Trusting the Holy Spirit’s Lead and Occasional Encounters

When we trust Jesus, and set Him before us to love and follow Him, the Holy Spirit works His transformative work in us (2 Corinthians 3:18). He whispers to our hearts, affirming our identity as God’s children (Romans 8:16). He doesn’t just want us to know this truth intellectually—He wants us to live it.

Jesus’ Example

Jesus is our perfect example. From His baptism to His trials in the wilderness and throughout His ministry, Jesus trusted the Word, actively listened to the Spirit, and followed His lead. He showed us what it looks like to live completely dependent on God, walking in step with the Spirit’s guidance.

The Uncontrollable Spirit

We too need to know the Word and actively listen and yield to the Spirit. His ways often defy logic. He moves in ways that challenge our expectations and thwart our sense of control. He acts in His timing. He doesn’t protect us from all pain or suffering. He calls us to do things that seem below us, strange, seemingly contradictory to the outcome we want.

Yet, He is deeply relational and wonderfully good to us. He is love. He is holy. He never contradicts God’s Word but confirms it. He teaches us what is true and what living as God’s beloved children means. He never draws attention to Himself but glorifies the Father and reveals Jesus in ways that change us. The Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son wants us to love God too.

Fruit of the Spirit

The Spirit of God produces love, the fruit of the Spirit in our lives—love expressed in patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and so much more. (Galatians 5)

Gifts of the Spirit

He also equips us with spiritual gifts, the gifts of the Spirit, not for our glory, but to build one another up. (1 Corinthians 12). And in all of this, He calls us to trust. To trust Jesus. To trust the Gospel. Trust that the Spirit works in and through us even when we can’t see or feel Him.

Inexplicable Encounters with God

We are learning to live by faith and rely on the unseen Spirit, so we don’t need to see or experience Him to believe. Yet He occasionally overwhelms us with an unexpected experience that stokes a fire and desire. Even if it passes in days, the “feeling of love, transcendence, and glory,” lingers in our memory for decades.

An encounter with the Spirit of God is an unexpected grace. Expecting it daily outside of mere trust will leave us empty and distraught. God acts on His own agenda. But these experiences do something for human hearts that nothing else can do. They strengthen the believer’s faith and joy in deep and emotional ways with no explanation other than God’s Presence.

The Bottom Line

At the heart of it all, the Spirit’s purpose is to draw us closer to the Father, just as Jesus did. To deepen our faith in Jesus and our relationship with God. To open our eyes to His beauty and His love. And, of course, to transform us, individually, and as a community of believers who reflect His glory together.

May we open ourselves to God’s love and the Holy Spirit’s leading.