Being Led By The Holy Spirit
Author: Esaú CrespoI want to share with you three lessons that I have learned in these Bible verses.
You know the apostle Paul was a missionary and that three times he went to preach to missionary journeys. We can see the active work of the Holy Spirit in the early church.
I. The first lesson I learned is:
We need to work under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I have learned through my ministry that if I submit to the Lord in everything I do, I can do it with joy.
In this same chapter we can see Paul and Silas in the jail; without family, without friends, without money, but with joy. In the jail where they were singing, they were praising the Lord, why? Because they were working under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit it is not just a doctrine; the Holy Spirit is a person, is the divine God!
The apostle Paul teaches us in the book of Galatians that the second fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy. In this very moment my heart is filled with joy because I have the Holy Spirit in me.
Some people say that for people in Central America, poverty is a way of life. At the beginning my heart was sad, but I said to myself: in some ways it is true, buy let me tell you something, I agree that poverty is a way of life for unbelievers, but for Christian people faith is a way of life.
Through faith in Christ we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts and because of the Holy Spirit in our hearts we have joy. I am not happy because I am a poor man, I am not happy because I dont have a very nice house to live in; I am not happy because my wife is very sick. I am happy because I am a servant of the Lord, I am happy because I am a man of God, I am happy because of the hope of eternal Glory, I am happy because my name is written in the book of life and the devil can not steal my eternal salvation. These are just some of the reasons why I have joy in my heart.
The first lesson I learn in this chapter is: We need to serve under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Two times the Holy Spirit said to the apostle Paul, No; and two times Paul and Silas obeyed the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes it is not easy to obey the Holy Spirit, but if we obey, we will have peace in our hearts.
II. The second lesson I learned is:
If I work under the direction of the Holy Ghost, I can understand what the Lord is saying to me because He gives me wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Many people understand the world, they understand mankind, but they do not understand what God is saying. We can clearly see that Paul and Silas understood what the Lord was saying. When they heard the Macedonian crying aloud and telling them: "come over to Macedonia and help us."
Verse 10 says: "After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for
Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. "
Holy Spirit gives us joy, but he gives us wisdom also. We need the wisdom of God to understand what happens each day.
Paul says in Ephesians 1:16-18. "Cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give on to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the Glory of his inheritance in the saints."
Paul and Silas understood the Lord was calling them to preach the Gospel in Macedonia. They heard the voice of the Macedonian saying: "Come over to Macedonia and help us." The Lord is saying to you in this very moment: "Come over to El Salvador and help us." Come to preach the gospel.
We know by history that in Macedonia there was a colony where just rich people lived; in Macedonia they had many academies, one of the most famous academies was in Philippi where Alexander the Great studied, but they needed something better, they needed the best; they needed the Gospel of Jesus. The Gospel is the answer of God to a world in crisis.
III. The third lesson I learned is:
If I work under the direction of the Holy Spirit, he will give me not only joy and wisdom, but a desire to make the will of God.
When Paul and Silas understood what the will of God was, they went immediately to Macedonia to preach the Gospel.
Are you living under the direction of the Holy Spirit? If your answer is "YES", God will give you peace, joy and the will to obey Him.
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And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 