The matter of the leading by the Spirit of God has been misunderstood by most Christians. Our understanding is still unconsciously under the influence of our background. We all came from that region where the understanding of the matter of the leading of the Spirit was mostly natural. Very little of that understanding was spiritual.
Recently, I admired some wonderful testimonies concerning the leading by the Spirit of God, but at the same time I had the deep sensation that they were wrong. They were very good, but they were wrong. Your understanding of the leading by the Spirit of God is still wrong. It is wrong in this aspect: you consider that the leading by the Spirit is a matter for activities, for actions, or for business.
What many call the leading of the Spirit is actually a kind of performance. In seeking the Lord’s leading you are a kind of dramatic performer. You are not Peter, but you are performing as if you were Peter. You are not Mary, but you are performing as if you were Mary. The real Peter did not perform; he just lived. He simply lived that way. That was his being. Whatever he did was not merely his activities but his living.
In Romans 8 the matter of the leading by the Spirit is a conclusion of so many points. It is not one among many items. Rather, it is the totality of those many items. It is the conclusion of all those previously mentioned items in verses 1 through 13. So it is a great thing! In Romans 8 there is no hint that the leading by the Spirit is related to activities or works or actions or business. It is altogether related to our daily living. An actor is one who lives one way but performs another way. He may be a young man in his living, but he is performing as if he is an old man. If you would apply this principle of acting or performing to your way of seeking the Lord’s leading, you could see that in the past it was like this. You did not live that way, but when the occasion came up and you needed to do something or to face a situation, you sought the Lord’s leading. This kind of leading is not your daily living; it is your acting.
Some might argue that certain instances in Acts indicate that the early apostles received the Lord’s leading for activities. For example, there is the case of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26-40). After baptizing the eunuch, the Holy Spirit caught Philip away. You might ask, Was that not the Lord’s leading? Yes, that was the Lord’s leading, but you have to realize that all the day long Philip was under the Spirit’s leading. For him to be caught away by the Spirit was not an accident. That was his living. Philip was all the time under the leading of the Spirit, so he did not need to seek after the leading; he was living minute by minute in his daily walk in the leading by the Spirit. The leading by the Spirit was his living; he was taken to the eunuch by the Spirit, and he was also caught away by the Spirit.
Then you might ask about Peter’s case in Acts 10. By the vision that he saw in his trance, he realized that he had to go to the Gentiles. You might ask, Was that not a leading for Peter’s activity? I would say no. Rather, Peter all the day long was living and walking in the spirit, and he simply went to the housetop to pray. He lived that way. For him to go to the housetop at his prayer time proves that that way was his living. While he was living in that way, the vision came. So it was not a leading for his activity.
In Acts 16 is an example of another person who was altogether living and even dreaming under the leading by the Spirit. While Paul was traveling, the Spirit within was forbidding and prohibiting. Paul was always living under the leading by the Spirit. Paul was a person living by the Spirit; he was not led by the Spirit to have some kind of activity.
The New Testament ministry according to 2 Corinthians 2 is not carried out by activities but by the ministers of the New Testament in their living. They are captives in the triumphal procession of Christ (v. 14). They live a captive life. Paul considered his ministry a life of a captive in the triumphal procession. So whatever he did was not a kind of activity. It was just a kind of living. To Paul, his traveling about was not a kind of activity. To Paul, it was just the leading by the Spirit. It was the way Paul lived.
If you do not live day after day and hour after hour under the leading by the Spirit, when the time comes for you to make a decision, then you must perform. Not only must you perform; you must even try to force the Spirit to perform with you. Whatever comes out of that kind of situation will not be a part of your living. It will be just an activity because in your daily life you are not so one with the Spirit.
