Most of us have heard of the Holy Spirit, but do we truly understand who He is? More importantly, do we know how to walk with Him in our everyday lives?
When Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send His Spirit so that we would always have a helper and never be alone.
In Led by the Spirit, you’ll learn through 10 devotional reflections that the Holy Spirit helps guide us down the right path of life and to live more like Jesus.
Read: Psalm 91:1-6, 9-12
I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!
Psalm 139:7
When Arthur met Sandy in college, they became best friends. Soon Sandy began to lose his eyesight, yet Arthur stuck with him. After Sandy became blind, he dropped out of college. But Arthur would have none of it and promised to help him.
One day the two were at Grand Central Station in New York when Arthur said he had to leave. Sandy spent a humbling two hours bumping into people and even knocking a few things over. Finally, he was able to board the right train to get back to school.
When he returned, he discovered that Arthur hadn’t abandoned him—he’d been watching over him the whole time, quietly helping him gain confidence in being independent. After that, Sandy said, “I felt like I could do anything.” Decades later, Sandy Greenberg, successful businessman, and Art Garfunkel, music legend, are still friends.
When we come to faith in Jesus, God gives us the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and guides us. He’s an “advocate, who will never leave [us]” (John 14:16). And the psalmist calls God our “refuge” (Psalm 91:2, 9).
What crisis are you facing? As you walk through it today, the Spirit is there watching over you even when you sometimes don’t think He’s there. God “will cover you” and be with you (v. 4). He’s always there, watching over His own.
– Dave Branon
What challenges do you face these days? How does it help to know that you’re not facing them alone because God sent the Holy Spirit to be present with you?
Dear God, thank You for being the unseen presence in my life—and for giving me the Holy Spirit to guide me.
Read: Luke 24:17-27
Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:27
As Tim considered the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—he realized that he related most to the Father and the Spirit: “I pray to the Father and I have a strong sense of his involvement in the circumstances of my life. I am also aware that anything good I do is done with the help of the Spirit. But Jesus felt more distant.” As Tim read the Bible, God redressed the imbalance: “In the pages of Scripture I encounter the Lord Jesus. I see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus Himself explained how He appeared in the Scriptures when after His death He met the disciples walking on the Emmaus road. The disciples shared their dashed hopes over Jesus being “the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Chiding them for their foolishness and lack of belief, He said, “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (v. 26). He then gave what must have been the most amazing Bible study: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (v. 27).
Jesus meets us too as we engage with the Bible. We, like the disciples on the Emmaus road, can experience our hearts burning within us as He opens the Scriptures to us through the Spirit (v. 32).
– Amy Boucher Pye
Which of the members of the Trinity—Father, Son, or Holy Spirit—do you relate to most, and why? How do you meet with Jesus when you read the Bible?
Loving God, thank You for welcoming me into Your circle of love. Please allow the Spirit to bring alive my reading of the Bible, that I might love You more.
Read: 1 John 2:18-27
The Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie.
1 John 2:27
As the world’s fastest blind runner, David Brown of the US Paralympic Team credits his wins to God, his mother’s early advice (“no sitting around”), and his running guide—veteran sprinter Jerome Avery. Tethered to Brown by a string tied to their fingers, Avery guides Brown’s winning races with words and touches.
“It’s all about listening to his cues,” says Brown, who says he could “swing out wide” on 200-meter races where the track curves. “Day in and day out, we’re going over race strategies,” Brown says, “communicating with each other—not only verbal cues, but physical cues.”
In our own life’s race, we’re blessed with a divine Guide. Our Helper, the Holy Spirit, leads our steps when we follow Him. “I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray,” wrote John (1 John 2:26). “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know” (v. 27).
John stressed this wisdom to the believers of his day who faced “antichrists” who denied the Father and that Jesus is the Messiah (v. 22). We face such deniers today as well. But the Holy Spirit, our Guide, leads us in following Jesus. We can trust His guidance to touch us with truth, keeping us on track.
