“Pastor Prince, how can I tell when the Spirit of God is leading me?”
Actually, you’ve been led by the Spirit!
The fact that you are here today, It means that you were led, amen?
You might think that: “I just have a desire to come to church today.”
No, the Spirit of God led you.
Many of us who learn the lessons of being led think that we are
only being led then.
No, many of us are being led!
The fact that we come to believe on Christ is because
the Holy Spirit led us to Him, amen?
Now we all heard the saying, “The Spirit of God leads us with peace."
In John 14:26, it says: “The Helper,” “the Holy Spirit (that Jesus sent),
whom the Father will send in My name,” “He will teach you all things."
“All things” is not just spiritual things!
It’s things that got to do with parenting, that got to do with your marriage;
that’s got to do with your career and your business.
“All things” is all things, don’t qualify it.
“He will teach you all things.”
Amen?
“And He will bring to your remembrance all things that I’ve said to you.”
Many of you have experienced this already—the Holy Spirit leading you.
You remembered the Holy Spirit telling you something from the Bible,
or something that Pastor Prince preached.
He brings to your remembrance, right?
Many of you have experienced this already!
You may not know it, but you have experienced this.
That’s the Holy Spirit in you.
But how and what kind of wavelength does the Holy Spirit operate on?
Next verse, “Peace I leave with you,” “My peace I give to you,”
Jesus says, “not as the world gives do I give to you.”
“Not as the world gives.”
So the world gives some sort of peace.
Temporary peace.
You can go to a spa, for yoga, or you can go for any calming exercise.
Now, I’m not against calming exercises and all that, but it doesn’t come
to the level of the peace Jesus gives.
Jesus gives the peace that the world cannot give.
The world must give you the peace only when you are in that environment.
Once you leave the environment, it’s all outward!
But Jesus gives the peace that is inward.
“The world’s is temporal peace, but your peace is abiding.”
“Not as the world gives do I give to you.”
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
So, you’ll see in the context here that the
Holy Spirit teaches on the wavelength of peace.
The Holy Spirit will remind you of things on the wavelength of peace.
So, peace should be our natural habitat.
Peace should be our default mode.
You know, there’s a teaching that says, “When you feel the peace, then you follow.”
“When you feel the peace, this is the way.”
“And then you follow.”
The thing is this: that suggests that, before you felt the peace…
what were you feeling?
Where were you?
You were in restlessness, you were in anxiety.
And when you feel the peace, then you follow.
No, I believe that the Christian’s natural default mode, his modus operandi,
his spiritual and natural state as a believer is peace.
You should be at peace at all times…
I’m not saying a peace that you feel with your emotions…
You have a peace that rests more securely than on emotions, but on the
unshakable Word of the living God, alright?
I stand on God’s Word.
Now, I may tremble while I’m standing on the Rock.
But what about the Rock under me?
Never!
It never trembles.
So, I’m resting on the Rock.
So the thing is this, people: I believe that the “green light”
is your natural habitat, your default mode.
But when you take a wrong step— you were about to sign something,
you were about to embark on something.
You were about to do something, and there is a disturbance of the peace,
and there is a restlessness or something; Stop.
That’s the Spirit of God leading you.
Okay, are you with me so far?
The devil pushes, the devil drives, okay?
That’s why when you pray, people say things like,
“Pastor, I asked God for a baptism of the Holy Spirit”
and I’ve been waiting for the Holy Spirit to take over my tongue,
and He has not taken over.”
You see, the Holy Spirit doesn’t possess you the way evil spirits possess you.
He wants your cooperation.
He wants you to flow with Him.
In other words, you need to speak, but the flow comes from God.
You need to open your mouth, but the language comes from heaven.
The Holy Spirit never drives you.
He leads you.
You might feel your tongue getting a bit thicker or whatever, speak it out!
Speak those words out!
(Praying in tongues)
So, the Holy Spirit never drives you.
He never forces you.
He never takes over you or your personality.
No, He works with your personality.
Right now, I believe the Holy Spirit is speaking through me,
but He doesn’t do it apart from my personality.
Matthew writes differently from Mark even though they write the same accounts.
Mark writes differently from Luke and Luke writes differently from Paul and
John!
So, the Holy Spirit uses your personalities.
God likes your personality and that’s why He made all of us unique.
