God leads
God leads His children. The Bible is God’s overarching guide to us and we should walk by what it says. As we follow the Bible, God uses certain ways to also guide us, albeit in line with the Bible.
Why does He do so?
The principal reason is that we need it because we don’t know it all, so He helps us by pointing us in the right direction, to the right scripture, making the right decision, etc.
Part of this communication is His guardianship over us, so we don’t stumble and fall. God’s guidance also increasingly strengthens the level of bonding and friendship which we have with Him.
When you are close to someone, you communicate with him/her more frequently. There are people that are dear or very close to us and we speak with them every day, and sometimes, many times a day.
Likewise, God communicates with us, and the frequency increases as we deepen our walk with Him.
God enjoys talking with us and we should likewise enjoy talking with Him. We should aim to communicate with Him constantly and make Him our best friend.
God uses different ways to communicate with us. The principal way which He uses is the inward witness, which is discussed here while the other ways are discussed subsequently.
God leads through our spirit
The inward witness is an alert on the inside of a person. The inside, here, is the spirit of a person. John 4:23-24 reads:
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (KJV)
God is a Spirit. Each human being is a Spirit too. God will often liaise with us through our Spirit. He prefers this mode/channel of communication. V24 says people MUST worship him in spirit and in truth.
I will explain the inward witness in a short while. Let me first clarify that each human being is 1) a spirit, 2) has a soul and 3) lives in a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
What we tend to see of each man is the body. We can touch the body of another person physically but their spirit and soul are not physical.
The body is not made up of flesh and bones but the spirit is not (Luke 24:39).
Likewise, the soul is not made up of flesh and bones. Hebrews 4:12 alludes to this; that our soul does not have physical matter but is rather made of spiritual substance.
Amongst the trio of spirit, soul and body; the body of man was created first before God breathed his spirit and soul into man; and man became alive (Genesis 2:7).
In reverse engineering, if the spirit and soul of a person leaves their body, they die physically.
After a person is dead, what people see is their dead body – as their spirit and soul had left.
The spirit and soul drive the body and sustain it but once this duo leaves, the body ceases to get its sustenance and begins to decay.
This teaching is not aimed at differentiating the spirit, soul, and body; so I will leave that subject matter at this juncture and emphasize how God leads us on the inside, i.e. in our spirit component.
Suffice to explain that the things that happen in our spirit/soul can be felt in our body. In the reverse direction, the things that happen in our body, or in the physical, can trigger either positive or negative feelings in our spirit/soul.
In Luke 10:21 Jesus rejoiced in spirit because of the news he had just heard. It is this feeling or sensing the developments in our spirit/soul that brings us to the inward witness.
The inward witness
When God speaks to us, we can sense it, as a sensation that is high enough to alert us, yet not too high to damage our body.
Imagine an alert coming to your phone: it blips, flashes, vibrates, etc. It is often adequate to draw your attention, yet less distractive.
When it vibrates, you feel it and can check it out. When it blips, you hear the sound also.
Sometimes the inward witness comes like a burning sensation which you feel strongly – yet it is not the type of burning that destroys your body.
Two examples confirm and describe this sensation:
- And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? (Luke 24:32 – my emphasis). The Living Bible says …their hearts had felt strangely warm… Strange enough for them to notice. They initially did not understand it but later discovered it was God (Jesus) talking to them.
- Jeremiah 20:9 reads “… his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones… “ (KJV) and “his word in my heart is like fire that burns in my bones” (TLB). The burning sensation is also identified here by Jeremiah. The intensity of this burning sensation can be high, as in Jeremiah 20:9; yet not ‘destructive-high’. It is like fire raging but not destroying the bush (Exodus 3:2). Sometimes however the sensation is faint that it can be missed.
You can get this burning sensation when e.g. you are reading the Bible. This will signal what God is saying to you at that time.
It could be a particular verse or sentence that stands out with this sensation. It does not mean that other portions of scriptures are irrelevant.
No; it only means that God is saying something to you specifically about that scripture at that time.
If you then look carefully at what God is pointing out, it would be one of these: i) a doctrine that God is teaching you, ii) a reproof, iii) a correction, or iv) an instruction (guide) – 2 Timothy 3:16.
When Jesus was leaving this terrestrial earth, he said I will not leave you comfortless but will send the Holy Spirit, who will both teach and remind you all things (John 14:26).
