Scriptural Reference:
“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12: 11,12 (NIV) “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:13 (NIV) Application: Any time I get into a prolonged conversation with a non-Christian friend of mine, he always shifts our discussion to the Bible. Usually, he argues against it. At the same time, he argues against some Christians whom he sees as hypocrites. Yet, my friend holds Jesus in high regard. I ask, how can we know this Jesus if we don’t study the Word? That gives my friend pause, and then he rejects the Bible as the only means to know Jesus. What, then, is the means? Prayer, we agreed. The Holy Spirit will lead us to God. He will convict us of sin, and we will have a yearning for Jesus. I believe my friend accepts this, but I can’t be sure. So I tried to shift his attention away from westernized churches he dislikes. I also set aside, for the time being, the Bible. I boiled it down to himself, personally. We agreed that we have the same desires, namely: (1) to improve our personal shortcomings, (2) to help, or at least not hurt, others, (3) to express our gratitude to our Creator for what He has done to bless us, and (4) to go to heaven, however we understand it. Prayer, my friend agrees, is how we obtain guidance on how to achieve these things. Okay, that’s common ground! When we pray, the Holy Spirit answers us by guiding us to the right sources. Often, this will be people, even though we may first think this was a coincidental meeting. These people may guide us to other people, perhaps a church ministry, and at some point we’ll be directed to the Holy Bible. Through the Bible, we meet Jesus, Whom we will come to believe is the Creator, God, and the Holy Spirit. The sum of it all, to me, is this: If we honestly want to know God, He will show us His nature. The more we ask, the more He gives. Let’s not go right up to the doorstep and then doubt that we’ve arrived at the correct destination, no matter how we got there. Prayer: Dear God, I pray that You will use me to help this person know You. I pray that the words I speak and my personal behavior are acceptable to You, and that they will be helpful to him as he journeys to where You will meet him. Thank You for Your guidance. Amen.
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