The Christian lifestyle is all about letting the Holy Spirit take over the driver’s seat.
By Clinton Dixon
PHOTO: Shutterstock.
We have all, by now, heard the expression “being led by the Spirit”. This phrase opens up a Pandora’s box of the very best and the very worst of what Christianity has to offer. From the Christian pastor who achieves the Spirit-led miracles to the convicted felon with his crude plea of “God told me to do it”, being Spirit-led has polarized opinions both inside and outside the mainstream Christian churches.
Week 8 at the School Of Theology dove straight into the controversial subject of the Holy Spirit and what it means to be Spirit-led. I had been looking forward to this class as God had been personally encouraging me to be more Spirit-led. A few weeks earlier, guest speaker Pastor Troy Marshall spoke a word to me in a prayer line. He said that though I am logic-driven and a deep thinker, I can’t rely on this as I will be thrust into an unknown realm where I can only rely on the Spirit. That word really jolted me to the importance of being Spirit-led.
To be Spirit-led we must firstly know that God sent the Holy Spirit to be a helper to us. A helper assists and supports us in all situations. Secondly we are to relate to this helper as a person and, like any person, the Holy Spirit communicates. What I found very interesting was how the Holy Spirit likes to communicate to us via our personality.
From my own experience I have found this to be very true. I remember as a new-ish Christian in my early 30s embarking on my first fast. Two days into the fast, I was deep in thought analyzing a project at work when the Holy Spirit spoke to me saying it was time to get married. That certainly got my melancholy mind working overtime especially as I was very single at the time! True to his word I met my special someone in the following six months and was married a year later. When the Holy Spirit speaks, it pays to listen!
One of the overreaching goals of the SOT experience is spiritual growth. Pastor Ming drew down this idea even further when he said the purpose of SOT was to manifest one’s character. Spiritual growth and being Spirit-led go hand in hand. You just can’t have one without the other. We grow more in maturity as we are more led by the Holy Spirit.
On your pathway to spiritual maturity, don’t be blinded to the fact that we are to be led by God’s Spirit and not our own. When you march to the beat of your own drum, you not only miss out on God’s direction for your life but you are missing out on a big part of who God is. Don’t shortchange your relationship with Christ. Seek out His Spirit today.
Clinton is married to Grace, has two young boys and is fast approaching middle age (but don’t tell anyone else). He hails from the land of the long white cloud—New Zealand—and admits to having very little understanding of The Lord Of The Rings. Through his studies at SOT, he is seeking to find God’s true calling on his life.