You may not be reading the Bible but e.g. listening to a preacher or song and your spirit will burn when a certain word or sentence is uttered.
That is God saying something to you and drawing your attention. One example was when I felt that strong burning sensation about not going to my church on a particular Sunday.
I equally felt led to attend another Church. While preacher, the preacher said that “God is never late for a minute”.
My spirit jumped sensationally inside of me. I felt it. I knew that it was going to speak to me. That is what He wanted me to hear that day and He led me to where I would hear it.
I am glad I obeyed. Consequently, I have observed that sometimes I would pray or trust God for something and the answer would not come speedily, but: “God is never late for a minute” indeed.
You may be going about your normal duties or chores and that burning sensation will come and if you listen carefully, you will be able to pick up what God is trying to signal.
Someone may need help and not say it and God could signal it to you. In such a case, as you see that person, your heart burns or warms up towards him/her and you know surely that God is up to something.
As you listen to that leading you may pick up the issue at stake. Alternatively, if you draw-up closer to the person and begin to discuss they will tell you e.g. a challenge they are passing through.
Why would God specifically signal you towards such a person? It is because He wants you to help.
There could be 5 people, yet God may single out one of them and draw your spirit to him/her specifically. An example of this happened in the vicinity of a Church I used to visit with a friend occasionally.
On one of the visits there were three girls sitting across the road on a fence and I felt strongly in my heart to preach to one of them. Now God loves everybody and wants all to be saved. So why should he pick on one?
Well, maybe she was ready for salvation while the others were not. He did not tell me the reason, so I don’t know. In those days, I was a relatively young Christian and not used to probing deeper while being led by God.
I spoke to the three ladies without separating them, but noticed the body language of one of them (the one I felt led to) to sort of signal nervousness.
I left it there, feeling that I had done what I was led to do. I don’t know the ladies neither do I know what happened thereafter.
The point is, God leads, and can lead you to specific individuals. Remember we are talking about the inward witness which is different from likeness.
It is an inward sensation that does not depend on if you like the person or not.
The predominance of the inward witness
There are other ways in which the Holy Spirit guides us, but the inward witness is the predominant and most frequent way in which God communicates with people.
It is circumspect and personal. It is also expedient. Take an instance where you are shopping in town and God wants you to preach to a specific individual there.
It is expedient for the inward witness to alert you to that person as opposed to falling down, going to sleep, dreaming of that person and waking up to see them to minister to them.
It will be quick and expedient to be led by the inward witness that way.
Imagine another scenario of a Church service going on with 1000 people in attendance.
In addition to the general message which is being preached and should be received, God may want to amplify certain different things to the listeners.
God can appear in a vision to each of the 1000 attendees and amplify a certain element of the message to them. (God can speak to us via a vision and this will be explained in more depth in separate teaching).
Imagine each of 1000 people seeing a vision while a minister is preaching! That service will become chaotic with everyone wanting to share their vision.
However, God can minister to each of the 1000 attendees using the inward witness and there will be peace and order.
The inward witness works and is the starting and frequent mode of communication between God and us.
Jesus said that when a person loves God both He and the Father will come and make their home in that person i.e. in the spirit part of man (John 14:23). From there they will commune with the spirit of that person.
God can direct you to wear a certain dress on a particular day, take a particular route, visit a certain individual, read a particular portion of scripture, etc.
He can remind you to renew your insurance, pay your bills, phone a certain relation, say sorry to someone you have offended, etc. There are lots of things He can tell us, hence we are meant to be led by the inward witness regularly: every day, every time.
You can be led by the inward witness several times in a day. You can certainly get to the point where you constantly experience God’s leading through the inward witness.
Prayer for divine guidance
God (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) speaks with his children but many do not hear Him. It is my desire that you begin to hear Him clearly.
You may want to pray a simple prayer and ask God, in your own words and sentences, to speak to you clearly and regularly, via the inward witness and in other ways He deems fit. Remind God in your prayer that:
- All Christians, including you, should be led by Him (Romans 8:14).
- His sheep, including you, are meant to hear His voice (John 10:16&27).
- The steps of the righteous are ordered/led by the Lord (Psalm 37:23).
- When you are about to take a wrong turn, you will hear a voice saying, this is the way (Isaiah 30:21).