The Lord’s leading is not for outward business or activity; it is absolutely for our living. We must live this way. If you pick up this kind of understanding, it will revolutionize your entire life. I do not mean that we should not have any arrangement for our schooling or any kind of plan for our job or any kind of plan for our business. But the basic principle is this: all the time we should live under the leading by the Spirit. Our arrangements and our plans must be under the leading by the Spirit because we are persons who are altogether living under the leading by the Spirit. Our goal is not to be famous, and our goal is not to be wealthy. Our goal is just to live Christ for the church as God’s eternal purpose. Because we need to live on this earth, we need to have a kind of living. We must have some kind of arrangement and plan for our education, for our children, for our job, and for our business. But we should not have this in a worldly way. We must have our plan and our arrangement and all the parts of our daily life under the leading by the Spirit.
The New Testament teaches us that whether we have a job or a business or whether we receive the highest education or not, we live by faith. It does not mean that since you have the best education, you would have a successful business, and you would have the best future. Your future eventually is under the hand of the Lord.
I do encourage the young people to get the highest education. But just because you have the highest education does not mean that you will be a successful and prosperous person. A lot of things can happen. Who could have told us that in 1973 there would be an oil embargo that would affect the entire world economy? Who can be sure that he will always be healthy? Our future is altogether in the hands of our Father. We should not forget that we are really different from the unbelievers. We have a heavenly Father who takes care of us. I can testify that for over fifty-six years my heavenly Father has been taking care of me. Whatever I planned eventually became a failure, but still He was taking care of me.
As the Lord’s children, we just have to love Him and to be one with Him. We have to live the Lord Jesus. Also we have to set our heart on the Lord’s interest. We have to tell the Lord, “Lord, on this entire earth I have no other interest. My unique interest and desire is You. I love You because You love me. I want to live You. I want to live under Your instant and momentary leading.” This is basic. Dear saints, if you do not make such a basic decision, you can never have the Lord’s leading. You must have such a basic decision. You must tell the Lord, “Lord, thank You, You have chosen me, You have predestinated me, You have called me, You have saved me, You have regenerated me, You have brought me to this day, and You have preserved me. Thank You, Lord, by Your mercy and grace I love You. Besides You I have no interests, no desire. I just want to live You, living under Your momentary leading.” Dear saints, this is more than basic. If you have not made such a basic decision, you do not need to talk about the leading. You are not in the position to have the Lord’s leading. You must make such a decision.
After making such a decision you must simply follow the Lord to do your duty. As a teenager, you need to follow the Lord to study under the care of your parents. Spontaneously, the Lord will arrange a school for you, and your parents will do something for you. You just live under the leading of the Lord. Stage after stage the Lord will lead you to get your education. Gradually, in the same way the Lord will lead you to have a marriage. The Lord will lead you to get a job. The Lord will lead you to pick up some experiences in a trade or in a business. All this is under the Lord’s leading.
In your daily living, all these leadings should not be accidents; they should be part of your daily living. Yet you are not trusting in what you have learned or in what you can do for your living. You put all your trust in the Lord Jesus. Our trust is in our Father’s hand. You do not need to be bothered and sidetracked by your living. Today the matter of making a living is a big distraction that carries the Lord’s children away from His leading. We must stick ourselves to the Lord’s leading. We must take care of the Lord’s leading first. Our trust is not in what we do for a living. Our trust is in the hand of our heavenly Father. Then the matter of leading would not be a bothering or a distraction to us. Then you would never choose a job that would give you better pay and yet take so much time away from your seeking after the Lord. You would not care first for the better pay. You would care first for seeking after the Lord. You would live under the Lord’s leading every day.
In such a living you do your duty, yet you do not trust in your duty for your living. That is your duty, but that is not your trust. Your trust is in your heavenly Father. This is the right way. Schooling, job, business, or marriage would not be a distraction to you. You just seek after the Lord and live under His leading. And you just do your duty. Your living, your safety, and your future are altogether in His hand. This is the right way. If you live this way, you do not need to seek a certain leading at a certain time for a certain activity. Because you live under His momentary leading, you are clear how you should go all the time.
