Once again, I'd like to welcome you to the Quality
Christian Living Podcast. I am your host, David
Friend. Today's topic is why the Holy Spirit
knows God's will, and how does he know it, and
how can we know God's will, and how does the
Holy Spirit reveal to us the will of God? We're
going to look at what is the benefit of yielding
to God's will, and is God's will easy to discover?
So, we're going to cover all that, but first,
let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness.
I pray blessing upon this podcast. I ask the
Holy Spirit to come in now, take control and
do what only he can do, lead, guide, direct and
anoint. And I pray that the Holy Spirit would
help those who are listening in today, for those
who are wondering about God's will and wondering
how the Holy Spirit interacts with God's will
in our life. Whatever their questions or concerns
might be, I pray that you would bless them and
that they would receive exactly what you have
for them, what you desire for them. Thank you
Lord again for this opportunity. I'll be careful
to give you praise for all great things that
take place. Give you all honor and glory. In
Jesus name I pray. Amen. Let me just start off
with a question. Have you ever wondered what
God's will is for something in your life? Maybe
something specific, you know, just as a decision
you're trying to make or maybe trying to decide
to buy or sell a house or a car or job change
or maybe someone that you're dating or someone
you're really serious about and wondering is
this going to lead to marriage? Whatever it is,
you want to know God's will, but so you've got
to question that's very common we all face these
things and all of us have wondered about that
we've all had a time in our life where we've
wondered and just said Lord is this the way to
go should I do this should I do that should I
do this first and do that second whatever it
might be well we don't have to wonder about that
we can understand through the Word of God and
the anointing of the Holy Spirit exactly how
we should deal with God's will and to get to
understand that we've got to understand how the
Holy Spirit knows God's will you see Remember,
we're Christians, and as fathers of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit living
and dwelling in us. And because of that, we've
got an advantage, obviously, on those people
who've not given their life to Christ. We have
the advantage of the Holy Spirit living and dwelling
in us, so we need to seek Him and ask for His
direction. Now, even the great Apostle Paul had
questions about knowing and doing God's will.
You know, there's a scripture that he talked
about, and I've used it before in podcasts. I'm
going to just use it again. He basically is saying
this. He's saying, you know, there's times that
I'm doing things that I know I shouldn't do.
I'm doing the things that I don't want to do.
And even though I know I shouldn't do them, even
while I'm doing them, I know it's wrong. But
he says, I still do them anyway. Why is it? Why
does that happen? So Paul was wondering, how
can he do God's will? How can he have the directions
that he needed? And he ran to the Holy Spirit
for guidance, for direction, for wisdom, for
knowledge. You know, another one of my scriptures,
one of my favorite scriptures dealing with this
issue of how the Holy Spirit knows God's will
is found in Romans chapter seven in verses nine,
19 I think through 25 in the New Living Translation.
Now this is a longer scripture than I usually
read, but it's vital to this podcast. Therefore,
let's read Romans chapter seven verses 19 through
25 in the New Living Translation. And of course,
this is the scripture that I talked about a second
ago, but we gotta read a little bit more than
just what I talked about. Here's Paul talking
once again in Romans chapter seven. verse 19.
I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't
want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
Verse 20. But if I do what I don't want to do,
I am not really the one doing wrong. It is sin
living in me that does it. Well, you know, we
should stop there for a second. You know, when
we're under attack and we're doing something
we shouldn't do, or we have thoughts we shouldn't
have, or we're taking actions we shouldn't take,
we should immediately be ready to understand.
That's what Paul's saying here. He knows where
it's coming from. It's sin. It's the Holy Spirit
wanting to bring into our life and wants to increase
the sin maybe that we're still struggling with
in our life. And so we immediately identify that.
