Recently, I’ve been thinking about the way that I live my day-to-day life; what I’m giving my attention to, where I’m putting my energy . . . amongst other things.
As God’s children (Romans chapter 8, verse 14), we need to be listening out for our Father’s voice, even in the mundane, daily routine. I dare to say especially in the mundane, daily routine.
Our daily lives are what become our months and our years, so the way that we spend our day-to-day counts and counts greatly.
Living a life led by the Holy Spirit
Being led by the Holy Spirit – what does that even mean?
For me personally, being led by the Holy Spirit in my everyday life means always being open and listening to when the Holy Spirit is speaking. I try to follow his prompting, even in the miniscule things or even when it feels insignificant.
I’ve found that the seemingly insignificant things can often be the most significant, whether we can see the impact or not.
Ok, it’s story time.
One Christmas, I got a new, fancy beach towel. I’d been needing a new one for a while so was really happy to have this towel. I used the towel all Christmas Day and all Boxing Day.
Anyway, the day after Boxing Day arrived, and I woke up with a really strong feeling to drive into a specific town. I had no idea why the Holy Spirit was pushing me there, but the feeling was so strong that I drove there as a show of obedience to God.
When I got there, the Holy Spirit gave me another location, about a 6-minute drive away from me. So, again, to be obedient to God, I drove there.
I arrived 6 minutes later and there before me, hung up on a tree, is my new Christmas towel!
I had no idea that I had even lost it, so to make sure it was mine I checked my car. Swimmers, check. Sandals, check. Towel… Oh my goodness!
The Holy Spirit just lead me 30 minutes from my home to find my new towel that I didn’t even know I had lost!
I was so amazed that God would do something like that for me; something so small and as insignificant as a lost towel, and God cared about it and led me there.
If I didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit here, I would never have had my towel back, and I also would never have learned just how important following the promptings of the Holy Spirit are.
The little things are what make up the big things. So, whether you’re buying someone’s coffee or praying for a stranger, every time you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, you are forming ripples in a still pond; your actions are having a chain effect.
But it’s scary!
The Holy Spirit whispers to you, “Go and pray for that lady.”
What do you do?
Do you, out of obedience, b-line for the lady and ask her if you can pray with her or do you listen to the voice of fear and find excuses?
I’ll be honest with you; for me, it’s sometimes the former and still sometimes the latter. No one is perfect. Everyone fears something.
However, as children of God…
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 7
Fear is not part of our inheritance.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John chapter 4, verse 18
As children of God, we need to be following the Holy Spirit in the face of fear.
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” Romans chapter 16, verse 20
If God will crush Satan under my feet, then I’m confident that He will get me through the feeling of embarrassment or awkwardness I might experience.
So, this week, I challenge you to be listening even more intently to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life. Open your ears, open your eyes and open your hands; you never know what the Lord might do or who He might touch through your obedience.
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama
Laura Miles is an excitable and fast-paced Brit, living in Australia. After recently committing to studying, she is ready and expectant to see all that the crazy things that the Lord is going to do in her life.
Laura Murphy is an excitable and fast-paced Brit, living in Australia. She can’t sit still; she has a serious addiction to sudoku, and she can be won over by a good cup of tea and a laugh. Studying to become a doctor, she is expectant and excited to see all that God is going to do with her life.
