“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” —Luke 3:21-22
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.” —Luke 4:1-2
Main Point - You will either be led by the Spirit or you will follow the world.
One of the basic ideas I want to present here is that when we say Spirit Led, what the Scripture is asking you to do is follow a person. The Third Person of The Trinity, God Himself, is a person to be followed. He is to lead us.
Let’s define Spirit Led:
“In Paul’s vocabulary, to walk in the Spirit or be led by the Spirit means to go where the Spirit is going, to listen to his voice, to discern his will, to follow his guidance.” —Timothy George
How Does The Holy Spirit Lead Us?
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” —Romans 8:14
Paul says in Galatians 5 that we are not to walk after or follow the flesh and its desires, but we are to walk by the Spirit and the Spirit will produce its fruit in our lives.
There Is No
As it pertains to the walk of life, being led by the Spirit, God gives us no map.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” —Galatians 5:25
What Does This Look Like Practically?
Here are three ways and there are certainly more, but here are three ways the Spirit leads us today:
The Spirit Leads Through
First and foremost, the Holy Spirit leads us through prayer and into prayer. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he prayed and fasted for 40 days.
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” —Luke 5:16
The Spirit Leads Through God’s
The Spirit also guides us through the Holy Scriptures. God speaks to us through his word and illuminates his word to us.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” —Psalm 119:103
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” —Jeremiah 15:16
The Spirit Leads Through
The third way that I want to highlight here today is what I call the “nudges” or the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
“When we say we have a “vision” or “burden” about something, we are referring to an impression. When our concern is biblically proper, we are right to regard our impression as a nudge from the Holy Spirit.” —J.I. Packer
“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;” —Isaiah 30:1