Often you will hear Christians use phrases like "The Holy Spirit told me...” or “The Holy Spirit led me to do... " or "I heard the Holy Spirit tell me..." in reference to the discernment of God's will in the decisions they make in life. Even within orthodox evangelical churches that are outside of the Pentecostal orbit where hyper-spiritual language is the norm and the idea that Suzy from small group hears from the Lord audibly every morning is nothing to raise an eye at, it is still common to hear fellow brothers and sisters say something along these lines. When they do, generally, they mean either one of two things; one being fine, the other not so much.
In the first case, the person could mean that, given the various factors at play in a particular decision—both in terms of the circumstances of the situation and how you personally, inwardly relate to those circumstances—the Holy Spirit brought to mind Biblical truth which framed the judgements they made. In other words, such a phrase is being used in this case as a sort of short-hand, summarizing description of what is in fact a more granular, Biblical decision-making process; one which the person is indicating was both made possible and driven by the work of the Holy Spirit. That is one possible use of the phrase. And while expediency may cause unintended confusion as I will discuss below, this intended meaning at the very least aligns with how the Bible says we are to use a Spirit-renewed mind to discern the will of God (Rom 12:2).
The other use of such phrases does not attempt to discern the will of God in this way and for this reason it is an issue worth addressing. What this second person means is that they experienced an inclination or intuition of some sort concerning a decision that they interpreted to be the Spirit's voice but the content of which did not necessarily correspond to—or flow from—some Biblically-rooted truth. In other words, something that would amount to a Word—or revelation—from the Lord, carrying with it the same authority as Scripture. Now, at this point such individuals would typically object to this characterization, insisting that they would never claim any such Word they received was on par with Scripture itself. And while it is comforting to know that this belief, clearly stated, would be met with such knee-jerk, obligatory denunciation, it should be noted that what is really being objected to is that their views be taken to their logical conclusion. The fact remains that being “led by the Spirit” in this way constitutes an attempt to discern the will of God not by using the mind but by circumventing the mind.
A great example that illustrates these two possible meanings was a conversation I recently had with a friend—whom we will call Henry—concerning this very topic. Over the last year, both Henry and I had gone through the same situation: unemployed and searching for a new job. Likewise, we both said of our experience that “the Spirit led us” in this process, helping us ultimately land a new job. But as we described our stories, it became clear that we each meant two very different things.
For Henry, he recounted having prayed for some time that he would not only find a new job that would provide for his basic well-being but more specifically that God would show him the “right” job, one that was strategically aligned with His will. Eventually, Henry said heard the Spirit tell him to “not apply to any jobs for two weeks.” He at first obeyed but toward the end of the second week he was presented an opportunity for a job at a top five tech company and he went ahead and applied. Within only a few days, this company responded and they set up the first of a several-round interview process. The following week, after the Spirit’s two-week deadline, a close friend of his who worked at another smaller but successful tech company told him about an opening they were hiring for and encouraged him to apply but, still enthusiastic about the first opportunity, Henry decided not to. Unfortunately, despite the first interview going well, the following two did not and for various reasons the opportunity did not pan out. Then, the very next day, Henry ran into the same friend as before who informed him the position he had mentioned was still open. This time he decided to apply and ended up getting the job where he still works to this day. Henry explained that by not getting the first job which he applied for prior to the two week deadline and then getting the job he applied for after the deadline, this was confirmation of the “word” he had received from the Holy Spirit.
