“The Lord your God … went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.” (Deuteronomy 1:33)

Continuing our series on the Holy Spirit, I’d like to discuss another aspect of His ministry seen in the verse above. When the children of Israel were making their way through the desert, on the way to the Promised Land, God personally led them on that journey. He went ahead of them, searching out places for them to camp and showing them which path to take. Does this surprise you? God wasn’t going to work only through their human leaders like Moses; He was also going to personally and specifically lead them day by day. Why? Because He wanted all His people to know His voice and willingly obey Him.

Does He do this for His children today?

Absolutely! Christians are led by God in their everyday lives through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He’s our constant companion, our “ever-present help” in time of need (Psalm 46:1). He is available for counsel and guidance 24/7. So why do we operate like we’re on our own?

Here’s the problem: We don’t live like we believe He’ll go ahead of us and lead us in the way we should go. When we face new challenges, we don’t count on the incredible resource of the Spirit. We only consider our own resources – our experience, talents and skills, the help available from other people – and calculate our chances for success based on those factors alone. We forget that the Spirit can help us overcome our deficiencies.

So we are left with merely the fact of His presence, not the experience of it. What should be commonplace has become rare, but the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit is something all Christians can experience. It’s not reserved for the super spiritual, the movers and shakers in God’s kingdom. He wants to commune with and lead all of us. As A. W. Tozer wrote in The Pursuit of God:

“A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God himself is here waiting our response to His presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon on its reality.“

When we see Him move in real time, it will change how we live for Jesus. We will become less focused on ourselves and more focused on God. And that’s a good thing.

When was the last time I attempted something beyond my own ability?

The answer to this question will reveal how intimate our relationship with God’s Spirit is. In the following Scripture passage, God reveals the amazing power available to us when we fully rely on Him.

“Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say ‘My way is hidden from the Lord?’ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God … He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. “(Isaiah 40:27-31)

It’s only when we come to the end of our own hoarded resources that we think to call out on God, the One who has what we need. He delights to help those who have “a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).

When I became acquainted with the Holy Spirit following my conversion a revival was sweeping our area. During this revival time, which lasted about four years, I got to see Him work in diverse and miraculous ways. It was like living in the book of Acts, without the intense persecution that the early church faced. Our small band of born-again believers got lots of opportunities to share our faith in coffee shops and on the street corners of our small village. We saw people get saved, healed, and on one occasion delivered from demons as the Holy Spirit moved among us.

Revival is exciting, but it’s also unnerving.

Yes, it was an exciting time to be a new Christian. But it was also unnerving. When the Holy Spirit was at work we were usually uncomfortable, because He challenged everything related to our old (sinful) lives. One man I knew (who’d only been a Christian for a few months) felt led by the Spirit to return all the merchandise he’d been stealing (over many years) from his employer and confess his sin. Can you imagine the humiliation of taking a wheelbarrow of stuff back to the company where you currently work and facing your boss? Fortunately, this repentant convert didn’t lose his job … his boss figured if he was this honest, he could be trusted as an employee.

I was challenged to do many things outside of my comfort zone as well. One incident stands out in my memory because it was the first time I experienced the Holy Spirit’s manifest presence. I got asked to accompany some other Christians who were going to drive to a city four hours away to pass out tracts to people on the street. We called this kind of venture “cold call evangelism,” which was kind of like being a spiritual door-to-door salesman. What made the idea especially intimidating was the size of the city we were traveling to. It had a population of nearly a million people, compared to our village of 900.

When they asked me, I wanted to turn them down. I could imagine all kinds of bad scenarios happening. I expected I’d encounter rejection, hatred, scorn, or at the very least indifference. In spite of all the probable difficulties, I decided to go anyway. In my newfound love for Jesus, I figured He’d help me to get through the day okay. I had no illusions about doing this in my own ability, so I had no choice but to rely on Him.

From the moment we got out of the van and went our separate ways, I was aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence with me. He was cheering me on. He also gave me practical help as we walked along the street, directing me to the people I should approach. To my utter astonishment, no one refused the gospel tract I offered them. Some were even receptive enough to listen to my testimony about how I came to know the Lord. Throughout the entire day, I was so caught up in the exhilaration of doing this with Him that I forgot how scary the experience was supposed to be. I forgot my inabilities and inhibitions as I partnered with my divine Companion. Walking back to the van, I was filled to overflowing with gratitude, joy, and peace.

The peace came from knowing I’d been obedient. I’d said “no” to my flesh and pressed on in faith. The joy came from seeing the Gospel put into action and being involved in something that could literally change someone else’s life.  And my gratitude was of course for how the day had gone. His grace had been sufficient!

He leads those who need Him.

Sadly, this kind of experience with the Holy Spirit doesn’t happen as often as I would like. As I’ve grown older in my walk with Christ I’ve become more complacent and self-reliant. I don’t feel as spiritually needy as I did back then. I’ve started to trust in what I know about God and what I think I can do myself. I’m less willing to launch out into the deep, depending totally upon the Holy Spirit’s ability to get me through.

I know in some ways it’s easier for us to step out in obedience when we’re in the midst of revival fervor. But even in times when we aren’t seeing a lot of miracles, we can still experience His awesome – His manifest — presence if we will humble ourselves, seek His help, and act in faith.

Like any relationship, our relationship with the Holy Spirit has to be cultivated. We can’t expect to be able to hear His voice or discern His leading if we don’t seek out His company regularly. We can discover what He likes and what repels Him, but it means spending time with Him in prayer and obeying what we read in Scripture. The Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit. It communicates to us how He thinks and what He desires for us to be and do.

The reality of the indwelling Spirit is something we should count on, especially when we’re facing new challenges and entering new territory. The old hymn “In the Garden” (copyright 1912) captures the kind of relationship we can enjoy with the Holy Spirit.

“And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”