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Ways in Which the Spirit Leads Us, April 3
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27
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Jesus expects all who claim to be His soldiers to do service for Him. He
expects you to recognize the enemy and to resist him, not to invite him to
your confidence and thus betray sacred trust. The Lord has placed you in a
position where you may be elevated and ennobled, and be constantly gaining
fitness for His work. If you do not obtain these qualifications; you alone are
to blame.
There are three ways in which the Lord reveals His will to us, to guide
us, and to fit us to guide others. How may we know His voice from that of
a stranger? How shall we distinguish it from the voice of a false shepherd?
God reveals His will to us in His Word, the Holy Scriptures. His voice is also
revealed in His providential workings; and it will be recognized if we do not
separate our souls from Him by walking in our own ways, doing according to
our own wills, and following the promptings of an unsanctified heart, until
the senses have become so confused that eternal things are not discerned, and
the voice of Satan is so disguised that it is accepted as the voice of God.
Another way in which God’s voice is heard is through the appeals of His
Holy Spirit, making impressions upon the heart, which will be wrought out in
the character. If you are in doubt upon any subject, you must first consult the
Scriptures. If you have truly begun the life of faith, you have given yourself
to the Lord to be wholly His, and He has taken you to mold and fashion
according to His purpose, that you may be a vessel unto honor. You should
have an earnest desire to be pliable in His hands and to follow whithersoever
He may lead you. You are then trusting him to work out His designs, while
at the same time you are cooperating with Him by working out your own
salvation with fear and trembling. You, my brother, will find difficulty here
because you have not yet learned by experience to know the voice of the
Good Shepherd, and this places you in doubt and peril. You ought to be able
to distinguish His voice.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:511, 512
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