Contents

Spirit Led

The Importance of Following the Spirit

The Spirit is the Lamp

Man is a Spirit

Spirit Conscious

Spirit versus Soul

The Saving of the Soul

Presenting the Body

The Inward Witness

Conscience

Voice of the Holy Ghost

Guidance Through Visions

Judging by the Word

About Peter Smythe

One Last Thing . . .

Spirit Led

By Peter Smythe

This book may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form—electronically, mechanically, or otherwise—without prior permission of the publisher.

First printing: 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Peter Smythe

Printed in the United States of America by Peter Smythe, Arlington, Texas. All rights reserved under international copyright law.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

King James Version is public domain in America.

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

The Importance of Following the Spirit

Throughout generations ministers of the church have emphasized obedience to the Word of God. “Obey the Word! Obey the Word!” they’ve harped and harped, but rarely, if ever, have they mentioned living by the leading of the Spirit. Of course, we should obey the Word. It gives us the revelation of Christ, tells of God’s ways, and instructs us how to live. But it also says that we are to be led by the Spirit. And that’s not something casual, something that we can lay aside and pick back up whenever we want to. We have a living Savior who actively directs his people by his Spirit. It’s imperative that we not only stay within the parameters of the Word, but that we also act and move on the impulses of his Spirit. The Bible’s account of David’s anointing as Israel’s king shows us just how important being led by the Spirit can be.

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. Trembling, the elders of the city came to meet him, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

There are several things to see in this story that mark the stark differences that can exist between following one’s own natural inclinations, reasonings, or even street smarts, and the Lord’s leadings by his Spirit.

First, Samuel is a prophet. He knows the Lord’s voice, is intimately aware of his Spirit. At the outset of this story he has an open dialogue with the Lord about what the Lord is asking him to do. How is he going to anoint a new king with the old king around? The Lord gives him a plan. “Go,” he says, “to Bethlehem, take a heifer, and invite Jesse to a sacrifice with you.” Samuel does so. He meets with Jesse and his sons, and sanctifies them for the upcoming sacrifice, and that provides him the cover needed to do the Lord’s bidding.

When Jesse and his sons appear for the sacrifice, Samuel already has the anointing for kingship on his mind. He eyes Eliab and thinks to himself, “Ah, this is the one.” There must have been something about Eliab, an Ironman physique, a charismatic personality, something that made him stand out from the rest of his brothers. But while Samuel is thinking this the Lord interrupts: “No. Don’t look at his height or stature.” In other words, Samuel, don’t look to the things that you normally look to in deciding whom I’ve chosen. The Lord explains. “I don’t see as mortals see. They look on the outward appearance. I look on the heart.”

It’s this difference that impels the walk of the Spirit, following the Lord’s leading rather than our own natural reasoning. As natural men, we’re blind to hearts. A man or woman might look the part and act the part, but we can’t see what’s inside, and that blindness compromises our choices, our decisions. We could choose the wrong man, the wrong path, because of the scant information we see. The Lord sees much more. We may not know why the Spirit is leading us the way he is at times, but we can be sure that that leading is based on better information than anything we could muster.

But the leading is a leading, not a full-scale report. When Samuel looked on Eliab, God said that he had rejected Eliab, but he didn’t tell Samuel why and he didn’t tell him whom he had chosen. Samuel only knew that the kid standing in front of him was not the One. So, he called on Jesse for the next boy, and quickly found that he wasn’t the One either. He and Jesse went through the next six boys. He didn’t know who the next king was, except that he knew it wasn’t any of them.

When Samuel had run out of boys he looked up at Jesse and asked him if there were any more. There was one more, the youngest. Jesse hadn’t even thought to bring him up from the sheep pastures. “Go get him,” Samuel told him. But even as he said that, he didn’t know if this young shepherd was the One.

And this brings up another point about following the leading. Samuel wasn’t going to anoint anyone until he knew that it was right, and it didn’t matter what Jesse thought either. He had Jesse helping him out, and he was obviously a good, devout man who had his own ideas about who the next king might be. After Samuel passed over Eliab, Jesse called for Abinadah. The Word doesn’t tell us this explicitly, but we could assume that Jesse looked his sons over and picked the one whom he thought should be king. And he was wrong. While he had a personal stake in the outcome—his family was involved—his opinion wasn’t a substitute for the Lord’s.

The Lord’s leading is idiosyncratic, individualized for the person who is supposed to follow it.

David finally made it to the ceremony, and Samuel knew right away he was the one whom the Lord had chosen. “Rise and anoint him for he is the One,” he heard the Lord say.

