Following The Holy Spirit's Brillian Leading by Pastor Karena Lout

“I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth.” John 14:16

The elder team will be spending the next several weeks sharing about our Blazing Fire Core Values. Last Saturday Pastor Brent talked about our core value #3: Following Holy Spirit’s Brilliant Leading. This is so vital to us as a church family. We’ve learned that laying down our plans when Holy Spirit decides to take us in a different direction has made room for God to do what only He can. It’s been a journey of trust and unpredictability at times but there is no other option for us than to live life by the Spirit’s leading.

Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit and calls him “our advocate” in John 14. In verse 18, He says, “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you.” This is really good news for those of us who grew up feeling abandoned at times. The first time I became aware of Holy Spirit was at a house meeting in Napa. I was 18 and had just become a believer. At the time, one of my fingers was broken from being slammed in a door. My fingernail had fallen off, as well as a lot of the skin on the top of my finger. It was crooked and pretty gnarly. During the house meeting, I watched as God began to heal my finger. The pain went away and the skin started to grow back right before my eyes. I got my prayer language and felt a warmth cover my whole body.

I had never felt anything like that before. To top it off, I felt the comfort of Holy Spirit begin to heal my heart.

To give some background, when my finger was injured, I was in a really bad place.

I had an abusive boyfriend and was extremely depressed. I needed someone to take me to the hospital so I could get stitches on my finger but my Mom was unable to care for me at the time. Many times we base our beliefs about who Holy Spirit is for us by how we have experienced relationship with our Mom. Holy Spirit knew I wasn’t familiar with what it felt like to be comforted or taught so he needed to heal the very wound where I felt alone before I could receive from him.

Holy Spirit was not given to us to only comfort us but to teach, counsel and guide us too. In Acts 2, Jesus sends flames and tongues of fire to settle on each believer. People were able to understand in their own language what Jesus had done for them. The Holy Spirit is given to us to be a witness, to empower us to do the things we couldn’t do on our own. There have been many times where I have felt unprepared and didn’t quite know how to solve problems in my workplace. I used to work at a high school in Napa doing behavior therapy with students with severe special needs. Many of our students were nonverbal and some immobile. I can recall one student who was becoming increasingly frustrated because she couldn’t communicate her needs. Our normal resources weren’t working for her. So I asked for Holy Spirit’s help and was able to come up with a solution that worked for her unique situation. Her anxiety decreased and her parents were able to implement the program at school and home. Holy Spirit is really brilliant and is readily available to help us at any time.

If you’ve had a difficult time relating to Holy Spirit, I encourage you to ask if there are any beliefs you’ve made that have prevented you from having a relationship with him. What does Holy Spirit want you to know? I also want to encourage you that not everyone experiences Holy Spirit exactly the same. Holy Spirit is so much more than a fuzzy feeling. Holy Spirit is God’s seal of oneness with you. It’s your internal inheritance that you can access at any time. Holy Spirit is the empowerment to face life’s difficulties, to solve problems in your home and workplace, to comfort the brokenhearted. What does Holy Spirit want to show you today? Following Holy Spirit can feel like tracing the steps of a good mystery adventure that always leads to life. I pray you enjoy the journey!

Love, Karena