So therefore we can rebuke the devil and say,
I take authority over you in Jesus' name. I rebuke
that thought. I'm not allow that to come back
into my mind. And that's what Paul understood
that he knew to take authority over the sin that
tried to get into, you know, in our lives. In
verse 21, he says this, I have discovered this
principle of life that when I want to do what
is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. Verse
22, I love God's law with all my heart, but there
is another power within me that is at war in
my mind. This power makes me a slave to sin that
is still within me. Verse 24, oh, what a miserable
person I am. Now, it's hard to imagine Paul saying
that, but he was a regular person, quite frankly,
just like you and I, who will free me from this
life that is dominated by sin and death. Verse
25, thank God. Here we go, here we go. Here's
the answer. is in. Christ Jesus, our Lord. So
you see how it is. In my mind, I really want
to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature,
I am a slave to sin. You know, he goes on to
talk about, in Romans chapter eight, about power
of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit's
the one that has to lead us. And so he follows
up with what I just read with eight chapter,
let's see, Romans chapter eight, verse one. So
now there is no condemnation for those who belong
to Christ Jesus. Now isn't that powerful? He
talked about all of his challenges. He talked
about all the things he was going through, like
we all go through some of the difficult times
that we have, and yet he jumps right back on
his walk with God and says this. He says, so
now there is no condemnation. He says, for those
who belong to Jesus Christ, that means for those
who are followers of Jesus Christ, he was just
confirming to himself what he knew was to be
the truth. He says, and because you belong to
him, the power, listen to this, of the life -giving
spirit has freed you from the power of sin. that
leads to death. So that kind of wraps up that
part of this podcast. It's so important to understand
we all battle issues in our mind. There's a battle
over our thoughts, a battle over what goes into
our heart. And we've got to take authority over
that in the name of Jesus and declare God's promises
for every area of our life. And that's what Paul
was saying. He said, oh, I've had these problems.
I'm fighting these problems. I'm going through
these problems. He says, but I've got something
going. You know, it's so wonderful that God's
Word says, greater is he that is in you than
he that is in the world. Well, so that's an example
of the Holy Spirit knowing God's will for us.
Now how does this all tie into the Holy Spirit
knowing God's will? Because the Holy Spirit is
God. The Holy Spirit is Jesus. Because they are
all part of the triune Godhead. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Only one
God. But in three direct personalities, three
specific purposes for Christians. Now here are
a couple of scriptural examples I think that
will help us in understanding the Holy Spirit
knows God's will. In 1st Corinthians chapter
2 and verse 9 in the New Living Testament, listen
to this. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and
no mind has imagined what God has prepared for
those who love Him. That's a powerful statement
to understand that God has a will for us, a plan
for us, a purpose for us, and in our life we've
got to work towards what Paul was saying. I know
there's no condemnation in me because Christ
has taken that away when He gave His life for
me and I became a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no longer any condemnation over
my mind or my thoughts. And that opens us up
to understand the will of God, to receive the
will of God. And then 1 Corinthians 2 .9, Paul
writes again, and he says, basically, no one's
ever seen this, no one's ever heard it. But what
God has prepared for those who love Him, He wants
us to operate here on earth in our plan, our
purpose, and in His will. And the Holy Spirit
is the only way that we can do that. We can't
operate in God's will and not have a relationship
with the Holy Spirit on an ongoing basis. Look
at another scripture here. that's wonderful.
1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 10 and 11 in the
New Living Translation. But it was to us that
revealed these things by His Spirit, for His
Spirit searches out everything and shows us that
God has deep secrets, or that God has deep secrets.
What's important about that scripture is it's
telling us that the word of God is going to reveal
to us God's secrets, and God's secrets, to some
people think it's God's will is one of those.
Well, it is of a secret to God until the Holy
Spirit helps us to receive God's will and understand
his will in our life and therefore he reveals
the Holy Spirit helps reveal the deep things
of God and the power of God that's to operate
in followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me
just digress for a second. This reading is just
so wonderful. I'm kind of getting excited about
it. I'm the energy that I believe the Lord has
placed in me to help people understand how to
understand their God's will for their life and
God's promises for them and that even the deep
secrets that he has for them, that I want to
emphasize what Paul's teaching was. First we
started off with Paul having problems. He was
struggling, right? And then we understand that
Paul is now directing us towards the Holy Spirit,
understanding exactly how we can overcome these
things. Then we read that Paul is telling us
that no one can possibly understand what's going
on except God can reveal those things to us.