We can weigh the importance of following the leading of the Spirit with this thought. What would have come of Israel, and God’s plan of redemption for that matter, if Samuel had tossed off the leading and anointed Eliab, Abinadah, or one of Jesse’s other sons as the next king of Israel?

The Spirit is the Lamp

The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part. (Proverbs 20:27)

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

Our culture has increasingly glorified the professional—men and women who tout studies and statistics and figures in the soft sciences, those areas of life, areas of the soul, which aren’t naturally given to hard lines. And this mindset has seeped into contemporary Christianity, transmogrifying from a straightforward  message of redemption into a pseudo-intellectual self-help enterprise. Our Christian subculture has churned out heavy tomes on systematic theologies, book-sized articles with myriads of footnotes, and preaching professionals who are members of the academy.

But the mind of man is not the lamp of the Lord. His spirit is. When God called on Samuel to anoint a new king in Israel, Samuel didn't form a peer review committee, he didn't conduct lengthy interviews with Jesse's sons and mark off their leadership abilities, and he didn't put up the choice for a vote. He followed the leading of God's Spirit, which led him to anoint a boy that no professional would have ever given a second thought to being king.

God is [a] spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (Hebrews 12:9)

God is a spirit. He communicates with our spirits, not our intellects. We may have studies and facts and figures under our arms, but they may not mean a thing. Samuel’s anointing of David might be a dramatic example, but it shows us that not all of God’s leadings are consistent with our intellectual leanings. When we meet that circumstance, like Samuel’s meeting Eliab, it’s imperative that we follow what we know to be the Spirit’s leading, and not our own thoughts and reasonings.

Man is a Spirit

May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Paul’s blessing to the Thessalonians shows us that there is more to man than meets the eye. He’s more than a physical body, a brain, and some electrical impulses. He’s a three-part being with one foot in the material world, and the other in the unseen spiritual world. The Word shows us that the spirit is the superior nature of man’s being.

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; … So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26, 27)

In Genesis, the book of beginnings, it says that God set out to make man in his image and likeness. We understand that God doesn’t have a physical body. He doesn’t live in a house in Texas or Tennessee, or drive a car to work. He is a spirit, John tells us. And this means that man must be a spirit, too. We see this in the creation account.

then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7, KJV)

The first phrase of Genesis 2:7 tells us that God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. Later in the same chapter, in Genesis 2:19, we see that he made the animals from the ground, too. From these two facts, we can deduce something about Adam at this stage of his creation. We know that animals have a soul. They have an awareness of their surroundings, other animals, and the world. They have a seat of personality. They get mad, they whimper, they get sad, they get frisky, they play around. It was the same with Adam.

But what set Adam apart from the animals was what God did next. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, the breath of his own spiritual materiality. This was the acme of creation. Adam, the Word says, became a “living soul.” God’s spirit filled out Adam’s flesh cell-for-cell with the materiality of spirit. The Word called him a “living soul” because his soul was now encased in spirit. He made him eternal—existing forever.

This spiritual man, this hidden man of the heart, is the superior part of man’s being, and God meant it to be the dominant part of his being, too.

We can discern the distinctions between the inner man and the outer man more clearly from some of Paul’s writings in the New Testament. In Philippians, he demonstrates how the inner man is the dominant man.

I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. (Philippians 1:23, 24)

Paul is writing from prison, contemplating death, and he says something most of us would find odd. He says he is hard pressed between dying and continuing to live on. Most of us see death as an end, but not Paul. He saw it as a separation, a severing of his inner man from his physical body, not a cessation. Death was another step in his walk of salvation with the Lord.

How did he come to think this way? He was well aware of man’s spiritual nature. And not only that, he considered his inner man to be the real man. He would still continue to exist, live, and function well after his physical body had died and returned to dust.

In his letter to the Corinthians he related how the inner man was superior to the outer man.

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

…but though your outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16, KJV)

Paul recognized his body was aging and would eventually expire and pass away. That’s because of Adam’s sin. When Adam sinned in Eden, he caused his spiritual nature to inherit corruption. This corruption seeped all the way down into his body, rendering it doomed to death (Genesis 5:3). But, Paul says, his spirit was being continually renewed. That’s because he had been born again.

Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." (John 3:3)

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)

When a man is born again, or born from above, his physical nature isn’t changed or transformed. He still has the same body he has always had. It’s his inner man that is recreated after God’s own image and God’s own nature. And it is with this reborn spirit, which has been made alive and made dominant who God leads with his own Holy Spirit.

