Why Be Guided by God’s Spirit? “You are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me.”—PS. 143:10. Can Jehovah continue to use his spirit to guide us through life? He promised the psalmist David: “I shall make you have insight and instruct you in the way you should go.” (Ps. 32:8) Did David want that? Yes, for he appealed to Jehovah: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me.” (Ps. 143:10) We should have the same desire and willingness to be guided by God’s spirit. Why so? Consider four reasons. We Are Not Qualified to Guide Ourselves First, we should want to be guided by God’s spirit because we are not capable of guiding ourselves. “To guide” means “to direct in a course or show the way to be followed.” However, Jehovah did not create us with the ability to do that for ourselves, especially not in our imperfect condition. His prophet Jeremiah wrote: “O Lord, I am conscious that a man’s way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps.” (Jer. 10:23, The Bible in Basic English) And why not? Jeremiah heard God’s analysis of why we are impaired when it comes to directing ourselves. Speaking of the person we are inside, Jehovah said: “The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?”—Jer. 17:9; Matt. 15:19. Would it not be foolhardy for an inexperienced person to set off alone, without a skilled guide and not so much as a compass, hiking deep into an uncharted wilderness? Not knowing how to survive inhospitable conditions in the wild and not having the expertise to find his way safely to his destination, he would be putting his life in jeopardy. So, too, the person who thinks he can direct his course through this wicked world without allowing God to show him the right way is placing his life in grave danger. The only chance we have of traversing this system of things successfully is to make the same prayerful request to Jehovah that David did: “Let my steps take hold on your tracks, in which my footsteps will certainly not be made to totter.” (Ps. 17:5; 23:3) How is it possible to receive such guidance? If we are humble and willing to depend on Jehovah, he will impart to us his holy spirit as a sure guide for our steps. How will that active force help us? Jesus explained to his disciples: “The helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things I told you.” (John 14:26) As we regularly and prayerfully study God’s Word, including all the sayings of Christ, holy spirit will increase our comprehension of Jehovah’s deep wisdom, so that we can follow his will closely. (1 Cor. 2:10) Additionally, at any unexpected turn in the road to life, the spirit will show us the way to go. It will bring to mind Bible principles that we have already learned and help us to grasp how they apply in directing our next step. Jesus Was Guided by God’s Spirit A second reason why we should want to be guided by holy spirit is that God led his own Son by it. Before coming to earth, the only-begotten Son of God knew of the prophecy: “Upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.” (Isa. 11:2) Just imagine how eager Jesus was to receive the help of God’s spirit while residing in the environment that he faced here on earth! 11 Jehovah’s words came true. The Gospel record states what happened immediately after Jesus’ baptism: “Now Jesus, full of holy spirit, turned away from the Jordan, and he was led about by the spirit in the wilderness.” (Luke 4:1) There, while Jesus was fasting, praying, and meditating, Jehovah likely instructed and enlightened his Son about what lay ahead for him. God’s active force was at work on Jesus’ mind and heart, guiding his thinking and decisions. As a result, Jesus knew what to do in each situation, and he did exactly what his Father wanted him to do. Knowing the value of the effects of God’s spirit in his own life, Jesus impressed on his disciples the importance of their asking for and being led by holy spirit. (Read Luke 11:9-13.) Why is that so necessary for us? Because it can transform our thinking, so that it resembles the mind of Christ. (Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:16) By letting God’s spirit guide our lives, we can think as Christ does and imitate his example.—1 Pet. 2:21. The World’s Spirit Would Lead Us Astray The third reason for wanting God’s spirit to guide us is that without it we could be led astray by the unholy spirit that is at work in the lives of most people today. The world has its own powerful, impelling force that foments a course totally opposite of what holy spirit can produce in us. Rather than fostering in people the mind of Christ, the world’s spirit causes their thinking and actions to resemble those of the ruler of the world, Satan. (Read Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3.) When a person gives in to the world’s spirit and takes up practicing the works of the flesh, grave consequences result, preventing him from inheriting God’s Kingdom.—Gal. 5:19-21. Jehovah has equipped us to resist the spirit of the world. The apostle Paul said to “go on acquiring power in the Lord and in the mightiness of his strength . . . that you may be able to resist in the wicked day.” (Eph. 6:10, 13) By means of his spirit, Jehovah fortifies us to withstand Satan’s efforts to mislead us. (Rev. 12:9) The spirit of the world is strong, and we cannot avoid it altogether. However, we do not have to be corrupted by it. Holy spirit is even stronger, and it will help us! Of those who forsook Christianity in the first century, the apostle Peter said: “Abandoning the straight path, they have been misled.” (2 Pet. 2:15) How very thankful we can be that we have received, “not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God”! (1 Cor. 2:12) With the help of its influence and by taking full advantage of all of Jehovah’s provisions to keep us on the right path spiritually, we can succeed in resisting the satanic spirit of this wicked world.—Gal. 5:16. Holy Spirit Produces Good Fruitage A fourth reason for wanting God’s spirit to work within us is that it produces healthy fruitage in the lives of those who are led by it. (Read Galatians 5:22, 23.) Who among us would not want to be more loving, joyful, and peaceable? Who of us would not like to abound in long-suffering, kindness, and goodness? Who of us would not benefit from developing greater faith, mildness, and self-control? God’s spirit produces in us fine qualities that benefit us and those with whom we live and serve. Cultivating this fruitage is a constant work in progress, since there is no limit to the amount of the spirit’s fruitage that we need and are permitted to produce. We are wise to take stock of ourselves to be sure that our words and actions give evidence that we are directed by holy spirit and are producing its fruitage. (2 Cor. 13:5a; Gal. 5:25) If we see that we need to cultivate some aspects of the fruitage of the spirit, we can cooperate with holy spirit to a greater degree in producing such qualities. We do this by studying each aspect as it is revealed through the pages of the Bible and discussed in our Christian publications. Thus we can discern how the spirit’s fruitage should be manifested in our everyday life and then work to cultivate it to a greater extent. As we observe the results of the operation of God’s spirit in our own life as well as in the lives of our fellow Christians, we clearly see why we must be guided by it.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:54:37 +0000