going through right now he knows what you need and when you put the word of God in your heart the holy spirit will bring it out of you when you need it the most this is why it's so important for us to read the Bible daily to fill ourselves with teachings and preachings of the word of God so that we can get that word in us I love it when God does this to me it brings faith and encouragement it's like an on time word I may have read the scripture many times but God the holy spirit says you need this scripture right now and you sense it coming out of your spirit you you know you'll notice that the writers of the New Testament they quoted the scripture from the Old Testament often that was a holy spirit reminding them of what God said to them you know I don't know about you but this happens to you to me sometimes the holy spirit will bring a song out of my spirit he will remind me of a worship or a praise song that I need to sing right then to build my faith faith or to sing in the face of the lies of the enemy I mean recently when I wake up the first one of the first things that comes out of my spirit is a strong song we used to sing and Lakewood Church in the 80s way back then and it was written from a scripture and it says this unto You O Lord do I lift up my soul let not my enemy triumph over me you see God is reminding me and I am reminding Satan when I sing this song and quote this scripture that Satan will not triumph over me I'm declaring that every morning as I get up in the morning you know I remember one time when God blessed Uh Kevin and me with our first home and we were so excited to be homeowners and we fixed it up it was sort of a fixer-upper and and so we just loved it but soon after we moved in I began to have anxiety attacks and it was all during the time that I was trying to get pregnant and I was going through all these infertility treatments and so I was under great stress still working here at the church and and going through all these treatments and I was discouraged because here we were in our new home and I was facing this so one morning I was sitting in what we called our sun room at the time and I was reading my Bible and I was praying and I was sitting in my grandmother pilgrims a little rocking chair that she had given to me it was old old rocking chair but I loved it because it belonged to her and I was just rocking and praying and reading my Bible and discouraged because of because of what I was going through but all of a sudden the Holy Spirit brought a scripture out of my spirit to encourage me I wasn't reading the Scripture it came out of my spirit and it was proverbs 10 22 and it says this the blessing of the Lord brings wealth and he adds no sorrow to it well when the scripture came out of my spirit I knew exactly what God was saying to me he was saying I blessed you with this house this is a blessing for me and sorrow cannot stay here I am delivering you out of this anxiety well I got so excited and I began to quote and meditate on that scripture I would walk around my house and I would say over and over father you blessed us with this house it was because of your blessing that we have this wonderful house you want me to enjoy it I will not be anxious I will enjoy the blessing of God because the blessing of the Lord brings wealth and he has no sorrow to it God doesn't bring the sorrow into your life listen that was a turning point for me and God eventually delivered me from all of those anxiety anxiety attacks and I'm so grateful if you're experiencing anxiety attacks let me tell you something you're going to get through it with the help of the Holy Spirit he helped me and he will help you don't let the enemy lie to you that this is your life forever because it is not it is temporary God is delivering you right now in the name of Jesus I just thank you Father for the anointing of the Holy Spirit right now that is reaching out to your people who are dealing with these anxiety attacks and and a panic attacks and fear in Jesus name I thank you for your anointing to destroy every yoke and every bondage in their lives in Jesus name I thank you Father for setting their minds free I thank you Father for calming their Spirits for calming their nerves or calming their bodies father I thank you Lord Jesus you created them on purpose and for a purpose and it is not to be in sorrow it is not to be held back by fear and anxiety and in the name of Jesus I I command the enemy and the spirit of fear to loose you in Jesus name and I declare right now that on this day you're going to see a difference and you're going to walk out of this in Freedom in the name of Jesus just like I walked out of it by the power of the holy spirit amen and amen and amen I hope you receive that alrighty let's keep preaching number four the Holy Spirit Will Lead You by warning you at times he will help you avoid trouble or harm you know we see this in the life of the Apostle Paul he was about to board a ship when he sensed that there was danger ahead and he told the captain in Acts 27 10 he said I perceive that there will be hardship and loss of life if we set sail you know they didn't listen to Paul he was speaking about the Holy Spirit and they ended up being Shipwrecked on an island the only reason that the whole crew survived is because Paul was on that ship and he was on a mission from God and God was not going to let anything stop him from doing his will but this is the point I want to make Paul used the word perceive I perceive there will be great loss and this is another way to describe the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit you can have this perception in your spirit you can perceive that something is not right about a person or a situation you know the Greek word to for perceive is also translated to discern to discern means to identify or recognize Paul discerned that there would be great loss and he was right that was the Holy Spirit leading him have you ever walked into a place a home and you perceived that something was not right maybe you met a person you perceived that something's not right about this person I have and I make my exit really quick when I perceive that because I know it's the Holy Spirit warning me it doesn't happen often but we need to take heed to the warnings of the Holy Spirit one time I was going to a person's home I'd never been to her home I didn't know her that well but I had been talking to her about Jesus she had a lot of questions and she asked me to come to her home and share the Bible with she and her husband well I jumped at the chance I was I was glad for it but I went home after work laid down just to take a little nap before I went to their house and I'm telling you out of my sleep I woke up to these words to this word danger it came out of my spirit it was not audible but in my spirit it sounded like it was very loud and it totally woke me up it surprised me and I said Lord is that you and I heard it again danger don't go well I politely canceled right away told him I couldn't go to this day I don't know why it wasn't right but I trust the leading of the Holy Spirit and the interesting thing is that woman really didn't have much to do with me even after I politely cancel she never talked to me again you see the Holy Spirit knows things that we don't know so let's pay attention to those warnings number five is this the holy spirit will lead us out of sin thank God for that you know he shines a light on sin in our lives or on things that