Spirit Conscious

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5.23)

In this passage from Thessalonians, Paul outlines the three consonant parts that make up the creation of man. Notice he starts with the spirit, man's innermost being, and then works his way to the outer man. He does it this way because he considers the inner man primary.

Once we understand that our spirit is the real man, it’s imperative that we remain “spirit conscious,” that is, aware what our spirits might be seeing and hearing in the realm of the spirit. We see how Paul was keen to recognize the Spirit’s leadings during his missionary journeys.

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing Mysia, they went down to Troas. (Acts 16:6–8)

Over the course of his ministry, Paul and his teams traveled to all kinds of towns, villages, and regions, preaching the gospel to whomever would listen. Toward the end of his ministry he told the Christians in Rome that his ministry had been so extensive that he had “no further place” to preach in the east. But as we see here, there were some places the Lord directed him not to go.

This passage in Acts shows that they went through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, not because he or Timothy (Timothy was traveling with him at this time) thought they were good places to go. They, in fact, had thought to go into Asia. But they didn't go there because of the leading of the Spirit. We don't know exactly why the Spirit forbade them from going, but we do understand from the scriptures that Paul was conscious of his spiritual nature and God's communication to him through that nature.

We see virtually the same thing regarding Bithynia, only this time the scriptures say that Paul and Timothy had actively sought to go into that region. Paul might have had good reason to go into Bithynia, but, like we saw with Samuel, the Lord had better information. Once they turned from Bithynia, they made their way to Troas, and Paul had a vision during the night.

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying: “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When we had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. (Acts 16:9–12)

Luke reports Lydia’s salvation in Philippi. She was the first convert in Europe. She took Paul and his team in. It was in Philippi that Paul cast the devil out of a young girl, and he and Silas were thrown in prison. These events led to the jailer’s and his family’s conversion and a vibrant church in Philippi. Paul later wrote that the Philippians were the only Christians that provided him financial support during his early missionary journeys.

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:5)

You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs more than once. (Philippians 4:16, 17)

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— (2 Corinthians 8:1–2)

We don’t know exactly what would have happened with Paul (or the spread of the gospel for that matter) if he and Timothy had bulled ahead into Bithynia. But we do know his vision in Troas set him on the course of some of the most fruitful work in his entire ministry, and allowed him to continue his journeys with the financial support of the Philippians’ free-will offerings. This shows us just how important it is that we stay conscious of our spirits and sensitive to the Lord’s leadings in our lives and in our ministries.

Spirit versus Soul

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

We saw in Genesis that God breathed into man, and made him a “living soul.” Moses’ terminology might be why ministers for generations have used the terms soul and spirit interchangeably, but the New Testament shows us, maybe not explicitly but demonstratively, that they aren’t one and the same. They are different parts of creation with wholly different functions.

Jesus gave us an idea of what the spirit looks like and how he functions in an account of a rich man who passed away shortly after Lazarus, who had begged at the man’s gates, died. Jesus had this to say this about him:

The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames. But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, Father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:22b–24)

Although this man had shed his body through death, he still existed, alive still in the spirit realm (recall Paul’s statement about dying and being with the Lord). Notice he had eyes that let him see, a mouth and tongue that let him talk, and a body, which could experience burning flames in the spiritual environment. Notice, too, that Lazarus had a finger. He perceived his surroundings through what appears to be similar to our bodies’ natural five senses. In sum, his spirit man functioned in the spirit realm very much like, if not identically, how his physical body functioned on earth.

But what about his soul? The man could remember his past, including family, and could think clearly (“No,… but if someone goes to them from the dead, they’ll repent”). From the account we see that he experienced torment, but also expressed a bit of compassion (“I beg you to send him to my father’s house”). From these facts we see that he still possessed his soul. He was able to take in the sensory perceptions of his spirit man, so to speak, and cognitively assess and judge them in the same manner as he would have if he had still been alive on earth. We might say the soul is the governor between the two realms, taking in what is perceived in the natural and what is perceived in the spirit and processing that information for our understanding. It’s by our souls, the seat of our personality, that we decide to act on our perceptions, whether they are spiritual or natural.

We can see this in the context of praying in unknown tongues. Praying in unknown tongues is praying out spiritual mysteries to God. Paul writes that if he prayed in an unknown tongue, his spirit prayed, and his natural mind remained unproductive.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. (1 Corinthians 14:14)

For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

The reason his natural mind remained unproductive was because praying in tongues is a spiritual exercise. His natural man wouldn’t receive any sensory input for his soul to act on. He could pray, however, to interpret his tongues. That would involve his soul taking in the sensory perceptions that he received in his spirit and articulating those perceptions into his natural language.

