How To Be Led by the Spirit - 1 Samuel 10:6-7

"The Spirit of the Lord will control you, you will prophesy with them, and you will be transformed into a different person. When these signs have happened to you, do whatever your circumstances require because God is with you."

In these verses the prophet Samuel is giving king-designee Saul instructions on what to do shortly after he had been chosen as the first king of Israel. But one of the first things that happened to Saul upon his selection as Israel's king was that it was confirmed by the anointing or being filled with the Spirit of God.

It was the anointing of the Holy Spirit that validated Saul's kingship!

This infilling of the Holy Spirit not only empowered Saul to prophesy alongside a group of prophets, but this infilling would change his life so much that he would be a different person!

When a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, he or she is transformed into a different person--an agent of God's will.

Formerly, you were the primary agent of your own will. When God saves you He fills you with the Holy Spirit and you become an agent of God's will. So you are a different person!

When a person is becomes an agent of God's will, that person wants to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Holy Spirit. So how does this happen? How are we led by the Spirit?

Samuel's charge to Saul in these verses may give us a clue. Samuel told Saul that since God was now with him (because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit) he should do whatever the circumstances he encounters require. This instruction seems to indicate that the anointing Saul had received by the Spirit of God would empower him to make the right choices to do God's will.

When the circumstances arise that require us to make the right choices to do God's will, the Holy Spirit shows us what to do.

It's called discernment!

And discernment of God's will seems to be the primary enabling power that the Holy Spirit grants us when He indwells and infills us: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatsoever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13-14).

So, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it doesn't mean you lose your ability to judge and make decisions. It just means that now you are enabled to make better judgments and decisions because your decision-making ability has been anointed by the Holy Spirit so that you make choices that are according to God's will.

It doesn't mean that God tells you every move to make. It means you live your life in service to God and when you encounter circumstances that seem to indicate that God is at work in your life, then the Holy Spirit will help you make the right choices to do God's will.

Where we go wrong is by trying to get ahead of the Holy Spirit. We try to manipulate the circumstances, make things happen a certain way, the way we want them to happen,  rather than waiting on God to cause the circumstances to occur that require discernment.

But as agents of God's will, people filled with the Spirit of God, it's certainly our responsibility to see how God is moving to accomplish His will and then make the right choices to do His will in our lives. It's simply what Henry Blackaby described in his book, Experiencing God, as finding out where God is at work and then joining Him in His work.

Just as Samuel told Saul he would know what to do "because God is with you," in the same way, because we are filled with God's Spirit and thus the agents of His will, then God sanctions the things we do in His name.

In other words, if you are living for God and God's Spirit dwells in you, then God is with you and you are accomplishing His will through your life and the decisions you make.

You are are different person....one that is being led by the Spirit!

"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,f so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).