And then we get into 1 Corinthians chapter 2,
verse 10 and 11. And remember 10 was, but it
was to us that God reveals these things by His
Spirit, for His Spirit searches out everything
and shows us God's deep secrets. But let's stay
with us now. Verse 11, no one can know a person's
thought except that person's own spirit. And
no one can know God's thoughts except God's own
spirit. Here we go. Here we go. That's how we
know God's will, through the spirit. And we have
received God's spirit, not in the world's spirit.
So we can know the wonderful things God has freely
given us. We just continue to get more and more
strength about understanding that God has a great
plan. God has a purpose for us. has great things
planned for us, and part of that is to operate
in His will. See, as we operate in His will,
then it'll open up the promises of God, the deep
things that God has promised for us, if we operate
in His will. Oh, help us, Lord, to understand
how crucial it is to know God's will and then
to operate in that will. Now, in 1st Corinthians
chapter 2 and verse 12, it says, we receive the
Holy Spirit. I just read that a second ago. We
receive the Holy Spirit so we can know, we can
know the wonderful things that God has freely
given us. I want to repeat that scripture one
more time just because it's so important to understand
that, yes, we will know, especially to some people
who might be listening and saying, I just cannot
seem to get over the hump to understand what
my purpose is in life and what God's will is
for me in my life. And what's God's will is for
me in various things I'm involved with. Well,
Paul's helping us with that. He's getting us
to understand that we have received God's Spirit.
So because of that, we will know. what God has
planned to give us, what He freely gives us.
And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse
14, in the New Living Translation, Paul continues
to write, listen to this, Paul's final greeting
to the church in Corinth. Listen to this, may
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you. Now, he's saying this at the very
end of his talking there, of his expressions
that he had, the Holy Spirit led him to speak.
And he's basically telling us that we got understand
that that God's grace is what allows us to have
communion with the Holy Spirit and have communion
with power of God himself and that God's grace
was submitted to us through the sacrifice of
his son, Jesus. And by sacrificing his son, he
showed how much he loved us and showed how much
he wants to have grace for us to forgive us of
our sins. And it says, so Christ, the love of
God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is
what he wants all of us to have. The fellowship
of the Holy Spirit. The fellowship of the Holy
Spirit. That's how we know God's will. We have
fellowship. We have relationship. We have daily
contact with the Holy Spirit in our life. and
we avoid just trying to do things on our own,
going in the direction that we think is fine
and then hoping that it turns out alright. No,
we don't do things that way. As Christians, we've
got to just surrender to the Holy Spirit, seek
God's Word for guidance and direction, pray daily
in some manner or another. I'm not saying 12
hours a day, I'm just saying you should have
a time of prayer each day to communicate with
God and ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide
and direct us. And all that comes together so
we will understand that the Holy Spirit knows
God's will and he reveals that to us as we follow
him. Now in John 14 26 in the New Living Translation
here's something else that was written this time
by John. It tells us that the Holy Spirit teaches
us and reminds us of what Jesus said. So once
again we learn a little bit of something from
another apostle who said who you know John is
saying hey I I understand now there's the Holy
Spirit that's teaching me and remind me of what
Jesus said so therefore once again surrender
to the Holy Spirit have fellowship with the Holy
Spirit, have communion with the Holy Spirit on
a daily basis, and he will... Reveal God's will
and help us to understand God's purpose for our
life. The Holy Spirit helps us with our life
and our relationship with Almighty God. I'm gonna
read that again. I wrote that down to share that
somewhere in this podcast and I felt like it
came up at the right time. The Holy Spirit helps
us with our life. Okay, that's the first part
of it and our relationship with Almighty God
and he does that through our relationship with
the Holy Spirit. Okay, I've spent about the first
half of this podcast maybe a little bit more
than the first half of this podcast talking about
how to know God's will. And one of the reasons
I did that is that we've got to understand the
consequences of not doing God's will when we
know to do His will. Now I told you a story in
a prior podcast about when we were living in
a little town called Sierra Vista. God had called
us into ministry and called me specifically into
preaching and I felt the power of God. But I
also had a career going with the bank and I wanted
to make enough money so I could support my family
and I was afraid. to go into ministry at that
time because I felt like I'm just too young.