A common result of praying in tongues is a stronger leading from the Lord, and as the inner man prays out God’s mysteries, the man’s soul picks up on the sensory impressions he receives in the spirit realm. As those perceptions take form and shape, the man is better able to judge the Lord’s mind on the matter and act on it.

The Saving of the Soul

When a man comes to Christ and is born again, it is his spirit man which is recreated, not his body or his soul. His body remains as it was, tainted with corruption to be glorified into incorruption when the Lord returns. His soul may receive flashes and impulses from his newly made alive spirit, but it remains mostly as it was. He has to develop his soul throughout his walk of salvation, meaning he has to learn to exercise his faculties to follow the perceptions and leanings of the spirit man over those of the outer man.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. (James 1:19–21)

Here James is dealing with Christians who are quick to anger and engaged in conduct unbecoming their walk. They've been born again, but they haven't yet grown in their souls. "Welcome the implanted word," James says. By “word” he means receiving the word of Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection, and giving it space in their thought life. Implanted, it will save them from engaging in the corruptible acts of the outer man so they can perform acts of righteousness, which are consistent with the new life of their inner man.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

The development of the soul, in this passage Paul coins it as the “renewing of the mind,” isn't something that God initiates or performs. It's the responsibility of the believer. (We see this in James: “[You] receive the implanted word”). Paul tells the believers in Rome that they must renew their minds so that they can discern God's will. To put it another way, if they don’t bother to renew their minds to the Word and the revelation of the Spirit, they won’t be able to discern God’s will, even his permissible will.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, still being an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12–14)

This passage in Hebrews marks the distinction between those who have gone on to develop their souls and those who haven't. The author says that those who have trained their faculties to distinguish good and evil, natural or supernatural, may move on to solid food or maturity in Christ. But those who haven’t undertaken the task to develop themselves remain infants, left to suckle on only the rudimentary principles of the faith.

Presenting the Body

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)

When Adam sinned in Eden, he brought sin and corruption into his being, which percolated through his body, seeping it with death and rendering it mortal.

When a man is born again, the Lord renews his spirit, but his body stays as it was. He is a new creature in Christ, but a new creature in the same corrupted body that he had before. The difference is that he is no longer enslaved by it; he can rule over his body by the means of his inner man which gains dominance through the new birth.

The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:10–13)

Paul shows us that it is the believer's responsibility, not God's, to combat and control the desires of his unredeemed flesh. Paul writes, “Present your bodies," with the understood subject being the believers. He is more explicit in Romans 6: “[You] don’t let sin exercise dominion.” They're to mortify their flesh, not crucify it. That is, they are to consider themselves dead to the sin present in their bodies so they won't act on its lusts. (See also Romans 8:13 – "if you put to death the deeds of the body you will live"). This is a lifelong responsibility. As long as a man is alive in the flesh, he’ll have to keep it in subjection. We see this with Paul.

but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others, I myself should not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:27)

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway [disapproved]. (1 Corinthians 9:27, KJV)

The Lord called Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles and revealed to him the mystery of Christ which had been hidden for generations. Many theologians think of Paul as the greatest preacher who has ever lived, but he still had to contend with his flesh. He says he had to keep it under, meaning bring it under subjection to his inner man which had been renewed; otherwise, he could shipwreck his ministry and his life.

Bringing the body under subjection doesn't concern just sin. It also concerns following the leading of the Spirit. Paul and Timothy traveled through Phrygia and Galatia after the Holy Spirit forbade them to preach in the Roman province of Asia. They attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn't allow them there either.

We don’t know why they wanted to go into Asia or Bithynia. Whatever the reason, they had to present their bodies to God’s service, and go where the Spirit led them. They had to set aside their personal desires and the desires of their flesh that might have veered them toward a different destination.

The Inward Witness

It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16)

Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts… (1 John 5:10)

Many Christians are looking for a voice or a physical sign from God for guidance in their lives, but the primary way He communicates with us is the witness of the Spirit. God is a spirit (John 4:24; Hebrews 12:9). He doesn’t communicate with us through our bodies or even our minds. He communicates with us Spirit to spirit.

In these scriptures, Paul and John write about God’s Spirit bearing witness about salvation, that we are indeed the born-again children of God. And both apostles put this witness-bearing in the present tense; that is, the true child of God has an ever-present witness that he is one of God’s own. This is no small thing. It’s just as supernatural as anything else that God has done even if it isn’t all that spectacular.