But He’ll never by-pass your personality, amen?
So you don’t have to be like me— praying for people publicly.
But I believe that it’s not just the pastors that are called to pray for the sick.
If you are with your colleague and all of a sudden you feel a red light.
You are in the presence of someone and you could sense that
maybe the person has a sickness, Even though the person seemed fine,
you asked: “Are you okay?”
“Physically, is everything fine?”
You know?
And the person said, “No, actually…” and they start tearing.
Now that’s the time to— if the Holy Spirit shows you,
He wants to heal the person.
Amen?
“So, can I pray for you?”
Now, this is the real supernatural life of Christianity,
the way the early church walked in it, and it cannot be for the special, elite few.
No.
It doesn’t say the gifts only operate for the specially devoted
or those who are called full time.
It is never that!
“These signs shall follow them that believe.”
All believers can walk in the gifts.
Can I have a good amen?
Amen?
So just flow with the Spirit!
Maybe you feel like writing— or nowadays we don’t write, we text right?
Maybe you feel like saying something encouraging.
That’s a prophecy to someone, alright?
Don’t feel like you are the only one.
God is with you.
Amen?
Like I told you a few weeks ago, the Holy Spirit is there.
He is Jesus unlimited.
There was a time when Jesus was limited, confined to time and space.
But now, He is unlimited.
“I’ll send you another, just like Me, another Helper.”
So, if you make a wrong move— you are about to sign something,
about to say something, and you feel a red light, obey it!
Now how many know that even in the good things of life, don’t do
it!
Like I said, He will never lead you to commit adultery.
He will never lead you to cheat.
He will never lead you to lie.
We all know that!
But even in the good things, don’t just do it because it is a good thing.
Do it because it is a Spirit thing.
Now, how many know Jesus said to: “Go into all the world and”
“preach the gospel to every creature?”
Wave at me.
How many of you know that?
Okay, but do you know what that mean?
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature!”
“Go into all the world.”
Which world?
All the world!
Now you can go anywhere and you’ll be fulfilling the Great Commission, right?
By the way, they call this the Great Commission.
But do you know something?
Where do we go?
My part of the assignment and your part of the assignment
might be Singapore.
It might be your work place.
Or your assignment might be China.
Whatever it is, the Holy Spirit will lead you to your Great Commission.
Some of you don’t believe me.
“No Pastor Prince I believe when Jesus says to go into all the world,
every Christian must have a passport.”
“It means all the world.”
You can go anywhere and you are fulfilling the commission.”
Well I beg to differ because, like I said, you need to follow the leading of the Spirit.
Let’s go to Acts 16:6-7.
In the missionary journeys of Paul, this was what happened to Paul
and his partners, alright?
Acts 16: “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia,
they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.”
This is Asia Minor, not our Asia.
Asia Minor is present day Turkey.
The country of Turkey, this whole area Is where the seven churches are.
That’s Asia Minor.
Now can you believe that he was about to preach the Word in Asia
but it was forbidden by the Holy Spirit?
Why would the Holy Spirit forbid you to preach the Word?
Because the Holy Spirit knows whether a group is ready or not.
The Holy Spirit knows that if you spend time there, it is
useless time, wasted time, because they are not ready yet.
The Holy Spirit knows who is ready, and who is not.
Amen?
But some people would say: “Never mind, Jesus says go into”
“all the world, so we’ll just go!”
But remember this, they were forbidden.
So, is it more of a red light or a green light?
Red light.
By the way, if you don’t do anything right, how will God guide you?
God doesn’t guide a parked car.
God cannot say: “Turn right,” “maintain, go straight, turn left.”
If you are parked all the time, what can He say?
Bearing witness means— listen.
I take a step and someone bears witness.
Bearing witness means that there is an action done.
Right?
Like a witness in court!
You’d bear witness.
Do you know what I am saying?
So, over here, He forbade to preach the Word in Asia.
So what did Paul and his partners do?
“After they had come to Mysia, This was also in Asia Minor.
They tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.”
Again!
The Holy Spirit did not permit them to go into Bithynia.
Why?
Later on, if you keep on reading, God actually wanted them to
go into Greece at that time because the Grecians in Macedonia
were ready to receive the Word.
Now, later on, Paul did preach in Asia Minor.
He did preach, but there is a timing.
