The Holy Spirit will lead you by warning you at times.
— Lisa Osteen
He will help you avoid trouble or harm. He know things that we do not know.
In Galatians 5 Paul talks about our freedom in Christ and how to be led by the Holy Spirit. He starts off his letter by telling us that Christ has set us free from the slavery of sin by dying on the cross. And to make sure we stay free and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
What does it mean not to get tied up again in slavery to the law? This means that we used to be slaves to sin. What is the law? The law is the ten commandments that God gave to Moses. The Ten Commandments hold the laws of God. (e.g. thou shalt not murder, steal, lie etc…) In John 8:34 Jesus states that “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
The law was put in place to point out how sinful we are, therefore since Christ died for our sins we are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer under God’s curse. Galatians 3 states that a curse is for everyone who is hung on a tree. Therefore, Jesus became that curse for us.
God in his loving kindness and tender mercies freed us from the curse of law by sending his Son Jesus to die for us. We are now living under God’s grace.
What does it mean we have been called to live in freedom, but don’t use our freedom to satisfy our sinful nature? Christ has set us free from the curse of the law. We must not think for a second that we can go back to our old sinful lifestyle and abuse the grace of God. we should no longer practice sin or want to indulge in sinful behaviour.
The desires of our sinful nature are Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these…
Other sins like these may include gossiping, slandering, little white lies, dirty jokes etc…
God makes it very clear that if we continue to practice these sins, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
What does it mean to be led by the spirit? To be led by the spirit is to listen to the Holy Spirit leading in your life. The Holy Spirit is the one who produces the fruit of the spirit in our lives.
The fruits of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5: 22-23 Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If you manifest the fruit of the spirit in your life, you are being led by the spirit.
Galatians 5:17 states that the Holy Spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the sinful nature desires. Therefore, God is the one who gives us godly desires to please him.
However, these are just desires; our responsibility is to act on those desires God has placed in our hearts. They are not going to manifest in our lives with just wishful thinking. We have to do it, we must be intentional. Only then will we see great results and bear good fruits that last.
Philippians 2:12-13 states that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
What does it mean for it is God who works in you? The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us desires that are opposite of what the sinful nature desires.
This is God working in you, he has given you those desires for you to bring about in your life. Therefore, you are pregnant with the fruit of the spirit, all you need to do is give birth to those desires.
How to be led by the Spirit
- We must demonstrate Love to our brothers and sisters who are in Christ and to those whom we come in contact with.
- We must be Joyful; God wants us to be joyful. In His presence, there is fullness of joy
- We must live in Peace with each other; not going around looking for trouble
- We must demonstrate Patience towards each other
- We must express Gentleness towards each other. Our speech should be filled with love and grace, not in an aggressive manner or tone that can start an argument.
- We must demonstrate Kindness to one another. Give a helping hand when you see someone in need. Show kindness in your words, and actions as well.
- We must display goodness in our lives; and show others that we care by giving a helping hand.
- We must display faithfulness in everything we do
- We must exhibit self-control in our lives
What I have highlighted in bold is called the fruit of the spirit. Hence, when we display the fruit of the spirit in our lives we are being led by the spirit of God.
Now that we have come to the full knowledge and understanding of what it means to be led by the Holy Spirit let us be sensitive to the holy spirit and listen for his promptings.
Let us not get caught up in our sinful desires. However, make room in your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you. Do not allow sin to control your life, because the bible tells us those who practice sin are slaves to the law.
Therefore, those who are in Christ Jesus are freed from the curse of the law. Hence, we should not go back to the old sinful lifestyle that we were once in. because Christ has saved us and set us free. We must now walk in the new nature which Christ gives us.
We are a new creation in Christ, the old has gone and the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5: 17. Thus, because God has given us his Spirit we must become more like Christ every day.