Let’s begin today with a very simple question that is designed more for you to reflect upon and examine than it is to blurt out the first thing that pops in our head.  And the question is....

How do you know if you are being led by God’s Spirit?

I mean...How. Do. You. Really. Know?

It’s an important question to address, for sure, and I cannot underscore enough how important it is. This is a good thing to reflect upon, especially since we are admonished to “examine ourselves as to whether we are even ‘in the faith’...and to ‘test ourselves’ so we might ‘know that Jesus Christ is in us’!” (2 Cor. 13:5)

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you are beginning to feel a bit miffed or offended for being challenged by such a question, then I can I just tell you now that despite whatever ‘spiritual resumé’ you might have (Matt. 7:22; 1 Cor. 13:1-3), you may be in greater peril than you could ever imagine (1 Cor. 10:12)

I only say that because when John wrote his first epistle, he points out how there is a clear manifestation that distinguishes the difference between the ‘children of God and the children of the devil’; and may I remind you those are his words, and not mine (1 John 3:10)

So when Paul writes, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God...these are the sons/children of God...” (Rom. 8:14), it would seem to me that it’s not a bad idea for all of us to stop and examine if we are truly being led by His Spirit, not to mention whether we are even able to explain to others how one does that.

Now I realize we’ve been studying this idea of realigning our hearts and returning to our ‘first love’ by repenting and doing those ‘first works’ over again as we read about in Rev. 2:4-5. But doing those first works again were supposed to be preceded by genuine repentance, which one can trust will be confirmed by a ‘time of refreshing that comes from the presence of the Lord’ (Acts 3:19-20; James 4:7-10; Luke 15:17-24). I felt compelled to camp out and spend another day addressing this ‘realigning our hearts’ because if we don’t do this correctly at first, we will probably miss the next step in doing those ‘first works’. I promise we’ll get there though. :- )

I should also point out that when scripture speaks of a ‘time of refreshing’, please don’t interpret this to mean some shallow emotional experience; and trust me, there is a difference here. I suspect far too many people have jumped up and out of the presence of the King (Ecc. 8:3) before they allowed Him to do a work of cleansing and renewal in their hearts. Simply being awash in tear-filled eyes along with goosebumps, or even maybe ‘speaking in tongues’ might figure in to this holy encounter with God at some point, but there is something more on the way, and it usually is going to be marked by a deep abiding ‘peace that passes all understanding’ (Phil. 4:7)

Again...when this happens, don’t be in a hurry to leave it (Ecc. 8:3) Be like Mary and ‘choose the better’ option instead of being compelled to jump up and start ’serving’ the Lord, like Martha did (Luke 10:38-42). I only mention this because it is this abiding peace that God intended to be our ‘guide’ and our way of knowing we are being led by His Spirit. It would serve you well to become very familiar with it, because if/when you do, you won’t ever want to be away or apart from it; trust me on that one. In fact, you will want to learn to become dependent on it in some ways, like many of us have grown to be dependent on our GPS maps that get us from one place to another. I think many of us are at a point where we are recognizing the time is short and we don’t have enough of it to waste trying to ‘figure this out’ on our own. Why make it harder on ourselves when He is willing to lead us and show us the ‘way’?

And one of the first places this ‘pathway of peace’ is going to lead you to...is ‘truth’, truth that will set you free so you can do the will of God, which includes going...and ‘sinning no more’. (Luke 1:79; John 8:32-36; 16:12-13; 1 John 3:6)

I have those moments...where I feel as if I let God and others down in the past...for not learning all this much earlier. I got ‘close’ on several occasions, but still drifted off course, like so many of us tend to do. And yet, God in His kindness and mercy reminds me and encourages me regularly to ‘forget those things that are behind and press on’ (Phil. 3:13). And I kid you not, I cannot ever read what Jesus told Peter, without tearing up and getting a big lump in my throat, that line about “And when you return to Me...strengthen your brethren’ (Luke 22:32)

See you tomorrow.