Romans 8: 14 for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. When we are being “led” by the Spirit, we are not “following,” as the Israelites did when they followed the pillar of fire in the wilderness.
To be led by the Spirit means to be driven by the Spirit.
The Greek word for being led is Ago– the word means to be led or brought from one place to another. It means to be brought into a spiritual condition where the Holy Spirit is moving us.
To be led means to impel (to make somebody feel the need to do something, to cause to move, to start or keep somebody moving in a particular direction, to force somebody to do something,) It means that all of our life and all of our actions are activated by the Spirit of God.
We must come to the end of our human drive and into the Spirit drive within us. Samson, in the natural could do a limited amount physically; but when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him he was driven by the force of the Spirit, and nothing was a limitation to him.
All who are being activated by the Spirit are set in motion. Their whole action, their whole life, comes forth by the Holy Spirit within them.
To be led by the Spirit we first must be filled with the Spirit.
Luke 4:1 and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being forty days tempted of the devil.
To be led by the Spirit we have to be totally yielded to the Holy Spirit, we have to be sanctified (wholly set apart, exclusively for His use). We become the vehicle of the Holy Spirit to manifest the kingdom of God upon the earth.
Being led by the Spirit or walking by the Spirit is very important; unless we are being led by the Spirit, the will of God will not come to pass upon the earth. Being led by the Spirit has become a phrase to us, without our understanding or experiencing what it really means. We need much teaching on being led by the Spirit, but we must also understand what actually happens to a person who is led by the Spirit.
We attain spiritual maturity if we reach that place where the Holy Spirit is leading us. Most new converts, even those who have been baptized in Holy Spirit, are led now and then; they are led more by hindrances than they are by direct leading. The Spirit hinders them and checks them from that which they shouldn’t do. Otherwise, they sort of grope their way along, uncertainty and hesitantly they fumble along their way. But a mature saint, a son of God, comes into that place where he is led by the Spirit of God.
Most new converts are led by retrospective revelation and not progressive revelation.
Until we come to maturity the truth comes to us mostly retrospectively. We look back and realize I should have said that, or I should have did that. We look back and learn what we could have been and what we should have been. We learn what we didn’t do and so forth, it is called retrospective revelation.
We start out experiencing God when He reveals to us what we did wrong. We start asking ourselves questions? How do we think it went? What could we have done better? We are looking back at something thinking how that could have been better. How could I improve that, what mistakes did I make and so on.
Retrospective revelation is good, progressive truth is better. Progressive truth comes to people who are led by the Spirit. Progressive truth means in the situation that I am in right now, I know what the Lord is doing, and I know how I should be responding. So we are in time, in the moment with God. And we are learning as we progress.
When we start to learn how to walk in progressive truth, we walk faster. When we have to deal with retrospective revelation we are stood still or we are looking back into that situation thinking we should have said that or done that.
Acceleration is about being in the moment with God. It is all about knowing what God is doing in our life right now and we are deliberately making the choice to participate in that. So today, while it is still called today, we are not hardening our heart, we are hearing the voice of God and we are responding to what He is doing.
When we are not being led by the Spirit, we never see the lesson that is occurring in the moment. We see it retrospectively. When we are being led by the Spirit we understand the lesson that we are in right now and we co-operate with the Holy Spirit and we grow quickly.
Galatians 5:16But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh… 18 but if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
There is something very significant about the position of a son who is led by the Spirit of God. “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” This is difficult for us to understand. When we say I am not under Law, but I am Under Grace,” if we would stop and think about it, we are still under a lot of law, even the best of us. But we rejoice that we are under a lesser degree of Mosaic law and under more grace than before, but we are still under much law. The law was given to restrain the self-life. We have to come into sonship; we have to come into that positive leading of the Holy Spirit, and the two are synonymous.
If we are wholly led by the Spirit of the Lord we have come to sonship. If we have come to sonship, we’re wholly led by the Spirit of the Lord. The two phrases are interchangeable.
When people are still moved by their own ambition and plans, they are not being led by the Spirit of the Lord. Many great ministries go out and heal, putting on great campaigns and promotions. They are not being led by the Spirit of the Lord; they are promoting something, they are selling something.
We cannot be driven by the Spirit of the Lord, and take thought concerning the self life. How am I going to support myself?
Now, what did Jesus do? Did He advertise? No. He said, “Whatever I see the Father do, that I do.” He was really led by the Spirit of the Lord.
John3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Without measure Jesus received, and attaining sonship (the same sonship that He holds before us), was led by the Spirit of the Lord. It says in the gospels that when He was first filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness, there to fast forty days and to be tempted of the devil. Every act, everything He did was because He was driven by it.
Saul of Tarsus was not a son of God, he was not being led by the Spirit—he was a rebel, a persecutor of the church. But Jesus got a hold of him, and said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” The Lord answered, “I’m Jesus Whom thou persecutest. It’s hard for you to kick against the pricks.” (Acts 9:4, 5).
An ox pulling a cart down the road that didn’t move fast enough would be jabbed with a sharp, hard, flat edged stick. If the ox became mad and kicked back, he was just hurting himself a little more, to kick against that prick. That’s the way it was with Saul—God was putting him right in a corner. He was saying, “Saul, it will be hard for you to kick against what I’m doing.”
Later Paul wrote, for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. It is quite another thing to come to the place as a son where you are led by the Spirit of God and being led by the Spirit is certainly easier than to kick against the pricks.
We may still be getting some of the treatments Saul of Tarsus got before he became a son. We have to learn how to be led by the Spirit and come to that place where we are completely given to what God wants to accomplish in our lives, fulfilling our destiny being led by the Spirit.
We need to be so filled with the Spirit, that all of our life and all of our actions are activated by the Spirit of God. All those who are being led by the Spirit are being activated by the Spirit and are set in motion. Their whole action, their whole life, comes forth by the Holy Spirit within them.