Spirit Know-How

Have you ever experienced instruction from the Spirit?

Jesus spoke to his disciples in John 14:26, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

Does this idea of a Spirit inside of us excite anyone else? When I think about the fact that God has put a deposit of Himself inside of each Christian, I'm just in awe. God's Spirit can urge us to confess sins so we are on the right track and come clean before God. The Spirit can give a nudge when we encounter wrong things. He can teach us through God's Word, the Bible. He can enlighten us with knowledge we could not know on our own.

First Corinthians 2:12-14 says, "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

I remember a trip to the mall. My husband and I had just entered a store. Suddenly it was as if the air was cold and the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. My husband turned to me. "Did you feel that?" I nodded my agreement. We turned on our heels and left the store. As we were leaving, we glimpsed a couple dressed in very dark clothing and wearing satanic symbols. I'm convinced that God's Spirit in both of us warned us about the evil present in that store.

One night I awoke from a sound sleep and got the strongest urging to pray for someone in my family. Later I found out the family member was experiencing some problems at just that time. How else could I know without the Spirits's nudge?

Recently I was struggling to complete a novel I was writing that was based on a particular Biblical passage. I knew there was a scene to write but I also knew that I didn't have all I needed to construct that scene. I wandered into the living room and plopped into my husband's recliner. I noticed his New King James Bible on the table. I turned to the scripture passage and there at the end were three other verse addresses. I immediately turned to them and my eyes were opened. I couldn't get paper fast enough to write that scene.

I don't have enough space to recount the times the Spirit has interpreted a scripture specifically for my life or circumstance. I've also had the privilege of the Spirit enlightening a passage even more deeply for my understanding.

Did you catch the end of the First Corinthians verse above? People who do not contain the Spirit will not understand. It is those of us Christians who contain the Spirit that "get it."

So, to take advantage of this Spirit know-how, you need to walk in the Spirit. Study God's Word and be sensitive to the Spirit's leading.