Every professing Christians who genuinely gave his or her life to Christ are baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was addressing His disciples prior to His Crucifixion in John 14:16 said He will ask the father to give them another comforter to abide with them forever. He called the comforter, the spirit of truth whom the world cannot received because they knoweth him not. That Comforter is the Holy Spirit of God also known as an" Helper". The text of the sermon in v. 14-15 specifically describes those that are led by the spirit of God, are called Sons of God. We received the spirit of adoption to have the capability to call God "Abba father". And as a result, God's spirit bear witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. Jesus Christ was addressing the Samaritan woman in John 4:23 and said "that the time has come for true worshippers to worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers that the Father seeks.
The question to us now is "how do we worship God? Is it in the spirit or in the flesh? The bible in Gal. 5:17 says that the flesh and the Spirit are constantly at war. Rom. 8:13 Says that if we live after the flesh, we shall die, but if we live by the spirit of God, we shall mortify the deeds of the body and we shall live. And in Gal. 5: 19-21, we are told the ways and manners the flesh manifest itself in the form of adultery, fornication, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition s, heresies, envying s, murders, drunkenness, reveling s and in the final analysis, it said that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Which means that anyone whose flesh is manifesting the listed characters are under the law and therefore subject to condemnation according to Romans 8: 1. It is therefore the responsibility of each believer to ensure that he or she do not use the liberty in Christ for an occasion to the flesh according to Galatians 5:13, but by love to serve one another.
We can see clearly that from the listed manifestations of the works of the flesh that it will be impossible to be led by the spirit of God.
Now, let's examine the manifestations of the spirit of God.
The bible gave us an insight in Galatians 5:22-23 that the life of a true believer that is led by the Spirit of God should be manifesting the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
How To Be Led By The Spirit of God.
This sermon is address to believers who had already gave their entire life to Christ to manage on their behalf and not for unbelievers. Such believers need the Holy Spirit for guidance and direction. There are various ways that the Word of God teaches us about being led by the Holy Spirit and I will only mention a few of them.
1. You must be able to understand the ways and manners God usually communicate with you. God told Joshua in Joshua 1: 8 that the book of the law must not depart from him and he (Joshua) should meditate it day and night and in it he will be successful in all his endeavours. The question is, as a child of God, are you regularly reading/studying and meditating on the Word of God? Do you analyze and dissect the Word of God that you have read to allow it to sink into your Spirit Man?
2. You should be ready to fast in order to bring the flesh under subjection of the Spirit of God. In Acts 13: 2, the bible said that the Apostles were given a direction after they had fasted by requiring Barnabas and Saul to be separated from them for a special assignment.
3. You must be ready to obey whatever the Holy Spirit of God requested you do no matter how crazy it is. It is in your obedience that God will prove Himself.
4. You must have faith. The faith I am talking about is the type of faith demonstrated by the Centurion soldier in Matt. 8: 8-10.
In conclusion, Ephesians 5:15-16 says that it is important for us as believers to be led by the Spirit of God at all times because the days are evil and to walk circumspectly and not as fools but as wise person redeeming the time.
Let us pray!
Abba Father, we pray as your children that we be led by your Holy Spirit in our walk with you. We also pray that as many non-believers out there, that the Lord of Harvest will harvest them into your Kingdom without further delay in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
