The Holy Spirit is Father’s very personal gift for His children.
The Holy Spirit is for those who have, with a sincere and repentant heart, come to Yahuwah Elohim [the Hebrew name for the LORD God] through His Son Yahushua Messiah [the Hebrew name for Jesus Christ].
The Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit is the heavenly Father’s gift for His children — for those who have been birthed into God’s family, for those who have been Born-Again (John 14:17; 1Corinthians 2:14).
Yahushua said He would send us the Holy Spirit, who is The Comforter and the Spirit of truth:
“When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth.” (John 15:26)
What is the Holy Spirit’s mission?
“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
As this verse teaches, the Holy Spirit’s mission is to guide us into all truth. This is why Father wants us to receive the Holy Spirit. The heavenly Father wants us to know the truth regarding Who He is, His creation, and regarding ourselves.
Father loves us and wants us to know His pathway, and stay in His pathway. He does not want us stray away from the pathway of His truth. Therefore, He gives us the Holy Spirit as our personal Guide to help us stay in His pathway.
Yahuwah is eager to give us His Holy Spirit:
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? (Luke 11:13)
As we can see here, Father is very willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him!
The Holy Spirit is A PERSON — NOT AN IT!!
The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is the very presence of the Living God, the heavenly Father, whose name is Yahuwah Elohim [the LORD God], the Mighty One of Israel.
As a person, the Holy Spirit is to be cherished and loved.
Just as we love and cherish those who are dear to us, we are to love and cherish our personal Guide. Just as we are careful to not hurt or disappoint those we love and cherish, so also we are to be careful and sensitive to not hurt or disappoint our personal Guide, the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures tell us, when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are receiving the person, the Spirit of Yahuwah Elohim, the Holy One of Israel:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but [we have received] the Spirit which is of God. (1Cor 2:12)
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Rom 8:14)
The Holy Spirit of God is Yahuwah Himself!
This is amazing! — the Spirit of the living God dwelling within us to guide us and to lead us! If we will only ask Him!
- (If you are not sure if you have received the Holy Spirit, please see Have You Received the Holy Spirit Since You Believed? Part One)
Once we have received the Holy Spirit, He becomes our personal and loving Guide, guiding us into all truth.
Can we really know His guidance? Yes we can.
In my experience I have learned three essential facts about the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are more facts, but let me share these three.
First Fact – The Holy Spirit’s Mission is to Guide Us Into All Truth.
Yahushua Messiah [the Hebrew name for Jesus Christ] gives us clear insight into the Holy Spirit’s guidance:
Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth:
for He shall not speak of Himself;
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak:
and He will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me [Yahushua]:
for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (John 16:13-14)
Notice what this passage teaches: that the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, does not promote Himself, but He seeks to glorify the Son of God, Yahushua Messiah [Jesus Christ].
The Holy Spirit’s guidance into all truth will first of all be a revealing of the truth of Yahushua the Messiah, Who is The Truth (John 14:6)!
It is so very important to understand this principle in order to recognize the Holy Spirit’s guidance!
Any guidance that does not glorify
the truth and purposes of Yahushua Messiah
is NOT guidance from the Holy Spirit!
This important principle of truth helps us know the Holy Spirit’s guidance! We must be vigilant to recognize any subtle, deviant counsel that rejects Yahushua as Messiah and Saviour (1John 2:22 and (2John 1:7), as well as any counsel that rejects the written Word of God!
What is the key to begin to personally recognize the Holy Spirit’s guidance? We begin to cultivate a LOVE for the truth!
In order for Yahuwah to guide us into His truth, we must begin with a gut-level conviction of loving the truth!
We must LOVE the truth, which is in essence to LOVE Messiah!
Paul’s Warning
The following verse is a very significant verse in the lives of those who wish to know the guidance of the Holy Spirit and thereby, follow Yahushua Messiah:
… they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)
As we see in the above Scripture, the apostle Paul gives us a warning of what happens to those who do not have a love of the truth — strong delusion!
This is a frightening warning because the delusion is sent from God!
When we have a firm love of the truth, then we are saved, delivered, and even rescued out of many difficult, perhaps even agonizing situations! And most importantly, we are delivered from delusion!!
