deep, formative affirmation of his identity and the affection and pleasure of God. This is a beautiful picture of the fundamental formation for any Christian. Immediately following his baptism, Luke describes Jesus as“ full of the Holy Spirit” and also,“ led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested...” Apparently, at this point Jesus is able to discern and follow the Spirit’ s leadership. Through the temptations in the wilderness, Jesus’ character is tested and his sense of identity and calling is developed. After that, Luke says that Jesus came into Galilee“ in the power of the Spirit.” And in Nazareth, Jesus declares in the words of Isaiah 61,“ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor....” Through Luke’ s narrative, we see that the Spirit fills and forms Jesus( in the baptism), leads Jesus toward growth( through testing in the wilderness), empowers Jesus( through faithfulness under testing), and clarifies his specific calling as he enters Nazareth. The Spirit can do all of these things in our own life as well.
But discernment is elusive, isn’ t it? How do you truly know what the Spirit is saying and doing in you and in the world? I’ ve written extensively on this topic in my forthcoming book Formed to Lead, to be released August 26, 2025 from InterVarsity Press. What follows here is my most practical summary of discerning the Spirit’ s voice to us.
Listen for the Spirit as embodied creatures. The Holy Spirit lives within us and leads us through all of our senses. We attend to him by paying attention to our bodies and our emotions, our mind and our senses. The Spirit can lead us through experiences, ideas, words, images, or feelings. Of course, not all of our senses and feelings are from the Spirit— but we start by paying attention to our whole being.
Look for the themes of the Spirit’ s movement. The Holy Spirit has several key roles, according to Scripture. When we tune our attention to those areas, we are better able to notice his presence and movement.
• The Spirit testifies to God’ s love. I believe this is the Spirit’ s most fundamental role. We begin to listen to the Spirit by praying for a sense of God’ s love for us( Galatians 4:6-7; Romans 8:15).
• The Spirit leads us into the ways and words of Jesus. Since the Holy Spirit is one in personhood with Jesus, he will always witness to the words of Jesus and follow the methods of Jesus( John 14:25-27).
• The Spirit convicts us of sin and leads us in righteousness( John 16:8). Though the Spirit does not shame us, he often reveals where we need to repent in order to embrace his kingdom.
Discern the Spirit’ s work in community. Just as the church is communally the body of Christ( no individual but Jesus can claim that), so also the Holy Spirit is given communally to God’ s people. Since we receive the Spirit as a community, it is best to discern the Spirit’ s work communally. Our sisters and brothers help us perceive the move of the Spirit.
Measure by the standard of Scripture. The Spirit’ s work will always be congruent with
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