A Relationship With The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit will guide us, telling us about all truth and telling us the very words of God. Jesus speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.

John 16: 13-15,NIV

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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.

So without the Spirit in our lives guiding us and telling us the truth, how can we know what is true or false? How can we navigate life on earth? We grow up with beliefs we adopt through our experiences, words people say, or something someone did to us. We believe these things, and over time, without even thinking much about it, it becomes the foundation for how we see ourselves and others. Yet, we still make wrong decisions and false conclusions with all our acquired and innate knowledge.

So let’s imagine things we don’t know, like our future. Who can tell what will happen tomorrow? Without the Holy Spirit, we can’t say. We can make assumptions and have plans for tomorrow based on today’s experiences and routines. We can be optimistic about tomorrow. But the reality is even though we believe we know or can predict tomorrow, we don’t know what tomorrow brings. Only God does, and He can tell us or set us on the right path through the Holy Spirit when we cultivate a relationship with Him.

I heard a testimony about a man who was a criminal, and he was introduced to God while in jail. Jesus completely changed his life, and now he is a minister of God. I believe he currently pastors a church. He narrated a story about his life that spoke to me. While he was in Bible school, he saved some money to buy a nice leather jacket. Then one day, a pastor rang him and asked if he would come to one of the jails to share his testimony to the inmates so they could see what God had done in his life. Unfortunately, the pastor could not afford to pay for this trip. So he had a decision to make. He had to choose between using the money he saved to buy a leather jacket or transporting himself to preach to the inmates. So after praying, he decides to go to preach. It was a successful outing, and on his way back home, he met some people, spoke to them about Jesus, and some got saved. One of those who got saved eventually became his wife.

The Holy Spirit led his heart to use his savings to preach to the inmates, but little did he know that this decision was not only going to lay treasures in heaven but that it was an avenue for God to meet his physical needs. If he decided to disobey the voice of the Holy Spirit, he would not have met his wife, or his prayer for a spouse would have been unanswered for only God knows how long. God has already answered the prayers we offer. However, by not doing His will, we are stripping ourselves of His blessing. Sometimes we don’t do this on purpose. We are too busy to listen as we go on with our lives and daily pursuit.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them” (John 10:27). But how will we know his voice or become his sheep? We know his voice when we consistently spend time in prayer and ask God what to do in every situation in our lives, regardless of how trivial it appears to be. For example, you can ask God if you should go to an event or hang out with someone. You can ask Him who you should text, call or bless. The point is that nothing is too trivial to inquire from God. By communicating with God about everything in your life, you learn to hear and understand His voice. The little decisions we make every day make up who we are and where we will be in the future. For instance, wrong choices can make you end up in inappropriate relationships, hurting you today and hurting your future. It can take years to recover from bad decisions and be brought back to where God wants you to be.

“Behold I am doing a new thing…” Isaiah 43:19,NIV

I feel like it is God’s favourite thing to do something new, pull us out of our comfort zone, and stretch us to shape us into His liking. And to tell you the truth, God very rarely does the same thing twice the same way. He is so creative with infinite imagination. So you might think that you are always going through the same situation, but the way out each time is most likely not the way out it was last time. With God, it is never boring. He comes up with the most exciting things every day or reveals something about life that you have never understood. Therefore, it is beautiful to walk in unity with God’s Spirit. 

It is not easy to walk with God. It requires total surrender and full participation in this relationship, just like participating in a friendship. To maintain this relationship, you need to dedicate time and effort. Just like you can’t be selfish and make your earthly relationship all about your needs, your relationship with God is not about you alone. A relationship built on selfishness is toxic, but true friendship is sacrifice and thinking about the other party’s needs. 

Our attitude in our relationship with God should be a heart of sacrifice and obedience to God’s will. God wants all of us, not part of us. He wants the good, bad, happy and sad in us. The good thing is that he takes every part of us and transforms them into conformity with Him. As we develop a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, we become more like Him. This is an earthly, heavenly and eternal blessing no other relationship can produce.

Photo credit: ©istockphoto/modera76

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