Loving the truth means a loyal and firm conviction to cling to the truth of Yah’s written Word and His Son, Yahushua Messiah, no matter the cost, no matter the pain. Loving the truth, and searching for the truth, needs to be supreme in everything we do!
To LOVE the truth, there are two points to consider.
FIRST:
The Holy Spirit’s Guidance Will Always Be
In Agreement With God’s Written Word!
Since the Holy Spirit’s mission is to lead us into all truth, then He will always guide us according to, and in agreement with, the written WORD of God! The Holy Spirit of God cannot contradict the Word of God.
Yahushua Messiah confirmed to us where we will find the Truth!
In His prayer to His Father, Yahushua declared:
Sanctify them through Your truth: Your Word is truth. (John 17:17)
So if we purpose to love the truth, then that means we will love and obey what we read in the Word of God.
The written Word of God [the Bible] is the ‘map’ for our journey. The Holy Spirit’s mission is to guide us according to the ‘map’ — the Bible.
In our pilgrimage, Yahuwah has lovingly provided us with the ‘map’ — the written Scriptures, which reveal God’s absolute truth and pathway for us.
Therefore loving God’s truth means we will learn God’s written Word for ourselves, and accept it as completely authoritative.
Loving God’s truth means we will always look to the Scriptures for understanding, discernment, and guidance. We will consistently seek to live according to the authority of God’s written Word, and the principle of obedience to God’s truth. We will live our life “according to God’s WORD” (Psalm 119:169)!
Loving God’s truth means we will maintain our relationship with the Father through our secret prayer times, asking His help to love His truth, love the Messiah, and to become a mature child, able to discern His guidance.
This is how we learn, little by little, to know the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
Furthermore, we will seek to establish His guidance for us through the principle of two or three witnesses (Deut 19:15b), which will be in agreement with God’s written WORD.
SECOND:
Loving Yahuwah’s Word [the Bible]
IS Loving The Truth!
King David declared the truth of Yahuwah’s written Word many times:
- Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Torah (law) is the truth. (Psalm 119:142)
- You are near, O Yahuwah [LORD]; and all Your commandments are truth. (Psalm 119:151)
- Your word is true from the beginning: and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. (Psalm 119:160)
As these verses teach, loving The Truth is to love Yahuwah’s written Word. This is key to avoiding delusion!
What sets this second point apart is having the conviction to LOVE the Word of Yahuwah passionately!
As we saw in Thy Torah Is My Delight, King David loved the Word of Yahuwah with a passion! Which is why he could say: “I have chosen the way of truth” (Psalm 119:30a).
Our conviction must be fixed throughout our entire lifetime — that we will believe ALL of Yahuwah’s Word, from Genesis to Revelation — that Yah’s Word is faithful, true, unchanging, and authoritative, forever and ever!
Yahuwah’s truth does not change from one age to another! His Word is always true from the beginning, and never becomes invalid!
We need to guard against any teachings of God’s written Word that undermines or weakens the unchanging nature of His Word. We need to guard against leaning on our feelings, or fleshly desires, or the traditions of men, if they are contrary to God’s Word.
Feelings change, fluctuate, and are subjective. But God’s Word is absolute, unchanging, and endures forever.
We can trust the Word of the Mighty One of Israel completely, because He is Yahuwah Elohim, the God of truth! His truth endures throughout all generations! He has promised, “For I am Yahuwah [the LORD], I change not” (Malachi 3:6)!
Loving God’s written Word, the Scriptures, [which is Truth], is the First Step to knowing the guidance of the Spirit of Truth.
- Let me also state that the most reliable translation of the Bible is still the King James version. This version is based on reliable manuscripts that have not been corrupted. And the translators (a group of nearly fifty men) were true believers in Messiah. See helpful links below.)
Second Fact – Guiding Us Into All Truth Includes Recognizing the Truth About Ourselves.
When we love the truth, then we begin to be totally honest to ourselves, and about ourselves. We must love the truth to the point of honestly recognizing who we are — honestly accepting what kind of person we are, and accepting our inadequacies and limitations and sinful tendencies.
The Holy Spirit knows each one of us intimately. He knows our successes and strengths. He knows our failures, pain, and weaknesses. And . . . He knows our sins.