To be absolutely clear, this…is paganism. As Voddie Baucham puts it, “this is reading tea leaves.” Even the use of prayer toward this aim…is paganism. This is not Biblical Christianity. After Henry was finished, instead of pushing back and directly telling him this, I began to recount my job hunt experience to contrast what I meant by being “led by the Spirit”. I explained to him that this was actually the second time I had gone through the job hunt process in the last six months. How the first time I had white-knuckled it, desperately searching for a job, constantly worried about what we would eat and what clothes we would wear (Matt. 6:31) resulting in extreme anxiety, anger, and lack of sleep. And how this last time had been completely different; that by seeking first the kingdom of God and trusting in my heavenly Father (Matt. 6:33), the Spirit produced in me a confident peace throughout this process, justified by His eventual faithfulness to provide a job. I explained how the Spirit provided discernment in more basic ways as well. I knew from the Bible that I couldn’t just be lazy and slothful, not applying to any jobs at all (2 Thess. 3:10) and that I am commanded as a husband and a father to provide for my family (1 Tim. 5:8). I also knew that the Bible says our work should be centered on using the skills God has given us so that we may bring value to others (1 Pet. 4:10); that of the two types of jobs I qualified for—cloud engineer and full-stack developer—I was more skilled in the latter and so narrowed the scope of jobs I applied to. Other factors I took into consideration were things like job location, in office or remote, salary, etc. Where did I want to plant roots as a family? Is it close to extended family (Deut. 7:9, Josh. 24:15, Eph. 6:1-3)? Is it near a faithful church community (Eph. 4:12-13)? Is the salary commensurate with the work (1 Cor. 9:10)? All of these questions constitute Biblical thinking and undergird a process of spiritual discernment. More importantly, all of these questions make use of a Spirit-renewed mind.
The difference in these two approaches should be clear. While Henry’s story may seem attractive and inspirational—and perhaps you’ve heard or even affirmed similar stories yourself—regardless, it nevertheless falls outside the bounds of how the Bible itself says the Holy Spirit works. To state it once more, when it comes to discerning the will of God the Holy Spirit works by the renewal of your mind (Rom. 12:2). This may seem obvious, but to put it even simpler, being “led by the Holy Spirit” through the use of your mind entails…knowledge.
And what exactly is the will of God? To put it simply, it is Scripture. The Bible. More accurately, there are two different aspects of God’s will: His hidden will and His revealed will.
Now, we can talk at length about the topic of God’s hidden will, but for this discussion what’s important to know…is that it’s hidden. It is a secret. We cannot know it’s content. Contrast this with God’s revealed will which can be known…because God has revealed it. And He has revealed it in the words of Scripture.
Paul here identifies God’s will with the source of our sanctification and the content of God’s will with His commandments. And where do we find His commandments? In the Bible! We are commanded to learn the Bible, to study the Bible, to gain understanding of…the Bible! And while reading and understanding the Bible is not the extent of how we discern God’s will, it is nothing less. Voddie Baucham puts it simply with four ways that we are to discern the will of God. (1) Read your Bible. (2) Think Biblically. (3) Pray Biblically. (4) Surround yourself with others who do the same. What does it mean to think Biblically? It means to apply the clear truths found in Scripture to our lives as the guide to the decisions we make. As R.C. Sproul explains:
Scripture is to guide us in our choice of spouse, vocation, place of residence, and so on. Of course, the Word of God does not tell me whether I should be a doctor or a lawyer, but it does tell me the Lord has given me certain gifts (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:1–16) and to seek out wise counselors (Prov. 11:14). Therefore, I should search out my gifts and ask godly friends where my talents lie to direct my choice of vocation…In any decision, we will not go far wrong if we endeavor to make it according to God’s revealed will.— R.C. Sproul
To learn the content of Scripture and how to apply it to your decision-making…this is Biblical wisdom. And what does it mean to pray Biblically? It means to pray for exactly this type of Biblical wisdom; that the Holy Spirit would sharpen your mind and enable you to think Biblically.
You may be reading this and thinking “Gee, that seems a bit mundane. A bit wooden. A bit lifeless. It doesn’t seem very spiritual. It doesn’t seem very miraculous or inspirational.” On the one hand, I sympathize with this perspective. I know the person at heart wants to see God work in amazing ways, ways that are supernatural and undeniable. They probably have also become so accustomed to thinking and talking about the Spirit in this way that by contrast this view of Spirit-driven Biblical thinking appears to lack faith in God. But the fact remains that the complete opposite is true. What these comments unfortunately reveal is what is in fact a quite low view of the Holy Spirit and His work. This perspective suggests that it’s not an active miracle of the Holy Spirit that a person might understand the truth of Scripture at all, let alone apply it faithfully to their life and interpret the world rightly.