– Patricia Raybon
How attuned are you to the Holy Spirit’s guidance? How can you listen better when He guides, warns, and directs?
Dear God, help me yield to Your Spirit’s guidance so I’ll run to Your truth and not to lies.
Read: John 6:35-44
Those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.
John 6:37
Michael was reading a book about quantum physics when I met him on a flight. “This book has changed how I see reality,” he said. “How?” I asked. We got chatting.
For the next hour, our conversation moved from reality to the soul, then to whether there was a God. “I’ve been wanting to talk to someone about these things,” Michael said. We then talked about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and the claim that He’s the ultimate revelation of God (Hebrews 1:3). When Michael said there were parts of his life he’d need to clean up before becoming a Christian, we talked about how we come to Jesus first, then He cleans us up (1 John 1:8-9).
“It feels like we were meant to talk today,” Michael said as we prepared to land. I agreed. “I also believe,” I said, “that God is drawing you to Himself.”
We don’t seek after God on our own. Instead, the Father seeks us—drawing us to Jesus (John 6:44). When people like Michael show an interest in Jesus, God is working through His Spirit to draw them. Spiritual fulfillment and a whole new future life are theirs, if they’ll just accept His offer (vv. 35, 40).
As we left the plane, I asked Michael if he’d like to pray. A moment later, he was praying a prayer of commitment to the one who’d been seeking him. The Father had drawn Michael to Jesus, and Jesus had welcomed him home.
– Sheridan Voysey
If you’re not a believer in Jesus, what’s holding you back? What prayer could you pray today to respond to His offer of forgiveness and new life?
Jesus, thank You for dying for my sins and offering me forgiveness. I want the new life You offer through Your Spirit, today and forever.
Read: Exodus 33:1-3, 12-17; 40:36-38
The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”
Exodus 33:14
In his 1939 wartime Christmas speech, King George VI spoke to the anxious British Empire, encouraging its citizens with the poem “Gate of the Year” by Minnie Louise Haskins. In the poem, Haskins imagines standing at a gate leading into the new year and asking for a light to guide her. Instead of giving a light, the man standing at the gate urges her to “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.” She chooses to entrust herself to God, who leads her safely forward through the unknown.
Moses and the Israelites were heading into the unknown following their escape from Egypt. On the journey to the land God had promised, the people became impatient and worshiped a gold statue. Because of the nation’s rejection, God threatened not to continue accompanying them. Terrified at such a prospect, Moses cried out to God, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place” (Exodus 33:15). Because of Moses’ faith-filled plea, God agreed to continue accompanying them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, “so the whole family of Israel could see it . . . throughout all their journeys” (40:38).
When we face unknown futures, believers in Jesus don’t have to travel life’s difficult journeys alone. One blessing that comes to us through Jesus is always having God’s Spirit with us. Each step of the way, God invites us to place our hand in His.
– Lisa Samra
When have you faced an unknown path? How did you experience the Holy Spirit with you?
Heavenly Father, remind me that I am firmly secure in Your loving hand.
Read: Galatians 5:1-22
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
Galatians 5:22
Lucian, an unbelieving Greek writer (ad 120-200) observed the warm fellowship and love believers in Jesus extended to each other. He wrote, “It is incredible to see the fervor with which the people of that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator [Jesus] has put into their heads that they are brethren.” Around the same time, a Christian writer named Tertullian declared of Jesus’ disciples: “How they love one another! Look how they are prepared to die for one another.”
What’s the source of this type of love? According to Paul, passionate concern and steadfast practical care for others aren’t naturally conjured up in human hearts. He wrote, “The Holy Spirit produces . . . love” as he went on to share other attributes (Galatians 5:22). It’s likely the apostle listed love first because every other attribute flows from it. When the Galatians walked in step with the Holy Spirit, He helped them serve one another in love (v. 13), fulfill the law of love (vv. 14–16), and demonstrate their love in tangible ways (2:20).