One example of the strength of this witness is Paul’s interrogation of the Galatians. He and Barnabas had gone to the region of Galatia on their first missionary journey and established churches in the area. Not too long after they had left to establish other churches, Judaizers crept in and began telling the Galatians that, although they might have been saved, they had to perfect their faith by coming under the Torah.

Paul was beside himself when he heard this. They had come to faith by the hearing of the gospel, believing on Christ, and that was how they were going to move on to maturity. Putting themselves under Torah wasn’t only going backwards, it was cutting them off from Christ (Galatians 5:4).

Writing to them, he had to demonstrate how falling back on Torah was gross error. How did he do this? He pointed at their witness of the Spirit.

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard? (Galatians 3:1, 2)

Their witness of the Spirit was so strong in them that Paul used it as an objective measure of faith. If it hadn’t been so palpable, his inquisitorial question, this “one thing I want to know from you,” would have been lost on them.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)

It’s by this same witness that God leads his people. Here Paul echoes the story of Exodus where God led the children of Israel through the wilderness after the exodus. His presence in the wilderness appeared as a cloud by day and a fire by night. And they were to follow it wherever he would lead; they were never to get out beyond his leading.

The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 31:21–22)

The Lord doesn’t lead his children anymore by the similitudes of natural phenomena (the cloud and fire were manifestations of God’s glory, not actual clouds or fire). One reason is because he isn’t leading a single ethnic group in a solitary location anymore. The body of Christ is worldwide. (We’d have clouds and fire everywhere.) Another reason, and the more important reason, is because we, this side of the resurrection, have a better covenant built upon better promises. He now communicates directly with the better parts of our nature, just as He said he would.

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord.” For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. (Hebrews 8:10–11)

As the apostles note, this witness is not a voice. It is an inward premonition, a spiritual understanding or knowing, maybe not articulable, but present nonetheless. The Israelites didn’t have this under the old covenant—they needed the cloud and the fire—because they hadn’t been reborn from within. Fortunately, we have.

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26, 27)

One Bible example of the inward witness is in Acts. When Paul was being extradited to Rome, his custodial centurion sought passage for his soldiers and Paul on a ship docked in Myra, a seaport in Lycia (Acts 27:5). The party sailed from Myra, all the way to Fair Havens, near Lasea. When they made preparations to set sail from there, Paul had a witness that there was danger ahead. He notified the centurion and the captain.

Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and the ship, but also of our lives. (Acts 27:10)

Paul didn’t say that he had seen a vision, or even that he had been given a revelation. He told them that he “perceived” that the ship would go down, and everyone with her. We can note, too, that this perception wasn’t based on any natural understanding either. Paul wasn’t a seaman; he didn’t point out any deficiencies in the ship or look to the weather.

The ship’s pilot and owner apparently checked out the ship, and reported to the centurion that they didn’t see anything awry. Luke writes, “But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.” They decided to set sail against the advice of Paul’s spiritual witness.

The rest of the story proves out the accuracy of Paul’s witness. Shortly after passing Crete, a northeaster blew in and caught the ship in its grip. Over the next few days, the crew had a hard time keeping the ship under control under the storm’s pounding. They resorted to throwing the cargo overboard, and even the ship’s tackle, too. After several more days, they abandoned any hope of being saved.

In the midst of all this, Paul stood up and told them,

“Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. I urge you now to keep your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we will have to run aground on some island.” (Acts 21–26)

Paul’s initial perception was that everyone’s lives would be lost along with the ship and its cargo; he had saved the crew through his prayers during the storm. The fact is, they could have avoided the whole thing if they had followed his witness from the start. It might not have been as spectacular as his testimony of an angel standing by him was, but it was just as supernatural.

There are two things more we should note. First is Paul’s confidence. He perceived the ship was heading into danger, and he didn’t hesitate to notify the centurion and the ship’s captain. There apparently wasn’t anything in the natural that corroborated this witness, but that didn’t appear to bother Paul. Second, although he was the only one to perceive the Spirit’s leading, the witness involved more than just him. The leading was meant, no doubt, to save him because he still had to testify in Rome, but the Lord provided this leading to save the soldiers and the ship’s crew, too.

We should confidently act upon the Spirit’s witness, not just when it involves our own lives and ministries, but especially when it involves the hearts and lives of others, too.

