The Spirit Led Church

As I sit here tonight preparing for service tomorrow, I am reminded again of how important it is to be Spirit-led. There is a freedom that comes when we stop trying to force our own plans and simply allow God to lead us where He desires us to be. As we obediently trust in His sovereign will, we begin to recognize that God has not merely been involved in our lives—He has been faithfully directing them. When I look back over my own life, I can see His hand, His timing, His protection, and His faithfulness in ways I could not always recognize in the moment.

There is a tremendous difference between simply moving and being led. We can be busy, sincere, gifted, passionate, and even doing something good, yet still be moving in a direction God has not chosen for us. In Acts 16, Paul and his team desired to preach the gospel, but the Holy Spirit would not allow them to go where they had originally planned. Their intentions were right, their mission was biblical, and their desire was godly—but God had a different direction.

That is one of the great challenges and blessings of following Jesus: sometimes the Spirit does not change what He has called us to do; He changes where, when, and how He wants us to do it. A Spirit-led church must be sensitive enough to hear God, humble enough to release its own agenda, courageous enough to change direction, and obedient enough to move when He says move.

Our prayer must continually be, “Holy Spirit, lead me.”

When we surrender our plans to His direction, God positions us for people, places, assignments, and opportunities we could have never planned for ourselves. We do not have to know every step ahead of us—we simply have to trust the One who is leading us.

There is freedom in being led by a faithful God.