Peace to follow

Last week we looked at baptism with the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t been baptised in the Holy Spirit, I can tell you now that it is not a gift reserved for a special group of people or just pastors, it is for every believer. It is a gift from God according the Jesus (see Acts 1:4-5). The Holy Spirit is a precious precious gift from our Heavenly Father and He was sent to fill us and empower us.

One of the great benefits of being baptised with the Holy Spirit is that because He lives in us, we carry His Presence wherever we go. We also get to hear from Him and talk to Him more seamlessly. Last week I mentioned how the Holy Spirit can speak through us because He is in us. In Matthew 10:19-20 Jesus said, “When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” These are the words of Jesus and He was prophetically speaking to the disciples about things to come.

So, the Holy Spirit can speak through you. Which is why I like praying out loud (when its appropriate) because the Holy Spirit will direct my prayers in the way they should go and sometimes where I start and where I end are very different places. I get to see the heart of God as He prays through me. That’s one way to hear from God too when He speaks or prays through you.

John 16:13-15 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.”

So when we are hearing from God, we are actually hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to us. His Spirit witnesses with our spirit the truth of God’s word. He is our inner witness that leaps up when something is of God, much like the way Elizabeth’s baby (John the Baptist) leapt in her womb when she met with Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:39-45). The Holy Spirit causes our spirit to leap when something spoken is of God and He ministers to us deep within. He whispers to our spirit, “That word is for you” and we just know, “That word is for me” or “God is speaking to me”.

The Holy Spirit gives us impressions in our spirit. Sometimes it is clear as day, other times it is more like, “I think God said…”. But we are to take whatever we hear and test it with the written word of God and the Holy Spirit can even help you get the right scripture that will leap out at you so that you know that you are hearing from God.

So, the Holy Spirit is our guide in discerning what’s of God and what is not. He is also the One who brings us peace about obeying God’s word. We are to follow the peace of God whenever we hear from God. Not our own peace but the peace of God. The unshakeable peace that surpasses understanding. That peace that cannot be explained away. His peace gives us that as an indication of when its ok to follow Him.

Philippians 4:6-7 TPT puts it this way, “Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.” And Colossians 3:15 says, “Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the Anointed One, who called you to peace as part of his one body. And always be thankful.”

The Holy Spirit helps us to discern that peace so that we may follow it and allow our hearts to be guided by it. He really is our Helper. He is there to help us navigate through life and He helps us hear from God so we can follow God in obedience to His word.   

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano