Obeying the Prompting of the Holy Spirit

Today, I want to tell you a story of when I obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit in a situation that I didn’t expect.  I was riding on the train one day going home from work and all of a sudden I smelt this strong overpowering smell of smoke like as if someone had lit a fire on some gasoline fuel.  I observed my surroundings and noticed that nobody on the train was reacting to this strong smell of burning fuel that I could smell.  I asked some people sitting around me if they could smell anything burning.  They all kind of looked at me like I was“loo-loo” and said “No”.  But the thing is, the more I asked the people around me the more stronger the smell became as it engulfed my nostrils and still no one around me was reacting to this strong burning smell of gasoline that I could smell. 

I thought I was losing my mind because now I had this terrible sense of danger and foreboding in my gut, that my heart was racing rapidly as I was filled with this intense sense of anxiety as the scent of burning fuel intensified as the train kept moving.  Immediately, I got up off my seat and started to yell at people telling them that:

“People LISTEN TO ME!  At the next subway station we should get off the train!”. 

People who heard what I had just said looked at me like as if I must have gone nuts…and then immediately I felt this intense sense of dread that I started to scream at people to get their attention…

“PEOPLE!  AT THE NEXT SUBWAY STATION WE ALL HAVE TO GET OFF THIS TRAIN!!!!  I SMELL FIRE ABOARD THIS TRAIN!!!!…WE NEED TO GET OFF AT THE NEXT STATION!!!!!  PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!!!!”.  I pleaded…. 

At this point, I had everyone’s full attention, but I think some people thought that I was being hysterical and needed to take a “chill pill” and sit down since I was deemed to be “a crazy one”.  At this point, I didn’t care what other people thought of me.  I knew that the Holy Spirit was prompting me to warn people to get off this train.  The next stop felt like forever as all of a sudden the train started to slow down which was unusual at the time since there was no train ahead of it blocking its path nor was there any signal problems.  It was just taking its time to get to the next station all of a sudden.  The train stopped for a while, for about 5 mins I would say… and during all that time as we waited… all I could feel at that point was this intense anxiety and sense of dread.  I was still walking up and down the car still telling people to get off the train at the next station…but now, what was this cause for delay????  After 5 or so minutes had passed, the train started moving slowly forward; and as it got closer to the platform of the station, the TTC Train conductor announced on the PA system that:

“All aboard the train, all passengers are asked to please exit the train at this station due to a fire investigation aboard the train.  There appears to be a fire underneath the train so please, all passengers are asked to exit the train”. 

The passengers that I had warned earlier on about there being a fire underneath the trainnow looked at me dumbfounded and incredulously because I’m sure they assumed initially that I was “nuts” and needed to take a “chill pill” and sit down, when I was telling people and warning them to get off the train at the next station because I could smell fire aboard the train.  It is a mystery to me as to why I was the only one who could smell the fire….No one in the train car that I was on could smell it and that surprised me.  I believe that the Holy Spirit heightened my physical senses to warn the people so that they could be saved… but it’s funny how when warning them, the didn’t believe a word I had said and remained passive and non-reactionary, still remaining in their seats. 

This brings me to my next point… We can warn people about the “End times” and tell them that the Kingdom of God is near people and that Now is the time to repent and change your ways and give up your life to Jesus Christ.  You will also find that there will be some people who would have had the opportunity to respond to the call and warning and yet will fail to heed to the warning to change their ways simply because living a sinful lifestyle is just too much “Fun”. 

So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 

Some people will hear the message and ignore it.  Some people will hear the alarm bells, and will ignore the calling.  Some people will receive the chance to change their ways and will ignore the warning.  Maybe some people think that they have “all the time in the world” to mess around before they get right with Christ…but let me tell you right now that TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN!  God has deliberately brought Evangelists, Teachers, Preachers, Apostles, Prophets/Prophetesses and others operating with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to warn people of impending judgment against their lives in order to lead them in the right direction, and still some people will choose to ignore those that He sends. 

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 

My prayer is that when God sends out His people to warn others to give them a chance to change their ways as they preach the message of life and a life more abundant, my hope is that people will heed to the call.  My hope is that people will heed to the warning and not ignore it.  My hope is that people will be more receptive of the message and will not choose to ignore it.  My prayer is that people who are in their mess will hear the message and turn their lives around for the better as they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord over their lives.  God sends His people to preach and teach and warn others in order to reach unbelievers to learn of the message of Salvation, but how many will heed to this message?My prayer is that non-believers will become more receptive to the message of Salvation as we go about our Christian business preaching the Gospel of Truth to the Nations. 

When the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something, even if it sounds crazy… my advice would be to simply just do it.  When you obey the small things that may feel is like a “Gut instinct” to react, it is most likely the Holy Spirit prompting you to do something urgently.  Learn to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit as He leads you to do something out of obedience.  When you obey the Holy Spirit’s leading, you will gain favour for your obedience.  It takes time to develop that level of trust and spiritual sensitivity to hear directly and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit; so pray and seek God to help you to become more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in your prayer life. 

However, having said that though, I must state for the record, that don’t seek to be sensitive enough to hear from the Holy Spirit if you have no intention of obeying His voice in the first place once He calls you out to do something.  In my own personal experience, I’ve been asked to do crazy things…but whenever I obeyed whatever it was that I have heard or was impressed on my heart to do, I always understood that God knew what He was doing when He asked me to do whatever it was that He impressed upon my heart to do.  We have to fear God to a degree and level that we won’t care if we are ridiculed or appear crazy to others when obeying His voice, His Instruction(s), His promptings and His leading.  Obedience is better than sacrifice, so learn to be obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit today. 

So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 

If you are a Christian and cannot hear directly from the voice of Holy Spirit in your personal life, then cultivate that relationship by doing the following:

1.  Readingand meditating on The Word of God (THE BIBLE) daily;

2.  Learn to Pray and Fastto God as you seek to hear from the voice of the Holy Spirit;

3.  Read up on the topic of Learning to Hear from God;

4.  Act on the small instructions that are impressed upon your heart to do and take note of the result(s) of your actions. 

What was the outcome?  Was it good or bad?  Record these outcomes and take note of what you would do next time or what you would do differently.  This is how you will mature in your personal walk of obedience to heed to the voice of the Holy Spirit as you grow from faith to faith and from strength to strength. 

At the end of the day, I believe that as Christians, if we want to do great exploits, we have to learn to do the simple things that God requires of us and asks us to do.  If we cannot obey Him with the small things He requires us to do…then how can we manage to do greater things if we can’t obey simple instructions? 

Noah did it, so can you! 

Obedience is the Key to learning how to hear directly from the Holy Spirit. 

God can’t trust a fool with a large undertaking if a person cannot simply obey simple instructions.  This also holds true to real life situations.  In the business world, bosses won’t promote those that cannot handle “basic instructions” to take on a huge undertaking.  Those that are promoted in the business world are those that are able to be trusted with smaller tasks, so that is how they climb high to be trusted with much more when they get promoted.  If in the business world, TRUST is a major proponent to ones eligibility to get promoted and achieve success, then we should also assume that TRUST is just as important to our God if we want to increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

If the Holy Spiritcan’t trust you to obey a small task, then don’t expect or think that He’ll increase the gifts of the Spirit in your life simply because you “want them”, but have no intention of obeying His voice obediently.  Again I say…Obedience is the Key to learning to hear directly from the Holy Spirit.  So for today, do some self-analysis and introspection with respect to what it is that you really want God to do in your life.  Be honest with yourself and work out the areas in your personal life in which you find yourself either filled with pride, arrogance, fear and selfishness that hinders you from being used by God in an effective and powerful way.  God cannot use a selfish and self-absorbed human being, because such a person is unable to display a sense of compassion to the nations which is required if we want to be effective in our Evangelism.  Seek God with a humble heart and God will grant you what you request when you seek to do His will with pure motivations, Amen! 

I have a song here by for King & Country called Light it Up.  I felt that this song was definitely appropriate for this post.  I pray that this post blesses your spirit today.  God Bless You Everybody!  😀

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7 thoughts on “Obeying the Prompting of the Holy Spirit”

This is an amazing and inspired post… I especially loved the following, “…don’t seek to be sensitive enough to hear from the Holy Spirit if you have no intention of obeying His voice in the first place once He calls you out to do something.”  And your steps to cultivate your ability to listen to the Holy Spirit are outstanding!  This is my favorite blog post of today!  ❤

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