Being Led by the Spirit
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About this ebook
One of the fundamental differences between the saints of the old covenant and the saints of the new covenant, is that we have the Holy Spirit residing on the inside of us, whereas the saints under the old covenant did not. Because of this fact, God leads His children under the new covenant, completely differently to the way that He led His servants under the old. The primary way that the Lord led the saints under the old covenant was through the office of the prophet. The reason that the saints went to the prophet for guidance, was because none of them had any access to the Holy Spirit. Under the new covenant this is no longer the case, for every saint has direct access to the Holy Spirit who resides within each one of us. And so, under the new covenant there is also one primary way that the Lord leads His saints, and that is through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This book teaches how to be led by Him.
Michael E.B. Maher
About the Author From childhood, Michael E.B. Maher has always known that the Lord's call was upon his life for the ministry. When he was saved at the age of twenty-two, almost immediately the Lord Jesus began to deal with him about entering the ministry. However, it was only many years later that he committed to the Lord to answer the Lord's call to the ministry. And so, in 2014 Michael Maher Ministries was begun. From the beginning, the mandate given to Michael from the Lord Jesus was to preach the word. And so, this ministry preaches the word of God on every available platform around the world.
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Being Led by the Spirit - Michael E.B. Maher
Chapter 1
God’s permissible and perfect will
God’s permissible will
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In the above quoted passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit speaks of God’s acceptable will and His perfect will. The word translated acceptable
, also carries the meaning permissible
. In other words our Lord Jesus has His permissible will for our lives, and He has His perfect will for our lives. His permissible will is exactly that. He will permit us to do what we want to do. When I speak of our Lord’s permissible will for our lives, I am not referring to living sinful lives, and saying that our Lord Jesus permits this (although He does). What I am referring to is the believer living their life as a Christian, but without seeking the Lord’s will for their lives. Our Lord Jesus permits His saints to do this.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that God our Father has pre-ordained good works for each of us to walk in. In other words these good works are God’s perfect will for our lives. However, just because God has prepared these good works for us to walk in, does not mean that every believer will automatically walk in His perfect will. For notice that the scripture says we should walk in them
, not we will walk in them
. Every one of us has been given a free will by God. And so before we came into His kingdom, we exercised our free will and did whatever we wanted to do. What we wanted to do before we came into the kingdom of God was to be disobedient to His will, for the scripture refers to all unbelievers as being sons of disobedience
(Ephesians 2:2). And so when we, as an act of our free will, accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and came into His kingdom, one thing did not change, which was our free will. In this life God will never override the free will of any human being, which includes all of His children. Sadly because of this truth many believers never walk in God’s perfect will for their lives. The reason for that is simply because they never seek His will for their lives, and so they live mostly in God’s permissive will.
God’s perfect will
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
As we have already seen, the above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that there is such a thing as the perfect will of God. God the Father has pre-ordained that each of His children should walk in His perfect will for their lives. However it is up to us as an act of our free will, to seek His will for our lives and then walk in it.
Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ... (10) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that the onus is placed on us to find out what is acceptable or well pleasing to the Lord. The question then arises as to how to find out what His will is for our lives? The answer to that question is that we find out God’s perfect will for our lives through His word, and by the leading of His Spirit. With regards to His word, the Lord reveals His perfect will for our lives in two ways. The first way is by teaching us through His word, what we should be experiencing in life. You will recall that our Lord Jesus said that He had come to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). And so with regards to what we experience in life, the word of God should be used as the benchmark to determine if we are experiencing God’s perfect will for our lives or not. For example, it is God’s perfect will for His children not to experience sickness or disease, for the word of God declares that by the stripes of Jesus we were healed (1 Peter 2:24). And Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17). It is also God’s perfect will for His children not to experience any lack, for the word of God declares that Jesus became poor that we may be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). And God supplies all of our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). It is God’s perfect will for His children that no evil befalls them, for He gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways (Psalm 91:10-11). And we are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). It is also God’s perfect will that His children walk in perfect peace, for the Lord has given us His peace (John 14:27). And the scripture teaches us that Jesus is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). It is also God’s perfect will that His children should experience a degree of persecution for being Christians, for the word of God teaches us that we have been appointed to tribulations (1 Thessalonians 3:3). And again the scripture teaches us that those who live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). And then finally, outside of martyrdom, it is God’s perfect will that all of His children live long lives on the earth, for in His word the Lord has promised us long life (Psalm 91:16). And those who do His commandments will experience length of days and long life (Proverbs 3:2). And so if we are experiencing all of the above in our lives, then we can be assured that we are walking in God’s perfect will. However, if we are not experiencing God’s stated will for our lives in any of these areas, then we can be equally assured that we are missing it in some way and we are walking outside of His perfect will.
Galatians 3:11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for
the just shall live by faith."
This brings us to the second part of God’s will as revealed to us in His word, which is His perfect will for our conduct. There are two main areas of conduct that the saints of the new covenant are required to observe i.e. we are to walk by faith and love. The first of the two which we will discuss is faith. The Christian walk is an impossible walk outside of Jesus. If it were not impossible then we could do it without Jesus. But because it is impossible we can only do it in Jesus, for all things are possible with God and all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). This is why the scripture quoted above plainly tells the new covenant saint to live by faith, for it is only when we believe God that He can enable us to walk in a manner that is worthy of our calling. And it is only by faith that we can experience all of God’s blessings in our lives, as revealed in the scriptures mentioned earlier. All believers are well able to live by faith, for God has given all of us the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8).
John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
The second of the two areas of conduct which we will discuss, is love. Under the old covenant the saints received the Ten Commandments through Moses. Under the new covenant however, the saints have received just one commandment. In the scripture quoted above the Lord Jesus has given His church the new commandment to love one another. Someone said so does that mean that the Ten Commandments have been done away with? Not at all, for the scripture teaches us that to walk in love is a fulfilment of the law, which includes the Ten Commandments (Romans 13:10). When believers walk in love there is no cause for stumbling in them, and therefore there is no hindrance to them experiencing God’s perfect will for their lives, as revealed in the scriptures mentioned earlier. Again, all believers are well able to walk in love, for God has poured out His love in our hearts (Romans 5:5). And so we see that believers who walk in faith and love can be assured that they are walking in God’s perfect will for their lives, as revealed through His written word.
Acts 16:6-10 "Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. (7) After