The Holy Spirit's Dangerous Leadings
In the book that I have been reading by John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, he has been writing about the need for wisdom in our lives. But he cautions us not to depend SOLELY upon wisdom. He cites the individuals in the Bible who made moves that would have appeared to be absolutely UNWISE in the eyes of others: Ananias praying for Saul, Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Moses going back to Egypt to face Pharaoh, Joshua’s march around Jericho, Gideon shrinking his army from 32,000 to 300, David facing Goliath, etc.
“Somewhere in our hearts I think we’d all love to have a role like that, be used by God so dramatically. To find it, wisdom is just not enough—may even hold us back from doing the will of God. The particular foolishness of the church in the past century was Reason above all else. The result has been a faith stripped of the supernatural, the Christianity of tips and techniques… We have our morals and we have our precepts, but where is the living God? How will we hear him call us out of Ur, lead us to our own promised land, bring us through our own Calvary?” (Eldredge, p. 101).
I know that this is absolutely the truth! It is easy for me to become so driven by all of the principles that I read about in leadership literature, that I slowly begin to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit that is leading me in a direction that appears to be so counterintuitive… and downright DANGEROUS! After Jesus’ incredible baptism experience in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. Can you imagine anything so unwise? Yet, the Spirit always leads us PERFECTLY. I want to become so much more concerned with the Holy Spirit’s leadership and direction in my life!
Last night before going to bed, I was reading about Samuel. Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. The Bible says that as he grew taller, he continued to gain favor with the Lord and with the people. Interestingly enough, Eli’s sons ALSO grew up in the presence of the Lord, yet they didn’t know God or His favor. What was different about Samuel? In a generation in which “messages from the Lord were very rare and visions were quite uncommon,” Samuel heard the voice of God. The Bible says that as Samuel grew up, “the Lord was WITH him…”
My desire for God’s presence is increasing. I am realizing that I MUST be filled with the Holy Spirit of God constantly and continually. I want to be wise and discerning, but even more, I want to HEAR and OBEY God’s voice.
“Somewhere in our hearts I think we’d all love to have a role like that, be used by God so dramatically. To find it, wisdom is just not enough—may even hold us back from doing the will of God. The particular foolishness of the church in the past century was Reason above all else. The result has been a faith stripped of the supernatural, the Christianity of tips and techniques… We have our morals and we have our precepts, but where is the living God? How will we hear him call us out of Ur, lead us to our own promised land, bring us through our own Calvary?” (Eldredge, p. 101).
I know that this is absolutely the truth! It is easy for me to become so driven by all of the principles that I read about in leadership literature, that I slowly begin to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit that is leading me in a direction that appears to be so counterintuitive… and downright DANGEROUS! After Jesus’ incredible baptism experience in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. Can you imagine anything so unwise? Yet, the Spirit always leads us PERFECTLY. I want to become so much more concerned with the Holy Spirit’s leadership and direction in my life!
Last night before going to bed, I was reading about Samuel. Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. The Bible says that as he grew taller, he continued to gain favor with the Lord and with the people. Interestingly enough, Eli’s sons ALSO grew up in the presence of the Lord, yet they didn’t know God or His favor. What was different about Samuel? In a generation in which “messages from the Lord were very rare and visions were quite uncommon,” Samuel heard the voice of God. The Bible says that as Samuel grew up, “the Lord was WITH him…”
My desire for God’s presence is increasing. I am realizing that I MUST be filled with the Holy Spirit of God constantly and continually. I want to be wise and discerning, but even more, I want to HEAR and OBEY God’s voice.
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