Our Inner Compass: Led by the Holy Spirit - Day 181 Through the Bible

A moth (small butterfly?) on the butterfly bush in the cabin garden

Take-Aways from Today's Lessons

Watchmen for Israel - Chronicles 26 and 27 - Watchmen, gatekeepers, people in charge of the treasury of the house of the Lord and of King David, captains over 24,000 different troops for each month of the year - from the Levitical priesthood oversight to the oversight of all areas of life of Israel - God meticulously cares for and protects His people.

Further Apostasy / God's Rejection / God's Restoration - Psalm 78:56-66 - In spite of all we have read in the Chronicles of God's care of Israel (above), they continue to test...provoke the Most High God...do not keep His testimonies..turn back...act unfaithfully like their fathers...turn aside...provoke Him to anger and move Him to jealousy with idolatry.  God's reaction: fury...abhorrence of Israel...forsaking the tabernacle of Shiloh (Jerusalem)...deliverance of His strength, His glory, His people to the enemies and over to the sword.  After this severe chastisement, "then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.  And He beat back His enemies; He put them to a perpetual reproach."

Spiritual Slothfulness - Proverbs 20:4-5 - "The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.  Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water. But a man of understanding will draw it out."

My Lessons and Applications - We tend to think of slothfulness only regarding our work ethic, but Charles Stanley challenges us to take a look at our spiritual slothfulness.  Are we preparing ourselves now for what lies ahead, that we will honor and glorify God no matter what faces us in our paths?  Oswald Chambers says in My Utmost for His Highest, "The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the profound private communion we have with Him."

Our Inner Compass - Acts 10: 1-23 - Godly Cornelius receives a vision in which an angel of the Lord speaks to him, telling him to send to Joppa for Simon Peter.  Cornelius immediately obeys the prompting of the Lord. Simultaneously, Peter is praying on a rooftop when, in a trance, he sees a sheet with all manner of four-footed animals in it and the heavenly command, "Arise, Peter, and eat."  Peter's response is one of disgust and revulsion, "Not so, Lord!  For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."  The response from heaven, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common." This is a turning point from the Mosaic Covenant to the New Covenant, from the exclusion of "reviled" Gentiles and certain unclean foods to the inclusion of all peoples - from every tongue, tribe and nation - into the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  The dietary laws instituted to keep the Chosen Jewish people as a separate and holy people unto God are no longer necessary.  God has cleansed all who believe through Jesus Christ.  All believers are now God's holy and separate people.  Note that the Gentile obeys God's prompting immediately; the great Apostle Peter hesitates.

My Lessons and Applications:  How do I attune my heart and spirit to hear and obey the Holy Spirit within me?  Charles Stanley says to first know that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, that this is the Spirit of Truth, like an inner compass, always pointing us toward what Jesus would be, say, or do in any given moment.  Note these verses in Acts where others were led by the Spirit (Acts 11:12, 13:2, 16:6.) Being led by the Spirit is the norm of the Christian life (Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:18). 1) We must stay yielded to the Spirit...say yes to Him when He prompts us to take a certain action or say a certain word...obey...follow through.  Listen to the stillness of our hearts...a word of conviction or assurance...directing us away from something harmful with a heaviness or a feeling of trouble, foreboding, uneasiness in our spirit or directing us toward helpful things with deep inner peace, an eagerness to see what God will do, a feeling of joy.  Tell Him, 'This is what I want, but if it is not Your will, I'll do what You say."  2) Believe in order to receive His guidance...listen for Him to speak...look for His signs...diligently seek Him, for He is a rewarder of those who do (Hebrews 11:6)...ask for His guidance...watch for it..anticipate it...receive it."

A saint's life in the Hands of God is like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer.  God is aiming at something the saint cannot see."  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest