Taking the Spirit's Hand

The Spirit of Christ is in every believer. Romans 8:9-10 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” That’s one of the defining traits of a believer. Almost by definition, a Christian is one who is indwelt by the Spirit of God.

But what does all this have to do with gaining victory over sin in our lives? The answer comes from our obedience to the Spirit. Romans 8:5 teaches, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

I think we can get a good idea of what this means if we look at it in the Old King James, which says:
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”

If you mind your mamma, you obey her. “My land, that young’un just don’t mind me at all when I tell him what to do.” “Son, you mind me now, you here?”

The key really is not to worry about mastering the flesh, but the key is obeying the Spirit. The flesh is un-reconcile-able, and it won’t ever behave itself. But your flesh is pretty helpless without your cooperation. So, instead of cooperating with the flesh’s dastardly desires, you obey the Spirit. Like your flesh, the Holy Spirit is always within you too. And the Spirit of God will never lead you into sin.

Romans 8:13-14 tells us that, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Following the flesh will only lead you to destruction. Following the Spirit leads to life. In that verse, the word, led, in Greek is a beautiful word. It is ago, and it means this, from a Greek dictionary: To lead by laying hold of, and in this way to bring to the point of destination; to lead by accompanying to or into any place. Wow! Isn’t that awesome? It conveys the idea of a gentleman offering his strong arm to escort a lady along, like a father leading his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. It says, “I am taking you, I am leading you, I am going through this with you.” That’s what the Holy Spirit does for us.

That idea is expressed in: Psalm 73:24 (reading from the old King James), “Thou dost hold my right hand; thou dost guide me with counsel.” Praise God, we are not left alone. The Holy Spirit is continually with a believer, leading him by the hand, providing continual guidance through life. All we have to do is follow. We no longer have to follow the flesh into all kinds of trouble and degradation. We can now follow the Holy Spirit who leads us to a righteous life.

But, like a gentleman, the Holy Spirit offers His arm for us to take. He doesn’t grab us by the hair and drag us along caveman style. He offers us his arm, then waits for us to take it. God’s job is to offer the Spirit to lead us and guide us. Our job is to obey, or, should we say, to follow.

Now listen to this: Ephesians 5:1 says: “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” This shows us the relationship that we are in when we follow. We are God’s “dear children.” Should there be any fear of following Him? Of failing? No! Of course not! No more than your toddler son should be afraid of taking your hand and following you.

When a parent helps their baby take his first steps, that parent takes the baby by the hand to lead him. If the baby stumbles and falls, the parent doesn’t smack him up side the head or scold him for being so clumsy. The parent simply helps the baby back up and again patiently takes his hand. This is what God does – the concerned, hovering parent. We need to reach out our hands to His and be willing to be led.

This is expressed well in Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me. Praise God!

What a comfort that should be to us. The God who knows us intimately, and love us anyway, has promised to always be there to lead us and guide us. What is there to fear?

But where will the Spirit of God guide us? He’ll guide us into all truth. John 16:13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” Where is the truth found? Truth is found in the Word of God. Why is this important? Well, if the problem is our need to stop practicing sin, the answers are found in God’s Word.

Here are some examples:
Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”

Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

1st Peter 1:22 says, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth.”

Well, how does this all work? How does the Spirit of God lead us to line up with the truth? Well, maybe I can explain it this way: One time I visited the Panama Canal. Part of the Canal traveled through Gatun Lake, which was really a damned up river, and it was a treacherous lake for ship travel. The ships had to zigzag to avoid the numerous sand bars so as not to run aground. The way they figured this out was ingenious. Each zig (or zag, as the case may be) was marked by a series of three signs, All each of the signs had on them was a single vertical line. When a ship got to the point where it needed to make the turn, those vertical lines lined up perfectly and you could safely make the turn.
If they didn’t line up, you were off course, and in grave danger of running aground, just as you are in grave danger when your life doesn’t line up with the Word of God. You are heading for a shipwreck in your life.

Well, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to guide you to the place where your life and the Word are exactly lined up. The Holy Spirit does that with the will of God and your lives too. He wants your lives in perfect line with God’s Word and God’s will. And what is your part? Obedience – surrender to God’s will. You reach out your hand to take the Spirit’s arm let him lead you.

Unfortunately, too many girls actually prefer the wild side of life. They prefer to follow the rough crowd, the lawless boys, into all kinds of trouble. But how much better would they be to shun that wild crowd and instead take the arm of a gentleman who would truly protect them from trouble and lead them away from it?

Unfortunately, way too many of us also really prefer the excitement of the illicit pleasures of the flesh.
So we avoid the gaze of the Holy Spirit, and we ignore his outstretched arm preferring to follow the lust of our flesh.

Well, our part is to obey. Donald Grey Barnhouse claimed that “90% of knowing the will of God consists of being willing to do the will of God before we know what it is.” That makes a lot of sense. It’s the difference between obeying willingly or grudgingly.

You can understand this: Have you ever gone up to someone and asked, “Hey, buddy, can you do me a favor?” And they respond, “I don’t know, it depends on what is it?” So you respond, “Oh, never mind if that’s the way you feel.” It bugs you that they wouldn’t want to do you a favor. “Just forget I ever asked,” And you walk off in a huff.

Well, how do think God feels when you say, “I don’t know if I want to do God’s will. What if He asks me to do something I don’t want to do?” Come on! What are you afraid of? God is a gentleman. He’s your daddy! He loves you. Why would you not want to take His arm and have Him lead you?

So, let me ask you: What is your response when God offers you His arm? Do you have to ask, “Where are we going?” before you take it? Or do you say, “Yes, Father, wherever you lead me.” Now, which would be the right response?