To be led by the Spirit of God

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.” Matthew 4:1

Have you ever thought about what it meant for Jesus to be led by the Spirit? Did the Spirit grab his hand and say, “come now, it is time to go into the wilderness”? Was it a series of signs strategically placed by the Spirit that pointed Jesus into the wilderness? Could He have taken Him to a passage of Scripture and given Jesus revelation about going into the desert? Or did Jesus hear an audible voice from heaven saying, “Son go yonder into the wilderness”?

I believe that all those possibilities are possible but inaccurate. Unlike anybody that has ever lived I believe that Jesus understood the art of fellowshipping with the Spirit of God. Jesus learned to hear, and more specifically, to identify the voice of the Holy Spirit no matter how He spoke, when He spoke, where He spoke, or by what means He spoke.

Even in my own life as Father has been teaching me the ways of His Spirit I have discovered that God doesn’t always speak the same way twice. Therefore, the real art of hearing God is the art of discerning or identifying the “still small voice” of His Spirit.

It is important that we understand that the Holy Spirit doesn’t just speak to us concerning Scripture, though He will never speak against or contrary to Scripture, but He will also speak to us and lead us to do things we would/could never do on our own. You may find yourself about to take a left at the stop light and suddenly (A suddenly moment as in Acts 2) the Holy Spirit tells you to continue driving straight. You’re not sure at first why He told you not to turn but in faith you obey only to find out that He was saving you from a car accident or leading you to share the gospel with somebody that needed to hear it at that very moment in time.

I have heard on occasions Christians mocking other Christians for saying they heard from God. Not that I am unaware of the abuses that abound in this area, but what Christians need isn’t ignorance and mocking but teaching on how to rightly and properly discern and obey the Voice of God. Some Christians live as if they hadn’t received the Spirit of God at all but a deaf and dumb spirit much like the idols worshiped by the pagans. For the sake of Christ, we have the Spirit of God Himself living on the inside of us and to act as if no-one is even there is either because no-one is there or because our minds need to be renewed by the Word of God.

You say that you have the word of God, but do you have the voice of God ringing in your ears? When you read your Bible are you simply reading about God or are you hearing God speak to you, convict you, convince you, challenge you, drawing you, sending you? I dare say that many have the Word of God but they have not heard or do not know the Voice of God. That voice that “shatters the cedars of Lebanon, that flashes flames of fire, that shakes the wilderness, and makes the deer give birth. (Psalm 29:5-9)” It is important that you know that the letter kills, but it is the Spirit who gives life.