The Holy Spirit knows the actual, nothing-hidden, truth about us. We can not hide from the Holy Spirit! So if we are to be guided by Him, then we need to be honest to ourselves and sensitive to His nudges about ourselves. This is an important part of adjusting our life so that we can be in harmony with God’s Word.
As we recognize the truth about ourselves, we learn to see ourselves in the ‘mirror’ of Yah’s Word, and accept ourselves as the Word of God describes us! This is an on-going process, a lifetime process. We must consciously work at being honest with ourselves, and in recognizing the truth within ourselves.
This is not always easy because we have a tendency to over-look or deny what is true about ourselves. We like to tell ourselves things that make us feel good. If we do not love the truth, then we can be easily fooled by our own thoughts and estimations about ourselves. So we must learn to tell ourselves the truth about ourselves:
- Speaking The Truth in Our Heart
Yahuwah [LORD], who shall abide in Your tabernacle? who shall dwell in Your holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. (Psalms 15:12)
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom. (Psalms 51:6)
As we see in these two Scriptures, King David knew the importance of embracing truth within ourselves, acknowledging it, and accepting it. This is a choice we make — to grow up and mature — by speaking the truth to ourselves in our own heart.
Often speaking the truth in our heart means recognizing our sinful ways, and then repenting by changing our ways! Speaking the truth in our heart means recognizing that, at times, our heart can not be trusted to guide us according to God’s Word (Jeremiah 17:9).
King David did not shrink from acknowledging the truth of his sin, hidden within his own heart. When David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, David completely acknowledged and accepted his failure, sin, and guilt. And then, he repented (Psalms 51)!!
Third Fact – The Holy Spirit Will Test Our Love For the Truth.
… for the righteous God tries (tests) the hearts and reins (mind). (Psalms 7:9)
As we learn to love the truth of God’s Word, then the Holy Spirit wants us to cultivate the habit of recognizing His truth in the depths of our heart, in the intimacy of our own thoughts.
When we are confronted with truth about ourselves or any other issue, the test of our love for the truth will come! We are tested in our love for the truth in the hidden, inward part of our being — in our reasoning!
The question is — Will we reason ourselves away from the truth, or toward the truth?
What do our reasoning skills lean toward?
Do we side with the Holy Spirit who is seeking to guide us into all truth?
Do we hinder or do we help the Holy Spirit’s guidance for us?
Sometimes it is not easy to acknowledge and accept the truth!
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Truth Can Be Painful
Truth can be painful sometimes because it can be a chastisement. Yet, if we will choose the way of God’s truth in the hidden part of our heart — that is, in our reasoning skills within ourselves — then that choice will eventually yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).
Choosing to be truthful to ourselves will often be the pathway of humility and self-denial!
But choosing the truth of Yahuwah’s written Word will always be good for us, even if the choice seems difficult, uncomfortable, or painful. Choosing truth will always bring us into a greater peace, and a greater understanding of God’s Word and of His love for us.
Choosing God’s truth is the pathway of receiving Father’s enabling grace (Psalms 138:6; Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6):
- The way of Yahuwah [the LORD] is strength to the upright. (Proverbs 10:29a)
- God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. (James 4:6b)
As these verses reveal ,we will be strengthened if we will choose to love God’s truth (the Scriptures), in the inner depths of our heart — step-by-step, little by little. We will begin to know a strength in our understanding, and in our resolve to obey God’s written Word. We will begin to experience deliverance from delusions, as we walk more and more in harmony and obedience to the knowledge of God’s truth.
The Holy Spirit desires to cleanse us and purify us of selfishness, pride, hatred, or delusion!
The Holy Spirit is working within us, nudging us continuously, seeking to purify us of wrong motives, disobedient behavior, or neglect of duties.
This is why we need to have regular, secret prayer times, as well as study times of God’s written Word, at least a little bit every day, throughout our lifetime, so that we maintain an openness to learning and obeying His ways! God’s Word is the sharp, two-edged sword that helps us discern the truth about ourselves, exposing our thoughts and motives (Hebrews 4:12).
Are we listening patiently, prayerfully to the loving whispers of The Spirit of Truth urging us into The Way of Truth?
