March 6 Click on verses for Full Scripture	previous - - - - - - - - - - next
Today's Pathway: Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Yesterday we saw Paul's teaching that the believer should not want to live after the flesh because the flesh never did anything for him in the past. He has shown previously that even for the Christian it is difficult to overcome the flesh and the old sin nature, so he stated in verse 13 that this could only be accomplished "through the Spirit". In verse 14 he shows that in order to be led by the Spirit you must first become a child of God. In the next verses he expands on some of the blessings that come to those who have God as their heavenly Father.

The first benefit has already been mentioned from verse 14. Children of God can have divine leadership. The lost man does not know which direction to go. He struggles to tell right from wrong. He has no Holy Spirit to guide him, so he must rely on his own opinions. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?".

Something needs to be mentioned at this point. Over my years of ministry I have encountered numerous people who have made clearly un-Biblical decisions, and yet they insist that they were led to do so by the Holy Spirit. Of course, this is impossible. Philip Newton addressed this issue well, and I will let him speak here.

"But is this idea of the Spirit’s leadership not one of the easiest ways to excuse and defend our actions? Yes, you are right, so we must provide a few caveats. The Spirit does not contradict the Word. You can pray about something and 'feel led' to take an action that the Scripture opposes but that is not the Spirit’s leadership. You can follow your desires and wants, confusing them for the Spirit’s leadership. You can be excited about something and certain that you 'have heard from God,' but it may not be the Spirit’s leadership. Here are the basics for recognizing the Spirit’s leadership.

1. He always leads you to glorify Jesus Christ—not self, not an idea, not a project, not a ministry, not an ideology, not a theology, not an image. 'He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you' (John 16:14).
2. He always leads you to truth—God’s Word alone is truth. That is why He is called “the Spirit of truth,” that is the Spirit who is characterized in every way by truth.
3. He always leads you in the way of understanding and applying Scripture, never contrary to the eternal Word. 'He will guide you into all the truth' (John 16:13). So the Spirit’s leadership strengthens obedience, faithfulness, and conformity to the image of Jesus Christ in all things. He leads you to love and depend upon the Word.
4. He always leads you to more and more dependence upon the Father through the sufficiency of Jesus Christ demonstrated by the Spirit as 'the Spirit of adoption as sons' by which we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’"

Tomorrow we will see more benefits that the believer receives from his heavenly Father.