How Does the Spirit Guide Us With His Discernment (Acts 2:5-13)
Illustration: Where Am I Going?
It’s comforting to hear that even Albert Einstein had a brain cramp now and then.
One time, for instance, he was taking a train to an out of town engagement. The conductor stopped by to punch his ticket, but the great scientist preoccupied with his work, explained that he couldn’t find his ticket. Not in the coat pockets, not in the briefcase.
The conductor said, "We all know who you are, Dr. Einstein. I’m sure you bought ticket. Don’t worry about it."
As the conductor moved along, he looked back to see Einstein on his hands and knees searching under the seats for his ticket. The conductor walked back, "Dr. Einstein, please, don’t worry about it. I know who you are."
Exasperated, Einstein looked up and said, "I, too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going."
For those moments when you’re not sure where you are going, remember that God does.
"A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?" Proverbs 20:24
1. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment by filling us with the knowledge of His will with all SPIRITUAL discernment. Those who are not walking close with God through prayer, Bible study and obedience will lack a clear perception of truth with their mind and senses. Spiritual people are able to judge all things because of their reliance on the Spirit to guide them into ALL truth. Ask the Lord to help you grow in your spiritual discernment so that you can make the wisest choices with your time, your relationships and your ministries.
2. The Holy Spirit gives us greater discernment as we grow in our experiences of doing the will of God. In this passage it seems clear that many people could have interpreted the blowing of a violent wind, the speaking of tongues, and loud sounds to mean different things. No apostle in the room that day had ever experienced anything like this. Occasionally the Lord allows us to go through new experiences so that we can gain greater insight into the ways that God works His will. The writer of Hebrews wrote, "But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." (Heb. 5:14) Ask the Lord to help you learn the right lessons from every positive & adverse experience.
3. The Lord sent the Spirit of God to supply us with whatever is needed to carry out the full will of God for ourselves and the church. The Holy Spirit gives us greater wisdom to those who ask God for it. (James 1:5) The Spirit gives greater understanding into peoples’ problems when they are undergoing afflictions. (2 Cor. 1:3,4) The Spirit gives greater competence to those who relying on the Lord for their adequacy found by the ministers of the new covenant. (2 Cor. 3:5,6) The Spirit gives us greater organizational skills, insights, and guidance into all aspects of truth. (Jn 16:13) The Spirit supplies the church with all of the spiritual gifts it needs to handle any problem. (I Cor. 12:4-8) The Spirit gives us greater self-discipline to exercise self-control when we are tempted to speak out of anger or fear. (2 Tim. 1:7) The Spirit gives us greater illumination into what is appropriate, suitable and effective. (Psa. 119:105) The Spirit guides us by helping us interpret scripture correctly in its original context (2 Tim. 3:16,17) The Spirit helps us discern good from evil. (Heb. 5:14,15) The Spirit helps us grow in all aspects in Christ as we speak the truth in love. (Eph. 4:15) The Spirit gives us greater clarity about what Jesus would do if He faced similar situations to our own. (Col. 2:3) The Spirit gives us greater intimacy with all of the attributes of God as we receive His anointing. (I Jn 2:20) The Spirit gives us greater profitability in our ministries as we discipline ourselves for the purpose of Godliness. (I Tim. 4:7,8) The Spirit gives us greater perseverance, endurance and steadfastness as we suffer for Christ’s sake. (I Pet. 4:14) The Spirit gives us greater revelation so that we can know more of the elements of God’s will for ourselves, our families and those we are ministering with. (Eph. 1:17) The Spirit gives us greater appreciation for the breadth, length, height and depth of the love of God so that we can be filled with the knowledge of God. (Eph. 3:14-20) The Spirit gives us greater faith, hope and love as we contend for the faith in seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. (I Thes 1:3) The Spirit gives us greater power, authority and strength to overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:21) The Spirit gives us better abilities to select disciples who will help multiply Christ’s kingdom and righteousness in quantity and quality. (2 Tim. 2:2) The Spirit gives us greater creativity so that we are able to design innovative sermons, teaching lessons and curricula for those we are ministering to. (2 Cor. 5:17) The Spirit gives us greater liberty to be freed from all kinds of limitations. (John 8:31,32) The Spirit gives us greater counseling abilities so that we can help bring people to complete maturity in Christ. (Col. 1:27,28) Ask the Lord to fill you with the Spirit so that you can demonstrate greater spiritual discernment in all ways
4. The Holy Spirit often times break the regular order and customs of the world. When the apostles heard the rushing wind they must have sensed that God was about to do something entirely new. God often chooses the least likely people to assume leadership positions. The Lord is in the business of upsetting our natural, rational and human norms so we can learn how to trust Him for all things.
The fishermen of Galilee were some of the least likely to acquire the power to speak in the tongues of many nations that they seldom had contact with.
Example: God choose humble, simple and uneducated men to speak the languages of ancient and cultivated people on the day of Pentecost. This is a type and prophecy of what the gospel is capable of doing in its simplicity for a wide variety of social classes, age groups and nations of the entire world. (Acts 4:13) Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled, because they had been with Jesus."
Ask the Lord to help you to allow Him to do things beyond natural human expectations as proof that His power is able to do something new, great and miraculous through you.
Conclusion:Elizabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians. She writes: "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me -- confident and, we think, well-informed and well equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?
She suggests that we often ask God for too little. We know what we need--a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way. What we really ought to have is the Guide himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way.
Elizabeth Elliot tells, A Slow and Certain Light.