Can you see the rhythm of grace?
So here we go.
Many a times, God leads us with the red light.
And when God leads us, it’s always into paths of rest.
It’s always into paths of refreshing.
Let me just tell you this, okay?
People, look at this in 2 Timothy 1:6-7.
“Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God
which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power
and of love and of a sound mind.”
One of the best ways to really be sensitive to the Holy Spirit
is learn to pray in tongues and pray in the Spirit.
Amen?
And many of you have this wonderful prayer language of the Holy Spirit
but many people don’t realize what the gift is there for.
Let me tell you this.
Over here, it says: “fan into flame”.
The word “stir up the gift” is actually the Greek word “fan into flames”.
Like someone cooking satay.
Right?
Satay.
You fan into flames, amen?
On the coals of fire.
That’s how you fan into flames.
Now, it says: “the gift of God”.
Now many people say that the gift of God here is the Holy Spirit.
But listen, you don’t fan into flames the Holy Spirit.
It doesn’t sound right, okay?
When you’re referring to the gift of the person of the Holy Spirit,
it’s always the word “dorea”.
For example, “Repent and be baptized” “and you shall receive the gift”.
The “dorea” of the Holy Spirit.
Peter’s sermon.
So, the person of the Holy Spirit is always “dorea”
but the gift of tongues is the “charisma” of the Holy Spirit.
The gift from the Holy Spirit!
The word here is actually “charisma”.
I remind you to fan into flames the “charisma”.
It’s not the person of the Holy Spirit but His gift.
And which nine gifts of the Holy Spirit can be activated at your will?
Only one – tongues.
In fact, if you learn to be faithful in tongues,
it’ll light up all the other gifts.
The gifts of healings, the word of knowledge,
the gift of prophecy.
You’ll send people words.
You don’t know why but you just feel like these people
came to your mind.
And you sent them a word of encouragement.
And all of a sudden, they’re crying on the other side.
They say, “How do you know?”
Because God is leading you, amen?
And you are giving a word in season at the right time.
So, pray in tongues and what’s going to happen?
“For God,”—notice the word “for” is tied up with verse 6?
Because of verse 6, “for God has not given us a spirit of fear”!
Now, fear brings forth stress, stress brings all kinds of trouble
in your body, your mind and your life.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power
and of love and of a sound mind.”
So there are three rivers when you pray in tongues.
When you pray in the Spirit, it will release these three rivers out of you—
power, the word there is “dunamis”, where you get the word “dynamite”.
Power.
Then, love!
When you’re driving down the road and somebody cut you the wrong way, alright?
You feel the anger, right?
Where do you feel it?
Usually around here, right?
Amen?
So, pray in tongues and the poison comes out
and you have love inside for the person.
All of a sudden, you may have a revelation that the person, you know,
doesn’t have Jesus the way you have it.
Maybe he’s under stress!
Give him a bit of victory and love is stirred.
Have you ever prayed in tongues when you are angry?
You all don’t?
That’s why you’re angry!
That’s why you stay angry.
Alright?
You say, “I don’t care, if I’m angry, I let go.”
I’m telling you to let go but to let go in the Spirit.
Amen?
And the other word is— a sound mind.
Now this “sound mind” is not two words.
In the Greek.it is one word “sophronismos”, your “nismos”, your mind,
“sophro” is from the word, listen carefully.
It’s from the word “saved”.
Literally “sophronismos”, one word, in the Greek means to save your mind.
When you pray in the Spirit, it’s saving your mind!
And how many know that our minds need saving?
Smile at your neighbour and say “Aha!”
Amen?
Our minds need saving.
You see, the best way to describe this is being poised in your mind.
An even keel, poised, calm, balanced.
What God wants to give you, people, is this.
And by the way, the Greek there is very beautiful.
It is not just for the mind but also for the heart.
Literally, parts of the heart.
When you’re praying in tongues— the root word there
is not just the mind, it’s the mind and the heart.
You have the Holy Spirit and listen, anytime during this day,
you may be at home somewhere, start praying in tongues.
God will not force you to pray in tongues.
Go like this, (tongues), the more you pray in tongues,
especially in the stressful times of life, the more you release the rivers of
power, love and sound mind to save your mind.
Amen.
So will you do that?
Praise the Lord, give Jesus
the praise, Hallelujah!