Are You Led by the Spirit?

Two places in the Bible say the words, “led by the Spirit,” both in the New Testament. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness in Luke 4:1. Then in Romans 8:14, the Apostle Paul writes: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Someone would rightly want to know what it means to be “led by the Spirit.” How someone knows he is saved, truly converted, on his way to heaven, is that he is led by the Spirit. That’s what Romans 8:14 indicates, those led by the Spirit are the sons of God. The converse is also true, not led by the Spirit and not a son of God.

A first indicator that you are led by the Spirit is that you are not led by something or someone else, including yourself. The Holy Spirit today leads not through a voice in the head, but through scripture. As you go about your week, do you do what the Holy Spirit wants, which is taught in scripture, or do you do what you want?

The opposite of being led by the Spirit in the New Testament is to “walk after the flesh.” That contrast is seen earlier in Romans 8:4, saying, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Walking after the flesh is doing or fulfilling your own desires as a characteristic or habit. The Holy Spirit says, be in church faithfully, but you don’t like that as well as just being there whenever you want, when you like. The Holy Spirit says, preach the gospel, but you don’t want to, so you don’t. You might talk about something, but it isn’t Jesus Christ. It’s just something fun or interesting to yourself and the other person.

A good question is, “what did Jesus do?” Read the gospels and then the explanation of the gospels in the epistles and find out about what Jesus did. Do you do that? That’s how the Holy Spirit leads.