As we give Him space in our lives, the Spirit will fill our heads and hearts with the desire to love other believers as family. And as He does, we’ll care for the helpless, meet the practical needs of our neighbors, and even die for one another—all out of love.
– Marvin Williams
What’s difficult about loving others the way Jesus loved? How can you submit to the Spirit and love others well?
Dear Jesus, sometimes, my heart grows cold. May Your Spirit fill me with the warmth of Your love.
Read: Psalm 119:9-16
I have hidden your word in my heart.
Psalm 119:11
Annette’s grandson pointed to a cicada shell, “Look grandma, an exoskeleton!” A hasty online search confirmed he was right. A cicada nymph sheds its old structure to grow into its adult form. Humans, on the other hand, have endoskeletons because our support is on the inside—from our bones and cartilage. Annette clicked off her phone and asked her grandson, “What would happen if you lost your skeleton?” He replied, “I would die!”
So would you, and so would I. And not just physically. Our spiritual foundation is Christ, who speaks to us through the Scriptures. The Spirit of God uses the Bible to grow us into mature children of our heavenly Father. The Scriptures are not an exoskeleton that we shed when we grow up. We never outgrow the spiritual foundation of the Bible. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, its truth supports us from the inside.
Did you notice the inside language in today’s reading? “I have tried hard to find you;” “I have hidden your word in my heart;” “I have rejoiced in your laws;” “I will study your commandments;” “I will delight in your decrees” (Psalm 119:10-16).
We thrive in our life with Jesus as we hunger for His gracious message: “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey” (v. 103). The Spirit helps the Scriptures go down deep and strengthens us, from the inside.
– Mike Wittmer
How does the Holy Spirit help you grow in your understanding of the Bible? What can you do—what should you do—when you don’t feel spiritually hungry?
Heavenly Father, may the Spirit help me seek You and Your ways as I read and study the Scriptures.
Read: John 14:15-21
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you . . . the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16-17
Seven-year-old Dominic raced down the school sidewalk to his waiting mom. “Our class is going skydiving!” he exclaimed. His mother’s eyes grew wide with surprise. An email to his teacher clarified that the class would be tie-dyeing—not skydiving. Dominic was disappointed. Mom breathed a sigh of relief.
Children often hear something and assume they understand. Similarly, we make assumptions about God and how He works. When His answers or timing are different than what we expect, we may doubt and even distrust Him.
Over and over, Jesus’ disciples made wrong assumptions. When caught in a storm at sea, they saw Christ walking on the water and assumed He was a ghost (Matthew 14:26). They expected Jesus to restore Israel to prosperity only to scatter in confusion as He was arrested and later crucified. When receiving the news that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb, “the story sounded like nonsense to the men so they didn’t believe it” (Luke 24:11).
Jesus comforted His disciples in advance, saying, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. ” (John 14:16–17). This same Helper is available to us. We can cling to wrong assumptions and miss what God is doing. Or we can recognize that we’re still children ourselves, in need of the Holy Spirit’s help to understand God’s work in our lives.
– Elisa Morgan
When have you made wrong assumptions about God? How can His Spirit help you to receive His guidance?
Dear God, help me to recognize Your Spirit’s voice as You work in me.
Read: Jeremiah 3:11-15, 22
My wayward children, says the Lord, come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
Jeremiah 3:22
While my classmates and I used to skip the occasional lecture in university, everyone always made sure to attend Professor Chris’ lecture the week before the year-end exams. That was when he would unfailingly drop big hints about the exam questions he’d set.
I always wondered why he did that, until I realized that Prof. Chris genuinely wanted us to do well. He had high standards, but he would help us meet them. All we had to do was show up and listen so we could prepare properly.
It struck me that God is like that too. God can’t compromise His standards, but because He deeply desires us to be like He is, He’s given us the Holy Spirit to help us meet those standards.