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.”— 1 Cor. 2:12–13 (LSB)
To understand the Scriptures is nothing less than a miracle, for it is knowledge taught only by the Holy Spirit and cannot be understood otherwise. When we think Biblically and bring to mind what God’s word says and how it relates to the practical realities of life, it is but pride and vein deceit to insinuate, either intentionally or out of ignorance, that the Holy Spirit was not driving agent. Without the Holy Spirit, we are in the same desperate state as the unbeliever: a fool we cannot know truth.
The truth of Scripture which speaks of the depths of God—His character, His commands, all things truth, and Truth himself—simply cannot be known unless taught by the Holy Spirit. The moment we begin to forget this we have forgotten who is responsible not just for our justification but also our sanctification and have placed our faith not in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit but ourselves (Gal. 3:3).
We’ve noted two major issues with adopting the error of this second view of the Spirit’s work already, (1) its pagan nature and (2) its faith-removed view of Scripture. But there are a few other serious problems that accompany this view that are also worth addressing.
The first is that this view tends to be used either to justify disobedience of the clear commands of Scripture or else to justify misinterpretations of Scripture. I often hear Christians discuss the concept of evangelism and try to excuse their apathy by saying something like “I think its important to listen to the Spirit to discern when its the right time to share the gospel with someone”. And while it is true that we ought not be mindlessly obtuse and unloving in the relationships we have with unbelievers, there is no “right time” God expects us to somehow figure out, knowledge without which would justify not sharing the gospel with a person. God has placed no such condition on our obedience. He has commanded all believers at all times and in all places “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you...” (Matt. 28:19-20). Similarly, you will often hear Christians discuss the concept of personally rebuking a fellow brother who is in sin, suggesting that you should pray for the Spirit’s discernment about whether it is wise to do so based on their potential reaction, whether you should just “be patient” with them and wait, or something else of that nature. But again, we do not need to “wait on the Spirit” to provide a Word on the matter. God has already spoken (Lev 19:17; Luke 17:3; Matt. 18:15; Gal 6:1; 2 Thess 3:15; James 5:19).
Another serious problem with this error is that it leads to a warping of prayer in terms of direction, i.e. its objective. Rather than praying for discernment as to what the Bible says about some decision, we instead pray for “peace” about the decision, often believing God has given this to us, regardless of whether that decision corresponds to the Word of God. We begin to think that if we don’t have this “inner peace” about something, then it is not God’s will for us. God would never command something of us that made us feel uncomfortable. It would never be His will for our faith to be tested (James 1:2-3), that we ever grow in steadfastness, or that we be lacking in nothing, right? Wrong.
Lastly, this view of “hearing from the Spirit” is dangerous because it fuels an un-Biblical form of “spiritualism” that deceives a person into the sin of spiritual pride. What often blurs the lines for this person is a misplaced emphasis on prayer that gets confused with piety. There may indeed be elements of their prayer life that are healthy and admirable but this tends only to strengthen the belief that prayer is the key to hearing the Spirit’s voice. In their view, it is by prayer that one becomes more “spiritual”, more intimate with the Spirit, and more capable of hearing His voice. Thus, the degree to which the Spirit “moves in your life” is a reflection upon how “spiritual” you are. This pride then becomes a safe guard against correction, because if you don’t believe the Spirit speaks to us in this way then that is just because you don’t hear from the Spirit. And if you don’t hear from the Spirit, it begs the question “Are you praying enough? Are you praying to hear the Spirit’s voice? Are you praying with expectation?” At its worst, this form of spiritual pride can evolve to deflect against any theological correction, turning it back around into a question of how much faith you have or even how sanctified you are.
I say all of this not to cast down those who disagree but to lift up those who might be confused. If it is knowledge of God’s will that we seek, then we don’t have to keep searching. By His grace, it truly is as simple as this: God wrote a book. Not a book of riddles but a book that can be understood, because He intended to be understood. Our God is not a God of confusion (1 Cor. 14). It is the fact that it can be understood that makes it so difficult to accept. We don’t like looking in the Mirror and seeing who we really are and how we are really called to live (James 1:22-25). But we are no longer under the bondage of slavery! We are free to walk in obedience and enjoy the fullness of Christ. We are free to take hold of His promises. His Word is truly sufficient for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). So dear Christian, I end with this encouragement: Read the Scriptures, pray for wisdom, determine to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5) and in a world of confusion you will truly discern the will of God.