Guided by the Holy Spirit
13. But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come.
14. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.
15. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you.
John 16:13-15
Checking the Dashboard
We have introduced the “spiritual dashboard” as a helpful tool for looking at and measuring your spiritual life. By no means is it intended to replace the Scripture and as a matter of fact, the concept depends solely on the Bible for its effectiveness. As with any model or tool developed by humans, it is only a resource. The Word of God is always the perfect guide for our life. The spiritual dashboard provides some helpful strategies for applying Scripture to everyday life. With that in mind, lets point to the four key elements of the spiritual dashboard.
As you and I make our trek through this life, we must have clear direction as to where we are going, how we are going to get there, and what threats will we have to face in making that journey. The spiritual dashboard helps us in answering these very critical questions. The first gauge on the dashboard is the Threat Indicator. It helps us monitor the threats and risks that we will have to face on our journey. If you are of the opinion that you will never face any threats and that you will never take any risks, then you are disillusioned to say the least. Life is loaded with landmines that can blow up in your face at any given time. There are relational threats, financial threats, health threats, and threats to your reputation. Not to mention the risks that you must accept as you make some difficult decisions. If you make up your mind to take a certain action, by default you forfeit other opportunities and the benefits that may have been related to that decision. This is what we mean by threats and you certainly need a way to measure that area of your life.
Another gauge is the Prayer Indicator. No matter what goes on in your life, you must always consult God. Why? For starters, you are going to need His help no matter which decision you make. Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. This is perhaps the most prominent instrument on your spiritual dashboard due to the fact that nothing good happens without prayer. Some say prayer is the key to God’s Kingdom. I would argue that prayer is the key to everything. The critical element that makes faith work is prayer. Consider the fact that Jesus always prayed and never acted on anything without first consulting His Father. If it was that crucial for Jesus, you had better be sure to pay attention to its readings on your spiritual dashboard.
The third gauge on the spiritual dashboard is the Practice Indicator. This measures your obedience to God. Once we have prayed, that should prepare the believer for action whether it is to fight against the enemy or to reach out to those in need. God expects us to not simply hear His Word, but to also commit to performing His Word. This is what makes living for God so exciting. When we eagerly carry out God’s Word, the Lord commits Himself to performing extraordinary things in the believer’s life. For that reason, you and I should be excited about doing God’s Will. The other obedience factor is Love. If you really love the Father, then you would delight in partnering with Him in doing amazing things. If the Practice Indicator gauge points to low activity, then you have not only failed to do God’s Will, but you have also missed some great opportunities to experience the Power of God.
Lastly, is the Praise Indicator. Need I say more? This important dashboard feature checks to see if we are grateful for the many blessings of God. It also indicates maturity in the faith by demonstrating whether we have learned to trust God in every circumstance of life. As with the other gauges on our spiritual dashboard, the praise level should always be high. If God has not performed what He promised, then we know that He will. If God has performed what He promised, then there is no excuse for not giving God all the Glory. Your spiritual dashboard should be lit up as you venture to serve the Lord with gladness each day.
Now, I said all of that to say this: none of these functions will work without the Holy Spirit. The Threat Indicator will always be sounding a false alarm or not functioning at all. The Holy Spirit warns us of things to come. The Prayer Indicator will seem repetitious and ineffective without the Holy Spirit. The Practice Indicator will certainly be registering “zero” because we can do nothing without God’s Power. As for the Praise Indicator, that too will be nothing more than noise in God’s Ear without the Holy Spirit directing us in heartfelt praise. So what we will do is reflect on how the Holy Spirit guides us and uses the Word of God to light up our spiritual dashboard.
God Sent Help – He Came Himself
Absolutely no one has ever lived in the future. You do not know what is ahead and for that reason, you cannot prepare for future events unless someone helps you. Please note that Jesus could have sent mighty angels to guide us through life. God could have given us some special insight to help us face the challenges and threats in this world. He could have changed the path itself so that there were no risks and dangers. But God did none of those things. He instead sent the Holy Spirit to guide is. How wonderful!
The goal for the Holy Spirit’s presence is not merely to get us through this maze of human existence. The goal is to bring us to the fullness of Christ. But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come … He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you … All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you. This is why we reference the “spiritual dashboard” because there are four specific things in this verse that God is doing in us and for us through the Powerful Ministry of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God is guiding us. The Spirit of God is speaking to us. The Spirit of God is glorifying Christ in us. The Spirit of God is informing us of everything that God has made available to us.
Where is God leading us? Some would answer that God is guiding us to Heaven. In the sense of finality that is true, but why not go the direct route if that is the case. The Spirit of God is guiding us in this life to be witnesses for Christ. In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, you shall receive Power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses … A witness is someone who testifies about and for someone else. So, when the Threat Indicator lights up, that is reminding us that we need to be a witness of what Jesus has done. But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth. The Holy Spirit prompts us to testify either with the way we live or with words what God is doing in our life. Whether the surroundings are unpleasant or pleasant, the Spirit of God will guide you and keep you. That is God guiding us.
The Spirit of God also speaks in us in prayer. How else would we know what to pray and how to pray without the Holy Spirit guiding us. Your prayers are so important to God that He does not want you to miss out on any of your prayer requests. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come. As you listen to God’s Word through the Holy Spirit, your prayer life will take on a whole new meaning. Rather than conducting “gimme sessions” with God. You will find yourself praying effective prayers and those prayers will be answered because the Holy Spirit will be instructing you what to say according to God’s Will and God’s Word.
Jesus loved us so much that He was not willing to leave us as orphans to fend for ourselves and try to fight our way through this world. He sent us the Helper, or God’s Spirit Who now is in charge of guiding us through life to get to God’s Glory. Remember I said, the goal is not merely to get through this life but to be God’s Witness? He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. Everyday, God is being glorified one way or the other. God is Glorified when His people are obedient to the Word of God. God is Glorified each time the Gospel is shared with another soul. God is Glorified each time a believer takes a stand for righteousness. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there would be no Glory. That is why Jesus said, I will not leave you alone.
Thank God for the Holy Spirit leading us. We will never encounter a situation that God will not equip us to endure. The Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you. Knowing that God’s Spirit is informing us and this is not “artificial intelligence,” we are able to endure any trial and face any adversary. We have information that the world cannot receive. Through God’s Spirit, we have direct access to God’s Throne. If we lack wisdom (according to James 1:16) all that is need is to ask God. As for the hardships in life, we don’t run away from them, we run to them by the Holy Spirit’s Power.
I close with the illustration of David the Shepherd. He was anointed with the Power of the Holy Spirit that would make him into a true leader. What was it that gave David the insight that the giant Goliath would be defeated. Everyone in the camp of Israel was saying “no way.” The shepherd David was not getting his information from man, the Holy Spirit was speaking to him. He simply verbalized what God had whispered in his heart. It was no surprise when the giant fell because in David’s mind, God had already won the battle.
The same Holy Spirit that was with David now dwells in every believer. All we need to do is look at the spiritual dashboard and pay attention to what God is doing. Then, we can praise God for the victory that we have in Christ Jesus.