| All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. — John 16:15  In Step with the Spirit by Ben Stuart, from Rest and War   When Jesus headed out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, He "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Matthew 4:1). Then, when the time of testing was complete, Jesus "returned in the power of the Spirit" (Luke 4:14). These two verses provide helpful headings for us when we consider how the Spirit operates in our lives: He leads us and He empowers us.
The Spirit Leads Us
When Jesus prepared His disciples for the Spirit's arrival, He told them,
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. — John 14:16
In Greek the word translated as "helper" is a combination of the words that mean "walk" and "alongside."1 Jesus promised to send a counselor who would walk alongside His people.
The word another means another of the same kind. He would be like Jesus — except the Spirit would always walk with and live in God's people.
So how do we keep in step with the Spirit? What does His counsel sound like? How do we even know His voice? Let me give you four critical ways the Spirit of God guides us in life.
HIS GUIDANCE IS CONSISTENT WITH SCRIPTURE
The Spirit will always be consistent with the Scriptures. As Jesus explained the Spirit's role to the disciples, He told them,
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. — John 14:26
One of the Spirit's primary roles in the disciples' lives would be to teach them, reminding them of the words of Jesus.
He even referred to the Helper as "the Spirit of truth" and explained,
He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. — John 16:13-15
How do we discern the voice of the Spirit? He will sound like everything you hear Jesus say in the Gospels. The Spirit wants us to know the mind of Christ.
The Spirit of God loves the Word of God.
I had a young man approach me at church and ask me how he could learn to hear from God. I told him to read the Scriptures every day until his thoughts instinctually flowed along the channels of the revealed Word of God.
"No, I want to hear from the Spirit," he clarified.
I told him that the apostle Paul called the Scriptures "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV). This description beautifully encapsulates what Peter explained:
No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. — 2 Peter 1:20-21
The Spirit of truth breathed out these words through the authors of this book.
This young man was learning that hearing from the Spirit required becoming familiar with the Word.
If you want to hear the Spirit's voice, know His mind, and receive His guidance, then soak your mind with the words He inspired! Sometimes in church culture there is a tension between "Spirit-led people" and "Bible people." The Spirit does not know that distinction. Again, the Spirit of God loves the Word of God.
This is great news for those who want to know the mind of God.
When you sit with the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit of God is far more excited about you understanding them than you are. And when the wind of God blows in your heart as you fill your mind with the thoughts of God — look out. That's where lives change! Several years ago I read a book entitled Fire, which told the harrowing tales of some of the largest forest fires in America's history.2 While describing the awesome power of these blazes, the author unpacked how a fire can reach such epic proportions. He called it the "fire triangle" because all fires need three elements in order to stay burning: fuel, heat, and wind. If you have those three, then the fire triangle is stable, and the blaze will keep going. Lose one of them, and the fire will go out.
So it is with our fire of passion for God.
It must have the fuel of God's Word in our minds. It must have the heat of our affections for God. And it must have the wind of the Spirit blowing through our lives. Just reading the Book without the Spirit guiding us could make us arrogant people (1 Corinthians 8:1). That was the problem of the Pharisees in Jesus' day and it's the problem of all legalists today. We need to have a heart that loves the Lord. But if the wind doesn't blow, the fire of our love cannot continue to burn.
The Puritans used to talk about the spiritual life as light for the mind and heat for the heart. We need the Spirit to give us both illumination and affections.
This is why, every time I sit down to read God's Word, I pray that He would open my eyes to discover wonderful things in His law (Psalm 119:18). The wonderful things are there, but I am asking Him to open my eyes to see them. Then I ask Him to "incline my heart to [His] testimonies, and not to selfish gain" (v. 36).3
I need God to move my heart to make these instructions become love. So I ask for the wind to blow into my devotional moment with Him. I can build the altar. I can make time to stack up the fuel of His Word in my mind, but I need the wind to blow in order for that fuel to become the fire of affection and action. How do you know the voice of the Spirit? He will sound like God's Word.
Conversely, He won't sound anything like your flesh.
Your Turn
Let's get into the Word! If we want to know the Spirit, hear the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and live by the Spirit, we need to read the Word of God and be familiar with what He has said. Come share your thoughts with us. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily Share this devotion with someone who needs it today. You Were Created to Struggle Well
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by Ben Stuart
Struggle well. Fight for progress. Know the one who has fought for you.  Softcover, Regular: $18.99 eBook price: $9.99 + free U.S. shipping* on orders $35 or more You don't have to live in this world long before discovering that the pursuit of intimacy with God occurs within the context of adversity. It is a fight. Yet it is a fight in which our King has won the decisive victory! You have been set free…into a raging battle!
But there's good news: your struggles do not mean you're doomed, rather they're actually a sure sign that you are alive. Now you must learn to struggle well, for Jesus did not free you from the fight, he freed you for the fight.
Rest & War is a field guide for the spiritual life; a book of ancient methods of transformation transposed into a modern key. Borne out of pastor Ben Stuart's personal life-experiences and decades in ministry, Rest & War offers biblical and practical guidance for:
God has called you into the good fight of life; step into it boldly, strategically. Flee evil and pursue intimacy with your Creator. Uproot what is broken and cultivate what is life-giving. Make war on what is destructive, and rest in the God who loves you. Are you ready to walk elegantly through the battlefield of life?
 What people are saying... "Rest & War: Rhythms of a Well-Fought Life, is a breath of fresh air for our generation. His practical and encouraging words help us all learn how to better cultivate true intimacy with Jesus as we navigate the complexities of our daily lives." — Sadie Robertson Huff
"Rest & War...the very ingredients needed to not just face the chaos of life, but to come out stronger on the other side. Ben communicates clearly the ways to struggle well in a world that does not know rest. This resource will help you navigate this beautiful tension in your spiritual life and set in place disciplines that will help you flourish." — Levi Lusko
"We've all felt battle-weary and discouraged at different times throughout our lives as Christians. Ben Stuart knows what this feels like and teaches readers to know the right time to rest and the right time to war with Jesus by our side. In Rest & War, you'll find the companion you've been waiting for as you look to honor God with the way you spend your days and mental energy. Life may not always be easy, but this book will help you learn to live your one life well!" — Lysa TerKeurst
"Profound yet practical. Ben has made a habit of examining the Scripture to mine the truth from the text and this book is proof of that pursuit. In Rest & War, he's stepped into a cultural crisis and has held up a beacon of light and hope through the person and way of Jesus. From the earliest chapters in Genesis, we see our God creating structure in a way that brings about life and flourishing, and that is what Ben is bringing to the table with this book: strategic structure that doesn't just change your schedule but changes your heart as well." — Louie Giglio
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