Conscience

I say the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 9:1)

Our inner man has a voice. We call it the conscience. An unregenerate man has a conscience, but it's unreliable. It might have been trained by social norms, family customs, and the like, but it doesn't echo or fall in line with the Spirit of God. The Word makes it clear that the psychical man ("natural man" in the King James translation) cannot receive from the Spirit of God; indeed, his mind, his thoughts, aren't neutral. They're at enmity with God, and can't be reigned in to follow his Spirit.

And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, "Men and brethren, I have lived in good conscience before God until this day." (Acts 23:1, KJV)

Paul's testimony before the Jewish council and his letter to the Roman Christians at first blush appear curious, even contradictory. He had persecuted the church, trying to destroy it. He even oversaw the stoning of Stephen, the church's first martyr. How could he say that he had lived in good conscience before God?

It was because he had been born again on the road to Damascus.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When a man believes that Jesus was raised from the dead, and he confesses him as Lord, he is born again. His inward man is made new. Paul writes that he is a new creation, born after the image of Christ, and the things of the old man, including the old man's voice, his conscience, are passed away. He has the nature of God within him, and that nature will lead him to lend his body to performing fruits of righteousness for the kingdom.

Once Paul was born again, his inner man became a sure voice for following the Lord and his Spirit. He never violated what his conscience told him from the day he met the Lord on the road to Damascus forward. That is how he could say before the council that he had lived in good conscience before God.

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:16)

Like Paul, the reborn man's conscience will lead him down the path of righteousness. The voice of his conscience will bubble up into his soul, enlighten his mind, and inform all his decisions. It will influence who he is and what he does in the world. He will walk in step with the Lord's commandments, and be a witness of the gospel to the world at large.

Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my Word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23)

Tender-Hearted

And by this we know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God. (1 John 3:19–21)

Many Christians believe, probably because it's preached all the time, that God condemns them when they sin. He doesn't do that. He convicts the world of sin, not the body of Christ.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. (John 16:7–9)

When the Christian sins, when he falls outside the Word's prescriptions or fails to walk in line with his reborn conscience, it is his own heart that condemns. He doesn't lose his salvation, he's still part of the family, but he falls out of fellowship with the Lord and with others in the body. He becomes subjective, and shrinks from his walk of faith because of his own condemning heart.

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

But the Word provides that when believers sin, they can confess their sins to the Father and they'll be forgiven. And not just forgiven, but the believer will be cleansed from his unrighteousness. This cleansing hands him back his confidence toward God and restores his fellowship with the Lord and with his body.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisies of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. (1 Timothy 4:1, 2)

As Christians, it's vitally important that we remain tender-hearted, running for forgiveness any time that we fail to obey our consciences and sin. Here Paul writes to Timothy, a younger evangelist, and warns him about former Christians who have ignored their consciences to such a degree that they've renounced their faith. Instead of listening to their consciences they listened to deceitful spirits. Paul says that they got so far afield that their consciences were seared with a hot iron, so calloused to the walk of the Spirit that they couldn't distinguish the differences between good and evil any longer. We can avoid this end by following Paul's example of living with a clear conscience before God in whatever we do.

Feelings: The Voice of the Body

it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit … (Romans 8:16)

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (Matthew 18:20)

All too often Christians refer to the Lord's presence as some physical sensation. "I feel the Lord here," or "I feel the anointing," and they mark their actions, like worship, by what they are feeling.

God is a spirit and Paul lays it out to us that he communicates with us through our spirits, not our bodies. We don't feel his presence, we sense it. There may be times when his presence results in some physical manifestation, and the New Testament has many accounts of that, but they are secondary to the spirit. We would do well to follow in the footsteps of Smith Wigglesworth, a British preacher who was familiar with spectacular manifestations of the Spirit. He summed up how we should measure our physical feelings in our spiritual walk.

I am not moved by what I feel. I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe. I cannot understand God by feelings. I understand God by what the Word says about him. I understand the Lord Jesus Christ by what the Word says about him. He is everything that the Word says he is.

Voice of the Holy Ghost

There are times when God speaks to us with the authoritative voice of his own spirit. In Acts 10, we see Peter going up to the open-air roof of Simon's house to pray. He fell into a trance and saw what looked to be a large sheet being lowered from heaven with all kinds of animals on it. Then he heard a voice say, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat!" Being a Jew, he refused, "No way, Lord, for I've never eaten anything profane or unclean." The voice responded, "What God has made clean you mustn't call profane." This happened three times and then the sheet was taken back into heaven.

The voice in the vision was indeed God's Spirit, but our focus is on what happened next. Peter came out of the trance puzzled by what he saw. While he was sorting it out, the Spirit spoke to him.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them." (Acts 10:19–20)

The Lord had appeared to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, but more importantly a Gentile, and told him to send for Peter. He sent one of his trusted guards and two slaves to fetch him.

The thing to note here is that Peter didn't have an inward witness about three men searching for him or what the Lord intended them to do with him. The story goes on to show that when Peter reached Cornelius's house, he still wasn't sure why he was there (Acts 10:29). The Spirit spoke to him authoritatively, giving him specific directions about what he was supposed to do (to a point). Once he was at Cornelius's house, he preached the gospel and the Spirit fell on everyone in the house. God, apparently, had him go to Cornelius's house to show that he was pouring out his Spirit, not just on the Jews, but on the Gentiles, too.

Samuel, the Old Testament prophet, also received a manifestation of this authoritative voice when he was just a boy.

Eli was serving as high priest, and he had taken Samuel under his wing as a young aid. One night Eli was lying in his room, and Samuel had made his bed in the temple. Samuel heard a voice call his name.

"Samuel! Samuel!"

He thought it was Eli.

"Here I am, you called to me," he said to Eli.

"No, I didn't call for you. Go back and lie down," Eli told him.

Samuel left, and went back to his bed in the Temple. He heard the voice again.

"Samuel! Samuel!"

He got up, and ran back to Eli.

"Here I am, you called for me."

"No, I didn't," Eli said. "Go and lie down."

It happened again, and this time Eli caught on.

"Go lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'"

Samuel went to lie down, and he heard his name called again. He responded the way he was told.

"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

"See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears it tingle. That day I will fulfill against Eli all I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever," said the Lord.

Samuel's back and forth to Eli shows that he didn't have an inward witness of the Lord's presence or his message. It was more commanding than an inward witness; it was clear direction about the Lord's future plans for Israel and the family of its high priest.

Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch is another example of this type of manifestation and guidance (Acts 8:26–40). An angel appeared to Philip and told him to go down to a certain road in the wilderness that connected Jerusalem and Gaza. The Word says Philip "got up and went."

When he got there, he saw an Ethiopian caravan led by a eunuch who was Candice's, the Ethiopian queen, treasurer. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. The Spirit spoke to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." He did and found the eunuch reading out of the book of Isaiah, the part concerning the suffering servant.

"Do you understand what you're reading?" Philip asked.

"How can I unless someone guides me?" the eunuch replied.

He invited Philip to get in and sit beside him while he worked his way through the passage, which said:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."

"About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this? about himself or someone else?"

With that cue, Philip was able to proclaim the good news of Christ, and win over the eunuch who was saved and baptized.

The common thread to these accounts is the authoritative voice of the Spirit and the mind behind the manifestations. In each story none of the hearers—Peter, Samuel, or Philip—had an inward witness or intuition of the Lord's leading. In other words, the voice didn't confirm something that they had already sensed. It stood as new material, previously unknown to them.

And this ties in with the Lord's mind in creating the manifestation in the first place. Contemporary Christians often say that they've heard the Lord speak to them about their personal lives or personal ministries. In each of these accounts we see the Lord manifesting the voice of his Spirit in a more spectacular way to accomplish God's larger purposes in the earth. With Peter, it was to demonstrate the pouring out of his Spirit to the Gentiles. With Samuel it was to cut off the line of a reckless high priest whose sons blasphemed the Lord. With Philip, it was to bring the gospel to Ethiopia and its surrounding regions.

If a Christian claims that he's heard God's voice, and the message doesn't appear to concern God's larger purposes, how he is propagating his gospel in the earth, then it's highly likely that the Christian has missed it. It wasn't God's voice.

We should note, too, just how rare this manifestation is. The book of Acts covers the first thirty years or so of the early church, a time period where the foundational apostles needed to hear distinctly from the Spirit because the canon hadn't yet been written. There are less than half a dozen instances where we see "the Spirit said" in the form we're talking of here. That's not to say that God doesn't speak today, but he appears to manifest in this manner only at critical junctures.

Guidance Through Visions

The Lord also leads his people through visions, but these are very rare, happening not more than a few times in any particular person's life. They aren't restricted to those in the ministry. Neither Cornelius nor Ananias (Acts 9:9–12) were apostles. Ananias was a disciple, and Cornelius was a Roman centurion when they had their visions. But their visions, like those of Peter and Paul and the rest of the apostles, affected not just their lives, but the course of the body of Christ.

Cornelius's vision was what we might call a spiritual vision. This is where a person sees and hears in the spirit world, but his physical senses aren't suspended. In Cornelius's case, it was an angel coming into his room.