In Jeremiah 3:11-14, God urged unfaithful Israel to acknowledge their guilt and return to Him. But knowing how stubborn and weak they were, He would help them. He promised to cure their “wayward hearts”(v. 22), and He sent shepherds to teach and guide them (v. 15).
How comforting it is to know that no matter how big the sin we’re trapped in or how far we’ve turned from God, He’s ready to heal us of our faithlessness! All we need to do is to acknowledge our wrong ways and allow His Holy Spirit to begin changing our hearts.
– Leslie Koh
Where do you struggle to follow God faithfully and obediently? How can you ask God to help you by the power and guidance of His Spirit?
Loving God, thank You for Your merciful love that enables me to be holy like You are. Please help me to let Your Spirit heal me of my faithlessness and transform my heart.
Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
1 Peter 1:8
Already angry and rebellious, the young man became increasingly bitter as he endured the horrors of life in a concentration camp in former Yugoslavia. Yet, Miroslav Volf would later write that this angry teenager—who became Volf’s father—discovered God in that concentration camp. How? By watching a fellow prisoner respond to inhumane treatment with joy. Of that man, Volf wrote, “Raging hunger, hard labor, and thousands of daily humiliations neither extinguished the sparkle in his eyes or made his hands weary of helping others.” Volf’s father came to believe in the loving God reflected through that man’s unquenchable joy.
This joy isn’t the result of a trouble-free life, the absence of tears, or an ability to ignore the struggle and pain we encounter in this broken world. Joy is the condition of a heart indwelt and filled by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), for the Spirit can produce joy in our hearts—regardless of the circumstances we may be facing.
That’s why in the context of suffering, Peter, speaking of Jesus, could write, “Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with glorious, inexpressible joy.” (1 Peter 1:8). Knowing Christ and living in His Spirit provides a joy that can only come from Him—a joy that can carry us through life’s most challenging moments.
– Bill Crowder
What can rob you of your own joy? How can the indwelling Spirit help you live joyfully even in the worst of times?
Father, You’re the true joy-giver, yet much of my life is lived reacting to the circumstances I face. May Your Spirit strengthen and equip me to know and show that Your joy is my strength.
A STORY OF A LIFE LED BY THE SPIRIT
Today might be the day. Certainly there was something different about today.
Simeon sat in the Outer Court of the temple, the Court of the Women, watching, waiting. His eyes flitting eagerly over the people coming to offer their sacrifices.
Today had to be the day. Why else would the Spirit move him to come to the Temple? He knew it was the Spirit, he had felt the Spirit before, it was unmistakable. He had come to know the ways of the Spirit when the promise was given, the promise that would shape the rest of his life.
He would see, with his own eyes, the Lord’s Messiah. The anointed one who would restore Israel and fulfill the promises of God to his people, the one who would bring peace and prosperity, who would announce forgiveness and restoration, Simeon would see him before he died.
In the days following the promise, everyone was a possible Messiah. Simeon watched, examined, speculated. The knowledge of death following the fulfillment of the promise was a distant dark cloud consumed by the light of Messiah’s coming. It held no threat in comparison to the joy of the promise.
In those early days he was sure that the promise was immanent. The voice of the Spirit in his soul meant that his eyes would soon see the salvation promised by God so long ago. The years Israel had waited for Messiah were coming to an end, and Simeon’s wait would mark the end of the long patience of Israel.
The bleating of the sheep and the goats being led to sacrifice brought him back. More people. Simeon watched, looking at each person intently, waiting for the voice of the Spirit.
The passing of years had not dulled his faith or anticipation. Simeon still watched and waited, much as he was doing now. People came and went as they always had. Simeon watched, as he always had, but today was different. How many times over the years had he sat here waiting to see the promised one? He sat in “his place” in the temple courts, watching, waiting, and studying. The years had taught him who he was looking for.
