The beauty of the Bible is that is always challenges us to look very carefully at what God is teaching us. During the months of January and February I have been learning a lot about the early church and how the church should function. The Spirit-filled church of Acts has so much to teach us in how we go about doing church. One area in which I am growing is in the area of understanding how the Holy Spirit leads us.
Ever since I went to a seminar on listening prayer at the beginning of January, I have been studying the book of Acts trying to find out how the Holy Spirit guided the early church and its leaders. I have combed through the entire book of Acts and looked at every instance of where individuals or groups have received divine guidance to see what principles and patterns I could find.
Overall, I found four predominant ways that the early church was guided to make decisions. The first way was in putting forth a proposal and discussing it together. The church leaders used this proposal and discussion method in at least three instances: in Acts 1, when they were looking for a replacement for Judas; in Acts 6, when they were choosing the seven men who would oversee the distribution of food to widows; and in Acts 15, where they were resolving differences over Gentile believers coming into the church.
The second frequently occurring way of finding guidance was through a vision. In Acts 9, Saul had a vision of Christ at his conversion and was instructed in what to do next. In Acts 10, both Cornelius, a God-fearing gentile, and the apostle Peter received complimentary instructions through visions. In Acts 16, Paul had his vision of the man calling for help from Macedonia. And then in Acts 18, Paul received a vision encouraging him to keep teaching in Corinth.
Thirdly, we find that angels were often sent to give guidance and protection to apostles in difficult or uncertain circumstances, such as imprisonment, storms at sea, and even Philip’s being sent to teach the Ethiopian eunuch. You can find these stories in Acts 5, 8, 12 and 27.
The fourth commonly occurring form of guidance was by the voice of the Holy Spirit being manifested in some way. This very often occurred when someone was to be sent to a new place or to do something new. For example, in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were sent on their missionary journey by the word of the Spirit. In Acts 20, Paul was compelled to go to Jerusalem by the Spirit. Then in Acts 21, Paul received a prophecy from the prophet Agabus, which was given by the Spirit. Peter also received a word from the Spirit, along with the vision, in Acts 10.
Having discovered all this, I can only come to one sure set of conclusions and that is this: the Holy Spirit guided the early church in a variety of ways depending on the people and the circumstances involved. The Spirit guided the early church even at times when it does not appear that they were looking for guidance. He guided by a certain method in one instance and in the next instance he lead in another way. Each person and each circumstance was different and the Holy Spirit knew what was needed.
We have to be careful that we do not put the Holy Spirit in a box and try to control the way that he speaks to us. However, it is so very important that we seek to have the mind of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 Paul concludes a discussion about knowing God’s will by saying, “But we have the mind of Christ.” Again in Romans 12:2 Paul teaches us, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Growing so close to Christ that we know his mind is so very helpful in knowing the will of God in situations that we encounter. To me it is like that old game show on TV called “The Newlyweds.” Remember how one of the couple was in a back room and they asked questions to the other spouse to see if they knew how the hidden spouse would answer. Then they got them back together and found out how close they might have come to knowing the mind of their spouses. Some couples knew each other so well that they almost always knew what the other one was thinking.
When we really mature in Christ and get to know the mind of Christ, we know what his will would be in more and more of the situations that we are faced with in life. Finding God’s will does not have to be a difficult thing as we begin to simply know the will of the Lord because we understand the mind of Christ. This is what we should all be seeking in our lives -- renewing our minds to know the will of God.
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