we don't see the blind spots that we have I've been praying lately God created me a clean heart renew a right Spirit within me show me anything in my heart that is offensive to you I want the Holy Spirit to shine a light on anything in my life that doesn't please God and he does this for our good so that we can change and we can grow spiritually the Bible says the holy spirit is grieved when we do wrong and we can sense that grieving in our spirit you know have you ever done something you know is wrong and you turn around and you think I shouldn't have done that and you feel grieved in your Holy Spirit you did you did said something you shouldn't have done maybe you were rude to someone maybe you're sinning and you know it and you you you feel grieved in your spirit listen Ephesians 4 30 says this do not grieve the Holy Spirit the New Living Translation says and do not bring sorrow to God's holy spirit by the way you live remember he has identified you as his own guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption see we know when we have done wrong when we feel grieved in our spirit and we when we feel it we should be glad because that is the holy spirit helping us to repent to make things right and to improve our Christian walk he will help you get free of addiction some of you have struggled with addictions or sin and you really really want to get free but you just have struggled and you feel bad that you're sinning but you haven't been able to to get free I want to encourage you don't feel condemned let the holy just recognize the conviction of the Holy Spirit he's he's wanting to help you and he can help you get free from any addictions or wrongdoing just it's the time you just have to lean back on the Holy Spirit and say God I know I'm in sin I know I feel grieved when I do it but I don't want to do it anymore I need the help of the Holy Spirit to lead me out of this sin and listen the holy spirit will help you amen the Holy Spirit let me tell you this sin means that you're missing the mark You're missing God's best for your life so the Holy Spirit helps us get on the right track if we will listen to him holy spirit's so good to us all right number six and the last one the holy spirit will lead you into Joy the Bible says that Jesus and the disciples were full of Joy by the Holy Spirit the joy of the Holy Spirit enables us to keep fulfilling our assignment during trials and adversity I know in my life if it weren't for the joy of the Holy Spirit I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today I would feel worn out but the holy spirit gives us Supernatural Joy the joy of the Lord is what gives us strength and the Holy Spirit will lead you into Joy Romans 14 17 says this for the kingdom of God it's not a matter of what we eat or drink but it's a matter of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit in the kingdom of God there is Joy by the Holy Spirit I want you to get this we don't have to go through life dragging like we don't have any Joy because we're going through things I don't know about you but it seems like I'm always going through things there's always things that are happening in my life life is busy you know and and so we're always going to have challenges or struggles or uh or we're going to have deadlines that we have to meet and so we have to know that right now in the midst of that the holy spirit will give us joy Isaiah 55 12 reminds us that as we seek the Lord we will go out in joy and we will be led forth in peace right now in the midst of your challenges the holy spirit will fill you with his Joy First Peter 1 8 says it's a joy that is unspeakable and it's full of Glory The Message Bible says you will have laughter and singing see you don't have to wait for your problems to be solved to have joy you don't have to wait for your dreams to be fulfilled to have joy the world's Joy is temporary it's really happiness happiness is based on happenings what is happening in your life and it can come and it can go but because you have the Holy Spirit in you he will lead you into joy that only God can give you only God can give you that joy and we live by our happenings by our circumstances and our joy level is dependent on that will be like this up and down up and down lots of times will just be down for a while because that's the way life is sometimes but God causes us to be victorious even in those times of Trials and adversity the holy spirit will give us joy will give us strength and he will help us walk in this faith and encouragement that only the Holy Spirit can give us amen and amen I think I preached myself happy I hope that helped you tonight but next week we will talk about how God speaks through dreams and at times and in other ways I think I have about six more ways that we're going to talk about and we're going to learn how to have Supernatural Direction in our lives because God wants all believers to hear from him to be led by the holy spirit because we are his children amen and amen listen before we close I want to give every person an opportunity to have a personal relationship with God today if you've never asked Jesus to come into your life you can do that today I would be honored to lead you into a personal relationship with Jesus your lord and savior and if that is you even let me just say this maybe you have known the Lord but you've been away from God and you need to rededicate your life to the Lord maybe you're one of those that you're struggling with sin and you want to get in on this prayer and ask God to help you I invite you God is not a god of condemnation he is a god of love and mercy and when we yield ourselves to him when we submit to him and just come as we are and say God I'm messed up God I'm in sin God I need you he just takes us in and he's he showers us with his mercy and his love and he puts us on A New Path God is such a good God and so I invite you to pray this prayer with me why don't you pray it after Me Right Where You Are God I admit that I'm a sinner I am in need of a savior I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins Jesus I invite you to be my Lord and Savior I want to serve you for the rest of my life amen and amen hey I just clap for you and congratulate you today for praying that prayer if you prayed that prayer the Bible says that you got born again on the inside that spirit that we were talking about Jesus forgave all of your sins he cleansed you with his righteousness and now you are a child of God and he is your heavenly father and he's going to help you navigate your life better than you could ever do on your own God has given you a new start on a new life and so I want to encourage you if you live in the Houston area come and be a part of the services on Sunday morning at 8 30 a.m or 11 A.M if you're not in the area you can always tune in online and learn more about God and we also have a new beginnings class on Sundays but you can also take this course online to help get you started in your Christian Life you will learn and you'll grow so much and that's what it's all about so we love you we thank you again for tuning in tonight let me close with a blessing the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace in Jesus name I pray over every one of you and I bless you in Jesus name we love you and we'll see you this weekend

Channel: LisaOsteenComes

Views: 32,908

Keywords:

Id: lwxYII22jTk

Length: 39min 57sec (2397 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 12 2023