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Seeking Guidance I - The Inward Witness


Ps. 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness (KJV)

Prov. 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly (KJV)

 

People seek guidance because everyone likes to make the right decisions or I should say everyone like to make decisions with potential for most successful outcome. The fact that people try to seek guidance tells a lot about how man inherently desires to be led. This in it self isn’t bad, but the problem arises when we turn to the wrong places for guidance.

 

Man is a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body; with the spirit man makes contact with the spirit realm, with the soul man make contact with the soulish and intellectual realm, and with the body man makes contact with the physical realm. Bear in mind that because man is a spirit, the spirit of man seeks to receive guidance to give direction to the life of the individual.

 

Having this basic understanding about man, you must then also understand that God’s primary way of leading you is through your spirit, and this leading that comes to you through your spirit is what we often refer to as the inward witness. God’s Spirit is constantly bearing witness with your spirit once you are born again. It means therefore that you have to train yourself to pay attention to that inward witness because more often than not, the answer to what steps to take lies in there. As you develop and train your spirit man, you become better tuned to the leading and guidance of the Spirit. Many times when you hear people say God spoke to them or instructed them to do something, they are simply referring to God leading them through the inward witness. If you also will develop yourself and begin to pay close attention, you will begin to hear what God is saying to you from deep within.

 

Some other people in seeking direction attempt to place a fleece like Gideon did in the bible as seen in Judges 6: 36-40 (KJV)

 

And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

 

He did so to determine God’s direction for him at that time, but a fleece isn’t for us today under the new covenant. God has democratized His Spirit, so that our guidance can come from within and not from without as was with Gideon and other old testament folks. Placing a fleece today to get God’s guidance can completely mislead you because it will amount to attempting to be led by your canal senses, in a realm where Satan can afford to upturn things just to get you to go in the wrong direction.

 

I have heard a number of people say that they have never received any direction or leading from the Lord, and they are born again. Well, that couldn’t be true, it is only possible that you are not paying close enough attention to that inward witness.

 

There are other ways in which God may lead us including through the voice of the Holy Spirit, vision and prophecy, but we will not dwell on them in this piece. These other ways by which God leads us are really secondary and they happen at His own prerogative, so we can not choose to be led by these other ways at will.

 

If you will however commit to developing yourself particularly by dwelling in the word and by praying in the Spirit, then your spirit man will rise up within you and you will find it easier to be led by the inward witness. You will then discover how easy it is to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and you will have many wins in your life to show for it.




Comments

  1. Unknown18 July 2020 at 08:29

    Opening statement said man is spirit, but the reference scripture said the spirit of man.... How do you reconcile that?
    I tend to believe that man has a Spiritual component (spirit and soul) and Physical component (physical body).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of Faith18 July 2020 at 09:37

      When we refer to man as being a spirit, it simply means that the spirit is the real man, the physical body is an outward expression of that man.

      Delete

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