The Holy Spirit: Trust His Forecast!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(13) <Jesus said,> “But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. (14) He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.”’ (John 16:13-14)
Jesus, in describing the Holy Spirit to His disciples, gives a ‘job description’ on what the Spirit does, in both following the orders of Jesus and in giving orders to us. The Holy Spirit is not to be as much as a foreteller of things to come (although He can do this in varying detail based on what the Lord wants revealed) but more of a meteorologist for your personal life. Typically, the Spirit will not provide a detailed prophecy, but instead provide us what we need to either steer away from an upcoming storm or knowledge to withstand the upcoming storm.
The weather bubba (or bubbette) on TV gives us a prognostication of what will happen weather-wise based on his (or her) information provided, by the satellite data, by the doppler radar, by NOAA, and finally by their own experience in analyzing the data. The Spirit gives us the prognostication of what will happen based on what Jesus provides. The exception is unlike the weather which will do its own thing, we are the ones who may do our own thing and ‘buck the system’.
The Holy Spirit is not to grab us and force us into doing the right thing, but instead give us a good nudge into what we should or should not do, based on what Jesus intends for us to do. Some ignore the weather bubbas, stay in their homes when they should evacuate, and end up swept away with the waves. Likewise we sometimes ignore the Spirit telling us to do X, we do Y and we end up in a situation that we don’t want to be in, a situation we would not have been in if only we were in tune with the Holy Spirit.
The key is to tune into what the Spirit is telling you; sometimes it’s that nudge that seems a bit crazy or odd. Sometimes it’s that feeling when we are about to do Y, and instead are now thinking we need to do X instead, despite preparations on the contrary. It can be that ‘light bulb’ turning on when there seems to be no other option. It is reading your Bible, continuing to pray to the Lord, and fellowshipping with other true Christians. Stay tuned in, heed the warnings, and listen to the Spirit that dwells within us, the followers of Jesus.
