Would you like 2022 to be your best year – so far? 

God can change and transform a life in more than one way.

Giving my life to Christ in the summer of 1974 changed my life. In the summer of 1978 I was 21 years old and had been a christian for 4 years. I was growing in my relationship with God and growing in my knowledge of Him. I didn’t know much back then (and I still have a lot to learn). 

During this time I was driving to go to lunch one day and without thinking much I pulled into where a little Christian Bookstore was located. I went in not knowing what I was looking for, and the lady behind the counter asked if she could help, but since I didn’t know why I pulled in that day, I told her I was just going to look around. I stood and looked at the few dark aisles and saw what seemed to be a light shining on a book on the top shelf in the back. I went that way, reached up to get the book, and… that’s when I was abducted by aliens. 

Ok, that didn’t happen, I was just checking to see if you were reading. 

The book and the light and me reaching to get it did happen though. I took the book off of the shelf and it was called, How to be led by the Spirit of God by Kenneth E. Hagin. I read that book that evening and then went back and bought the other 5 copies they had and gave them to friends. That book changed my life. I had never heard of anything like this and wanted to know more. I have read this book many times over the years. 

The fact that God made this available to us, His children, is amazing and gives us an unfair advantage in this life. We could say this is one of the ways He helps us to experience a supernatural life.

Shortly after the book and I found each other,  I had the opportunity to work in Hawaii for a month with an electrical engineering company. Before I left I was sitting on the edge of my bed and on the inside of me, I heard these words, “I am going to teach you how to be led by my Spirit”. 

In context – I had been praying about my time in Hawaii and asked God some questions. This was His response to me. I certainly did begin to learn some things during that month but I think I tried so hard to listen for a leading that I was not only getting in my own way, but His too. I didn’t yet understand the different ways He could (and would) lead me. I had only read about them but was learning to experience them as well. Like anything, it takes some practice.

What God intended for the Holy Spirit to do in our lives is more vast than one short article or sermon, so we usually just pick one of the things He is doing. If you are struggling with any area of your christian life the Holy Spirit is here to help. That’s good to know because it is a starting place.

He is our comforter and our guide and is ever present to help us in any area of life.

Romans 8:14 and 16 says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”

Proverbs 20:27 “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the inner depths of his heart.”

Luke 1:1-4 “inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.”

Just from these 3 sets of scripture, we can draw a few important conclusions. 

• It is possible to be led by the Spirit fo God.
• His Spirit joins with our spirit – or He bares witness with us.
• He will speak to us in our spirit man because He is a spirit.
  • His leading for very important things might just be, “it seems right or good”. This is and would often be a better way to express His leading than, “God said” or “God told me”. Can that happen? Sure, but it’s the exception and not the ordinary way He will work with us. I have had Him “speak” to me in various ways and it is memorable but it is also rare. If we use the phrase, ”God told me” too often it loses its credibility among people who understand how He leads.

These are not the only ways He can and will lead us, but again, it’s a start. Let this year be a year of time with Him and in His Word. He will never lead us outside the bounds of His Word so it is very important we stay in these boundaries.

I hope you want 2022 to be your best year – so far! The Holy Spirit is here to help us have a supernatural year. Let’s find ways to engage Him. It might be a very good idea to buy the book I mentioned above.

John Grunewald