In other words, it is useless to pray to God, "Lord, guide me. Give me directions," unless you
are going to allow yourself to be guided.
By way of illustration, when we go some place and a guide is there to escort us, if we don't
follow the guide, there would be much that we wouldn't understand and we might even get lost.
The guide is there to explain certain things to us and to show us the way to go.
Certainly no one would want to go through Carlsb sad Caverns, for instance, without a guide It
is pitch black inside those caverns. We would never get out of the Carlsbad Caverns if we
failed to follow the guide. But the guide knows right where to turn on the lights. (Thank God,
the Holy Ghost knows right where to turn on the lights!)
That is the reason many folks have gotten into such a mess in life — they were not following
the Guide. The Holy Spirit will guide us, but in order to be guided in life, we have to put
ourselves into His hands.
When you have guidance, you can be prepared ahead of time, for the Bible says the Holy
Spirit will show you things to come (John 16:13). He will guide you into all truth, and He will
also guide you and lead you in all the affairs of life.
During the many years I have traveled on the evangelistic field leaving my wife and small
children at home, I have depended upon my Guide, the Holy Spirit. And He has always warned
me ahead of time of a need in my family. Although many times I had no communication with
my family, I alway s knew by the Spirit of God when a member of the family was sick.
The Holy Spirit is not in me to help me just because I am a preacher. If you are a believer, He
is in you to help you too. And if you will learn to listen to Him and look to Him, He will guide
you.
Knowing on the Inside of You What To Do
Under the Old Covenant in Jeremiah 31:33, God speaks of the New Covenant that He would
be establishing with His people. This verse gives us a clue as to how believers are to be
guided under the New Covenant.
JEREMIAH 31:33
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those
days, saith the Lord, I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, and WRITE IT IN
THEIR HEARTS; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This Old Covenant promise was fulfilled in the new birth ¦— in the recreation of man's spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.
Where does God make us a new creature? In our hearts or spirits by the regeneration of the
Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).