There’s Anna. She was there in the temple even more than Simeon. Their friendship and conversations over the years revolved around the same thing—the promises of God to Israel. Each passing day bringing them one day closer to seeing the Messiah and the kingdom of God.
Simeon reflected on the day he had told Anna of his promise. Astonishment and joy congealed into an expression Simeon would never forget. She understood that the promise to Simeon signaled that the great promises of God were at hand. Since then they had often talked, always about the coming of the Messiah.
Each drank Scripture as their daily sustenance, always amazed at the new revelation they would discover of the coming one. Each time they met in the Temple courts they would discuss something new of the Messiah.
They discussed the one who would bring comfort to Israel, who would soothe the wounded identity of years of subjugation to Gentile rulers. Messiah would comfort with the presence of God with his people. How long had it been since the glory of God had left the temple? Even this magnificent temple, in which Israel found much pride and identity, was made so glorious by a Gentile overlord. But Messiah, Anna and Simeon agreed, would bring true glory back to Israel. Not because of the temple, but because God would again dwell with his people—Immanuel.
They would speak with curiosity of the words of Isaiah the prophet when he described the Messiah being led like a lamb to the slaughter. All while marveling that somehow the punishment that he would bear with stripes and wounds would bring peace to the people of Israel. What did it mean that he would be pierced and crushed? How would his wounds bring healing to others? Those were heavy conversations; discussions that always drove them back to Scripture and to prayer.
They wondered that soon Israel would be a light to the Gentiles. Soon people of all nations would stream to Israel to learn of God and be taught his ways. And Israel would stand as a beacon of hope and peace, summoning peoples from far and wide to hear the words of the Lord.
Soon they would fill their roll as the chosen people of God. The coming of Messiah would usher in a new age for Israel. One that would make the peace under Solomon appear as turmoil and the victories of David as unnecessary—swords and spears would become hoes and plows as peace draped thickly over the land and all people.
Simeon remembered these conversations as he sat in the Temple. He remembered the promises of God. And he contemplated the coming kingdom. He scanned the faces of the men who walked past, each a possibility of being the one. But as each passed the Spirit was silent.
He had learned patience as he waited for his promise. The lesson that Israel had been learning about God’s timing was his in a personal way as the days turned to weeks, and the weeks to years. The strength of his youth making room to the wisdom of his age.
Here came a couple to dedicate a newborn—tiny, just 8 days old. A poor couple, Simeon could see the doves they brought to offer. Why had his heart caught as he glanced past. Was this man with a small child the one? He looked again. But the Spirit drew his eyes to the child.
The child?
Yes, the child.
Simeon moved. The stiffness of his old bones forgotten as he approached the couple with infant. Eight days old and yet this was he. This was Messiah. The Spirit was clear.
He chuckled to himself as he drew closer. Years of looking for the one who would, and could take the throne immediately had led him to expect something different. Yet here in this babe rested the fulfillment of all the hopes of Israel. None, including himself expected a baby. Certainly the Chosen One would have to be an infant at some point, but Simeon had expected that he would see Messiah as the one ready to usher in the promises, not as the newborn who would grow into that man.
It didn’t matter. God’s promise to Simeon was true and it was now fulfilled.
He approached the couple with wonder in his eyes. His request to hold the baby met with polite, but curious and cautious permission. Jesus. His name was Jesus. Simeon understood the meaning. He held the child up and spoke:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
The unexpected appearance of an infant as the one who would bring to culmination the promises God had made over centuries reminded Simeon that God’s ways were not human ways. That our best expectations may lead us to look for the wrong thing. He had been expecting and looking for a man, and yet here in his arms, weaker indeed than even he in fading strength, was the one who would rule.
Simeon was marked by the presence of the Spirit. He moved in the Spirit’s rhythms and because he did, he got to see and celebrate the Lord’s salvation in the face of a little child.
– J.R. Hudberg