Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
After making a fantastic promise that the Holy Spirit is stronger than our sinful flesh with its lusts, Paul tells us in Galatians 5:18, "But if you are led by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not under the law." He has told us in verse 1 to "stand fast ... in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."
He has told us in chapter 3:10-13 that disobedience to the holy law of God is bondage, but obedience is freedom. So, if we are led by the Holy Spirit, we walk at liberty, we are free from the accusations of a broken law of God, we are not in prison, the glorious liberty of the children of God is ours. Wouldn't you rather be free today, free to go where you wish and do what you wish, instead of being locked up in the penitentiary?
But what does it mean to be "led by the Holy Spirit"? The Good News is that He is a Leader! He knows the way through the maze and pitfalls of your life, He will never lead you on a false path. If you are climbing Mt. Everest, you need a leader! Day by day, the Holy Spirit will direct your path. David says, "Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses" (Psalm 25:12). "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant [His promise] and His testimonies" (vs. 10).
The Holy Spirit is sent to lead you individually in those paths of mercy and truth just as if you were the only person on earth. The Heavenly Father, who notices when even a little bird flies against a window and falls to the ground (Matt. 10:29), notices you a million times more. Your life, your happiness, is precious to Him; He will lead you.
Now your job is to follow. His word, the Bible, points out the path when it's dark and you can't see clearly: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). So, following the Bible and the constant convictions of the Holy Sprit, "the Spirit of truth" (John 16:13), you reach the top of Mt. Everest.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 19, 1998.
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