Will we be faithful to love the truth of God’s written Word, as well as love the truth of what God says about us?
It is the little, inner, hidden things we are tested on — little, hidden things that we tend to overlook, ignore, or reason away. This is part of the intimate ways of the Holy Spirit. He desires for us to be sensitive to Him, and to learn to speak the truth in the inward parts — in our thoughts, in our hearts.
This speaking the truth in our own heart is essential to knowing the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
(For more insight on this subject, see Preparing Our Heart to Seek God and Lead Me In Your Truth: Part 1 – The Basics and Guard Your Heart With All Diligence! – 4 Tips)
Father’s Gifts
May each one of us choose to devote ourselves to honour Yahuwah as our heavenly Father, and to fear Yahuwah as our loving Master! Let us be so very thankful to Him for giving us His guidance through His written Word (the Scriptures), and for giving us His Holy Spirit, to help us. Let us always remember that Father’s guidance is grounded in His immense love for us!
Oh the goodness of Father!! to give His children such wonderful gifts — the gift of His precious WORD, which is our map, and the gift of His precious Holy Spirit, who is our personal Guide — to guide us into all truth!
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Related Articles:
- Have You Received the Holy Spirit Since You Believed? (Part 1)
- Thy Torah Is My Delight – a look at King David’s secret
- The Word — or The Spirit? – is there a conflict between the Holy Spirit and God’s Word?
- Under His Wings I Shall Trust
- The Key To Gaining Understanding
- Lead Me In Your Truth: Part 1 – The Basics
- Lead Me In Your Truth: Part 2 – The Ancient Paths
- Water the Dry Ground of Your Heart With the Rain of the Spirit! – teaching video (1½ hr) by Natan Lawrence
- E-Sword.net – a very good, free resource for studying the King James Version Bible, on your computer
- Why the KJV is the Best – one hour audio teaching by Dr. D.A. Waite
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Cold Waters to a Thirsty Soul
Cold Waters to a Thirsty Soul 
Deborah,
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on His Ruach and how He is sent to guide us in all truth.
I have found that since my eyes were opened, I have absolutely no problem keeping Torah, for it is a delight. It is not grievous…but…just like King David, even those of us grounded in truth still wrestle daily with our own thoughts and desires. If we chose not to listen to His guiding Spirit, we can convince ourselves that “wrong” is “right.” That is why I thank Him daily for His guidance, to keep me on the “Narrow Path.”
I’ve been keeping Torah for for several years now, and needless to say, I am now the oddity in my family, and have learned the hard way that unless someone really wants to know “truth,” they cannot accept truth. I’ve learned that no amount of scripture can wake someone up unless they have their eyes opened by Yahuwah.
No, people are perfectly content walking in blindness. Most are not like the Bereans, they do not want to know that what they are doing is contrary to Yah. The words of Yahushua in Matt. 13:57 really hit home when you find that those you love most in this world refuse to listen.
May Yah bless you and your family.
Mike
Thank You, Mike, for your visit and for your encouraging words! It’s great to hear from others who delight in keeping Torah, by His Grace!
Blessings to you and your Household,
Deborah
Are you familiar with the teaching of Ian Clayton? My roommate is following his teaching and I’ve told her it isn’t sound biblically, but I don’t know how to lovingly refute it. Do you have any words that I could say to her?
We have never heard of this teacher, but after looking at some of the material on his web pages, we can make several conclusions.
He appears to be into some form of new age type doctrine. In the little we looked at, He does not appear to mention the Saviour’s name Yahushua/Jesus, nor even the need for a Saviour. What he does not teach, is more telling than what he does teach.
Anyone who promotes “releasing the potential” within yourself, or “time travel” or travel in the spirit realm, is clearly not promoting the Kingdom of Messiah. These ideas are “new age” concepts not found in Scripture.
These concepts are not new, but ancient — and form part of the modern “mystery religion” of Babylon. These ideas are creeping in today among the churches, in the form of “new age mysticism” disguising itself as part of Christianity.
This teacher appears to be just another (spiritually) blind leader of many (spiritually) blind followers.
You might see whether your friend is open to repentance from all that is false, so that you may encourage, pray with, and minister deliverance to your friend.