Does the Holy Spirit Prompt me Throughout the Day?

Posted by MVBC Staff

Acts 8:29
Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”

Does the Holy Spirit prompt His people here and there throughout the day? He did in Philip’s life. He prompted Philip, speaking into his heart and directing him to approach a certain chariot where a certain man was. God wanted to reach out to this man and Philip was His vehicle to do so.

I want to be sensitive to Holy Spirit’s promptings in my life like Philip. I don’t want to miss His gentle quiet whisper directing me here or there, leading me to this person or that activity throughout the day. I don’t want to miss hearing the voice of God in my life because I’m too busy, too noisy, too distracted, or afraid of being labeled too “out-of-the-box.” Ultimately, the child of God goes to God’s Word, the Bible, to hear His voice. But that very Word of God tells us that one of God’s ways of leading His people is through the Holy Spirit’s promptings throughout the day.

John 16:13

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

Psalm 143:10

Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

A word of caution on all this: I can easily deceive myself into thinking the Holy Spirit is prompting me here or there, or to do this or that, when in reality it’s really me. Therefore, the follower of Jesus must be very careful on this. Too many in our times have abused this great privilege and turned it into something God never designed it to be. They claim the Holy Spirit is always “speaking” to them, when in reality He isn’t. Many of us, in response to this falsehood, have gone way over to the other side, so that, the Holy Spirit never does anything in our day. We go only to the Word of God to hear the voice of God, staying as far away from the “messiness” of the Spirit-led life as possible. Both of these poles are misguided and balance is needed in our times. Many Christians’ faith is puffed up with false notions that the Spirit is always leading them – that they can hear the voice of God while many others cannot. On the other side, many Christians’ faith is dried up with the staleness of religious rote, never truly experiencing Jesus Christ personally outside of the binds of Scripture.

If you believe the Holy Spirit is prompting you today do like Philip and prayerfully follow. There should be signs along the way that you are indeed following the Spirit and not yourself. In Philip’s case, the Spirit led him to a certain man in a chariot; and the proof that it was the Spirit and not Philip’s own head-game was in what followed. Philip went up to the chariot in response to the Spirit’s leading and the man in the chariot was reading Scripture aloud! Philip knew at this point that God was in this and reached out to the man, who ended up being saved that day (Acts 8:30-39). So if the Holy Spirit prompts you or me there should be signs along the way that it is really Him leading us. If not, we might take a step back and reorient ourselves, understanding that it could very well be our own voice that we heard, not Christ’s.

I’m putting myself out on a limb in trying to explain some of these things and may not find myself popular among many of my brothers and sisters in Christ out there in doing so. However, I would rather do my best to explain the Spiritual disciple of “walking in the Spirit” in the most practical way I know how, with the understanding that some may misunderstand and some may abuse this teaching, in order that some may better understand and put it into practice. Ultimate truth is revealed to us through Scripture; and that very Scripture is filled with godly men and women who walked with God in the Spiritual paths otherwise unknown and unreachable by the masses.