The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
More Than Comforter, Part 4
As a teenager, I struggled with the concept of knowing the will of God. Should I become a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a detective? Is it God’s will for me to go on a short-term evangelical mission to France or not? Who will I marry? When we talk about the will of God, we generally think in terms of three sources to verify whether we are following the will of God or not: the Bible, wise counsel from godly people, and circumstances, i.e. closed or open doors.
We don’t necessarily take into account that it is the Holy Spirit who leads us as far as the will of God is concerned. In the Old Testament, lots were cast like dice to determine God’s will (Lev. 16:8, Josh. 18:6-10 for example). The last recorded event using the casting of lots is in Acts 1:20-26 when Matthias was chosen to replace Judas among the apostles. The later calling of Saul and Barnabas to be sent as missionaries came directly from the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-4).
Since the advent of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, the presence of the Holy Spirit in each Christian makes God’s will known. Acts 16:6-7 describes a portion of Paul’s missionary journey in terms of two places the Holy Spirit did not allow him to go: “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, [they] were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia they assayed to go into Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not.”
Direction in what we say is also a function of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 12:11-12 Jesus warned His disciples “when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.” Acts 7:55 implies, for example, that Stephen was “full of the Holy Ghost” already during his defense before the high priest. Peter was “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 4:8) when he defended the healing of a man born lame. When Peter and John later recounted their defense before the Jewish leaders and their subsequent release, the church at Jerusalem rejoiced. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
Our leading from the Holy Spirit is in fact, a proof of our relationship with God. Romans 8:14-17 tells us “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ – if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
