“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.” (John 16:13).

What a beautiful picture of how the Trinity works together on our behalf.  In this passage, Jesus is speaking to his disciples following the Last Supper and right before he was betrayed by Judas. During his earthly ministry, Jesus has lived with, walked with, and taught his disciples; and now he is preparing them for his return to the right hand of His Father. He promises that even though he will not be right there in person to instruct them and to answer their questions, His Father will send the Holy Spirit to them to teach them and to remind them of all his teachings. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

Again, we see how the three persons of the Trinity work together. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will never contradict each other. And everything will be True, just as Jesus said he himself was the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Why is this important? We humans can get off track sometimes. There are so many competing voices coming at us from people we know, what we read on the internet, what we listen to from a variety of sources, even from inside our own heads! We desire to discern the truth and synthesize the messages to develop our next steps, but how can we be sure?

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of the gift of guidance from the Holy Spirit:

1. Prayerfully ask for wisdom and discernment and guidance. Ask daily; and ask in the moment.
2. Listen. After you ask, wait for a response. It helps to tune in with your Bible at hand. Evaluate what you hear against God’s Word—The Bible will never contradict guidance from the Holy Spirit. If you don’t get an answer right away, that may be guidance to wait rather than an indication to take matters into your own hands.
3. Obediently act on the guidance you do receive; in this way you will be more likely to keep the channel of communication open. Refusing to follow the guidance can result in a hardened heart whereby it becomes more difficult.

This is from Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, because he himself asked God for wisdom:

• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
  in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
• “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

In Christ,

Judy