Father Knows Best

"As much as we seek Him, He will take us further."

TO WALK IN THE SPIRIT, a man must first be a child of God, having accepted salvation through grace by his confession. Then, having received the Holy Spirit into the spirit man, or inner man, or heart (similar terms), he is able to hear the Spirit speaking to him. But hearing does not come from the outside audible, although it can at God’s discretion. It is most often heard in the spirit man and then recognized by the mind.

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

However, other voices speak into the mind, so knowing what you’ve heard was the Spirit speaking comes through knowing who He is in the Word of God, and through time spent in His presence. If you write a description of a general of an army and tell of things he has done and the way in which he has done them, then you will know him from the general of a different army. Does George Washington resemble Douglas McArthur? I think not. In this same fashion, the Holy Spirit will never sound like the enemy. God is good and doeth good, it says in the 119th Psalm. This fact about God will save you much internal confusion. If it is not good, then it is not God. He will never cause confusion or sickness or injury for any reason.

To be in God’s presence is another thing learned by time spent in study, in prayer, and in worship to God. Study teaches us about Him. Prayer communicates with Him and through Him, and Worship brings us before Him where He can work in us. There are levels of spiritual maturity as there are levels of physical maturity. A fifteen-year-old can do what a five-year-old cannot, and a man trained in athletics is able to do what an untrained man cannot. There is no highest level of maturity in spiritual things. A child of God can grow as much as he desires to grow, and if he does not desire to grow, he can ask God for the desire, and it will be given to him.

READ “Even When He’s Quiet”
https://sdwauthor.blogspot.com/2024/04/even-when-hes-quiet.html

We can go “deeper” into our understanding of God and the nature, character, ways, and methods of God, and there is no deepest depth to this either. As much as we seek Him, He will take us further. To “walk in the Spirit” or be “led of the Spirit,” phrases used in the Word of God, is to do as the Spirit shows us in more specific situations with certain people. He knows everything about everyone down to what they think about. There are no secrets from Him, regardless of men’s thinking in this regard, and He is the source of all wisdom, so He knows what is best, when it is best, and how to do what is best so that it turns out best.

It is said in God’s Word that He is sensitive, and most often, this is applied to those who betray their salvation. This is misunderstood greatly by the church as a whole. Salvation acquired through our confession, meant from the heart, and desired by the individual is never removed. Salvation neglected through distractions of any sort, sinful or not, is never removed. The only one who betrays the Son of God is one who, like Judas, has walked in the things of God, ministered in the Spirit of God, and would go so far as to crucify Him without care. This is possible, but as long as there is repentance, forgiveness is given.

The sensitivity of the Spirit is not limited to this type of situation but is applied to individual lives just as the stomach is sensitive to food, just as an expectant mother is sensitive to her unborn child. He knows everything and everyone physical and also spiritual beings, and is not a hammer, or a dull knife blade, but an extremely gentle and delicately applied one. The Word of God, it says in Hebrews 4:12, can separate joints from marrow and spirit from soul. Where we cannot see the edges, things having merged together, He can unbake the cake. This works to our advantage, not our loss.

Part of our maturity in things of God is to change our thinking from the natural point-of-view to God’s point-of-view. Do you see the glass half-empty in your human mind or overflowing as does God? No one is born again, becomes a child of God, and knows everything in one day or one year, but it is the continual growth of a lifetime. It is our new lifestyle, and we hunger and thirst for it, to know more, to speak like God, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. He is our hero, as we could put it, and our example of human living. He walked in the Spirit daily, doing as His Father directed Him to do and speaking only what His Father willed. He was completely unselfish, doing nothing of his self-interest, to the point of laying down His life. Men did not take it from Him. He offered it, and the Spirit of God who lives in the children of God raised Him back to life.

“Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind.” (Psalms 139:1-2)

That life works in us so that whatever we face, wherever we go, whoever we must speak to, we are never surprised by it and without the power and wisdom to live well. That is God’s desire for us. Though we sometimes fall short, His will is made plain for His Spirit lives in us for an eternity. Not simply to take us to heaven when we die, although that is a wonderful blessing, but to benefit us here and now, today.

“That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it—to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:14 AMPC)

How do I know it is God speaking?
• What He tells you will repeat in you, it will grow in importance.
• If you don’t remember it all precisely, He will remind you.
• You will have peace.

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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com