Turning the World Upside Down - pt. 13

[PreacherE]

They followed the Holy Spirit's leading

Acts 16:9-10

'And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
'And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.'

Paul and Silas had traveled through Syria and Cilicia visiting the churches that had been established previously. They then passed through the areas of Phyrgia and Galatia. At this time they attempted to go into Asia preaching the Gospel but the Holy Ghost forbade them to do so. They also attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to preach there either. As they waited in Troas, Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia beckoning him to come. They had followed the Spirit's leading in not going to the other places and now the Spirit was showing them the direction they needed to take.

1. The Holy Spirit will direct us if we allow Him to.
Paul was one of the greatest men of God to ever live as well as one of the greatest missionaries to ever go forth with the Gospel. He had been on one journey already starting numerous churches and now was on his second journey looking to do the same. After Paul had visited some of the churches from his first journey he began to look for a new area to take the Gospel. His first two choices, Asia and Bithynia, were forbidden of Him by the Holy Spirit. It did not take long, however, for the Holy Spirit to show him where he needed to go.

The Holy Spirit is still in the business of leading Christians today. He wants to help lead us in our lives in the way that we should go. We, however, must be willing to follow His leading when He offers it. A good number of Christians have no interest in following the Spirit's leading. God is not going to force us into service for Him. He does not beat us over the head, so to speak, until we fall in line. He will show us the path He wants us to take, but then it is our choice whether we walk in that path or not. Sadly, many choose to ignore the path God has prepared for them.

In every aspect of our lives we should be looking for the Holy Spirit's direction. We should never make a decision, especially a major decision, without spending time in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to direct our way. The path that God has prepared for us is the best way for our lives to follow. Who are we to think that we could ever improve upon Gods plan for our lives? By following His will we can rest assured that not only will we be walking close proximity to Him, but alsot that we will receive all of the blessings and awards that He has waiting for us.

The problem some Christians have is that they do not recognize the Spirit's leading when He presents it. For some it is because they are too immature spiritually. They have never grown in their knowledge as a Christian and so they have trouble walking the path God has laid before them. If we refuse to obey God's Word and the Holy Spirit in one area then He will not be able to lead us much farther until we surrender that area over to Him. Others have the problem of trying to get the Spirit to lead them contrary to the Word of God. He will not lead us into any type of open sin which the Bible clearly speaks out against. It is amazing though how many Christians claim that God has given them peace for having sin in their lives. If the Bible says something is sin then we need to stay away from it, likewise, if the Bible commands us to do something then we should be busy doing it.
The Holy Spirit wants to lead us and will lead us but we have to allow Him to do so.

2. God's will should always supercede our own will.
In our introduction we see that Paul had a way which he wanted to go. In verse 6 of Acts 16 we see that he first wanted to go into Asia, but the Holy Spirit told him no. In verse 7 they attempted to go into Bithynia but were once again told no by the Holy Spirit. Paul surrendered his will to God's will throughout his life and God blessed him because of it. Paul could have chosen to follow his own will isntead of the leading of the Holy Spirit. He could have decided to go into Asia or Bithynia but that would have placed him outside of the will of God. If Paul had followed his will over God's will then God would never have been able to use him the way that He did.

We should make it a priority in our lives to follow the will of God. We should strive to make sure that everything we do falls within the will of God. God wants to use us to accomplish His will but He can not use us if we are not walking in His will. There is no telling what God could do through us if we would devote ourselves to following the will of God in every aspect of our lives. Many times we miss the blessings God has prepared for us because we are following our own will instead of God's will.

Doing God's will should always take precedence over what we want. This is not to say that we can not make plans and have dreams for the future. We ought to have some plans and dreams for the future. Whatever we plan, however, should be with the understanding that God many change and mold those plans so they fit in His will for our life. In other words, we should give God veto power in our lives to use as He sees fit. We need to be prepared for the possibility that God may direct us down a path other than what we had planned. When that happens then we need to surrender our will to the authority of God's will.

As Christians we need to listen for and then follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every aspect of our lives. Anytime we fail to do so it causes a rift in our relationship with Christ that can not be mended until we repent of our sin and step back into God's will.

In Christ,
PreacherE