Learning to be Led by the Holy Spirit

Have you ever experienced this:

Something seems good and desirable, and as far as you know it makes sense, seems fine - but you just don't quite feel right about it?

It's a bit like stepping on a wet tile, right after you've just put your socks on, when you're in a hurry to go out!

You might try hard not to feel too bad about it, but the uncomfortable feeling is there. 

You try rationalising about it, but you still just can't find a settled, lasting peace about it.

So you might go and ask someone for advice, but even if he or she thinks you should go for it, you still have this sense of dread about it.

Like a bird fluttering around unable to find a safe perch on which to rest the sole of her foot.

You're hesitant, even though you don't wish to be - it's a real spanner in the works!

That's the Holy Spirit guiding you, "No". 

Then other times, you might be presented with an opportunity - and straightaway it's like a bell rings true inside of you, and you just know you can safely say 'yes'. 

You just know that you know - even without knowing all the details!

Thinking about it, you feel as smooth as velvet, deep down inside. 

If someone asks how you know, you answer that you just know!

Instead of a sense of dread, there's a sense of peace - maybe even joy.

That's the Holy Spirit assuring you, "Yes".

Any time I didn't follow that inner witness of the Holy Spirit in my spirit - the still small voice of the Spirit - I soon came to regret it. Things never worked out as well as I'd hoped, to say the least.

But every time I've taken hold of it by faith in the unseen, and followed it, the blessing of the Lord has always been so enriching - and He added no sorrow with it! Not only for me, but for everyone around me.

You can be led by the Spirit of God, through your spirit - because that's where He is, if you've received the Spirit: He is in your spirit. 

"...he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17). 

So He will lead you - not through your emotions, nor even by just thinking it through as thoroughly as you can - but by the inner witness of the Spirit, or by the still small voice of the Spirit, in your spirit.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). 

Ask the Lord to guide you always. 

And practise being sensitive to how you feel in your spirit, by the Holy Spirit. You will perceive it. 

Then:

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5,6). 

And you will find that:

"The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it" (Proverbs 10:22).