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius." He stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" He answered, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa. (Acts 10:1–8)

Paul experienced this kind of vision while he and Timothy were traveling through Troas. The Spirit had forbidden them to go to Bithynia. Paul's vision showed them why.

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. (Acts 16:9–10)

The second type of vision is a trance. The person's physical senses are suspended in some way during the manifestation. This happened to Peter when he had gone up to pray on Simon's roof.

About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by the four corners. (Acts 10:9–10)

The Greek word for trance is ekstases, which is defined as a state of being in which consciousness is wholly or partially suspended. This happened to Daniel at least twice. His accounts offer a little more description about what happened in his trances.

As [an angel] was speaking to me, I fell into a trance, face to the ground: then he touched me and set me on my feet. (Daniel 8:18)

So I was left alone to see this great vision. My strength left me, and my complexion grew deathly pale, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words: and when I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a trance, face to the ground. (Daniel 10:8–9)

From Daniel's testimony, we see that falling into a trance is similar to the accounts of people falling out under the power of the Spirit, which has ample scriptural support.

And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. (1 Kings 8:9, KJV)

the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:13b, 14)

Now a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4)

When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads." (Acts 26:14)

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. (Revelation 1:17-18a)

The highest type of vision is an open vision where the person can't tell whether he is still in his body or not. This happened to Paul. Well, we believe that it happened to Paul. He says that he knew a man in Christ that this happened to, and most theologians believe he was writing about himself.

I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. (2 Corinthians 12:2–4)

Certain aspects of Revelation shows that at least part or some of the visions revealed to John fit in this class.

After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! (Revelation 4:1–2)

Like the authoritative voice of the Spirit, a distinctive quality of these visions is how they fit into the larger purposes that God has for the church and the world. Many contemporary preachers claim to have visions, especially those in the so-called prophetic movement, but they lack this quality, which should give us pause. Many are nothing more than trumped up fallacies intended to invigorate the minister's own ministry rather than benefit the kingdom of God or the Lord's church. While Christians are charged to walk by faith, it's not unbelief to look upon these claims of spectacular (and outlandish) visions with a skeptical eye. As with the account of Peter and Cornelius, one can wait to see just what kind of fruit it bears before we whole-heartedly embrace it.

Judging by the Word

There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. (1 Corinthians 14:10)

Prove all things… (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

The fact is God is still the same as he ever was, the God of Israel, the great I AM. He doesn't engage in make believe. What he says comes to pass. Our part is to discern his voice, and instantly act on what we know to be him.

My child, be attentive to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

Do not let them escape from your sight;

keep them with all your heart.

For they are life to those who find them,

and healing to all their flesh. (Proverbs 4:20–22)

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. (Joshua 1:8)

If we want to follow the leading of God's Spirit, we must take the pains of meditating in his Word and commit ourselves to walk in the light of it. God isn't a man that he can lie. He doesn't change. The more we understand his ways, those revealed in his Word, the more we can follow the leading of his Spirit, which will be fully consistent to what he has already made known. As we mature in him, we will learn to better hear his Spirit, those things that he wants us to do, and distinguish it from the other voices that may speak to us.

But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Prayer too, real prayer, helps us to maintain our sensitivity to his leadings. Both Cornelius and Peter were praying when the Lord decided to speak to them in visions. For those baptized in the Spirit (which is available to every believer), praying in other tongues is also vitally important.

For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

Praying in the Spirit sensitizes the senses of the spirit man over those of the outer man.

If we do these things, and esteem his leadings to the measure that the apostles did in the days of the early church, we can't help but to experience the kind of success God promised us in Joshua 1:8 and Proverbs 4.

About Peter Smythe

Peter Smythe was born in New Jersey, but raised in the big state of Texas. He was educated at Oral Roberts University where he graduated with honors, and at the Texas Tech School of Law. He lives with his family in Arlington, Texas, what the New York Times describes as a “drab, featureless city closer to Fort Worth than Dallas.” This gives him plenty of time to write. Click here to review his other books on Kindle: http://amzn.to/ZV4R8k.

One Last Thing . . .

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Table of Contents

Spirit Led

The Importance of Following the Spirit

The Spirit is the Lamp

Man is a Spirit

Spirit Conscious

Spirit versus Soul

The Saving of the Soul

Presenting the Body

The Inward Witness

Conscience

Voice of the Holy Ghost

Guidance Through Visions

Judging by the Word

About Peter Smythe

One Last Thing . . .