I got to first get my career going and it was
all out of God's will. I mean, I was making all
these decisions on my own. So we ran up to Tucson
and I got another job that was helped building
my career. And I left the church where God was
talking to us so strongly and dealing with us
and helping with us and the church exploded and
was growing. But we left there and went to another
location. Well, I was out of God's will. And
during that whole time that we were in Tucson,
it was miserable. My boss was a terrible person
to work for. like the city that much. We didn't
enjoy it at all. Just the whole confusion of
the community was there were people who were
talking about things that were anti -God and
there were people I knew in business there. I
met more ungodly people than at any other time
during my banking career. And Lord, you know,
basically continued to bless us and help us and
we found a good church and we settled in there
and was trying to get an understanding of what
God wanted to do with us in our life. And I was
kind of doing what Paul was doing. I knew what
I should do, but I didn't do it. And even when
I was doing what I shouldn't be doing, I did
it anyways. And so that's why I guess I love
that scripture so much. But I understand that's
what happened in my life. And I hope that those
of you who are listening will understand that
those things do happen in our lives. That doesn't
mean God is done with it. He's through with us
and won't give us another chance. Because shortly
after being in Tucson for a couple of years,
we got a wonderful promotion to come back into
the Phoenix area where I really wanted to be
with my family. We found a fabulous church. We
got involved with amazing, amazing people. outreach
church that was reaching the community and just
doing great works and we started going there
right after we got back to Phoenix and we now
have still been associated with that same church
now for like 46 years and so we thank God for
that but God had a better plan and a great plan
for us but even if we walked away from what we
knew what to do and we didn't do it God will
still forgive us and cleanse us I think he did
that for Paul obviously Paul talked about all
the problems he had and the things he was doing
wrong, but God had a great plan for him. And
Paul turned in the direction of being led by
the Holy Spirit and God could use him in a greater
way than ever before. And I can see that's happening
in my own life. Now, when we were in Sierra Vista
in Southern Arizona, we were brand new Christians.
I mean, we had just found Jesus. We'd only been
Christians about a year. And we were really hungry,
reading the word of God, getting great Bible
teaching, but we were new Christians. sudden
there was an opportunity to go down to a little
town called Sierra Vista. We prayed about it.
We asked God to help us and we knew it was God's
will. We knew that we knew that we knew that
we were supposed to leave the Phoenix area and
go up to go down to Sierra Vista in Arizona.
Take this promotion in the bank. And because
of that, being led by the Spirit of God, that's
when the power of God fell upon that church and
there was just an explosion of growth. Just absolutely
amazing what took place. That God was using in
a glorious way A couple of young kids, my wife
and I, we were like about 27 years of age, had
only known the Lord for a year and a half or
so. But the Lord put us in positions of leadership
in the church and the pastor was our mentor and
helping us and his wife. And we were receiving
wonderful guidance and direction and knew that
the Holy Spirit wanted us there. And because
we were there, I mean, we look back on our life
and probably the greatest three, three and a
half years of our entire life was the time that
we lived in this little town in Sierra Vista.
when we felt the call of God on our life, and
it was just amazing. I didn't realize though,
that I would run in a different direction for
a while, but that God still had his hand on me.
And so then after I ran away from Sierra Vista
to Tucson, was miserable there, then went back
to Phoenix, then God said, okay, I'm still here
for you. If you want me, I'm going to help you.
I'm going to direct you. I'm going to guide you.
And I kept praying, Lord, I need to know your
will up here, because I know what I did wasn't
right down there. I was kind of running from
you. And I'm sorry, I... apologize, forgive me,
and I really had to repent for getting outside
of God's will. And when I did, it was amazing
how the floodgates of heaven just opened up.
And the Lord allowed us to prosper in the church
here in Phoenix, and it moved on to the point
that we were there for many years under great
teaching, a wonderful pastor, and the church
we were with grew from maybe a couple hundred
people to five or six thousand people. It was
just amazing. People getting saved every week,
outreaches in the city, just all kinds of great
things. And then in the middle of that, the pastor
came to me and said, I want you to go to another
city, go to Scottsdale, and start your own church.
And so we did. And then God turned around and
blessed that. So everything that I'd done prior
to that time, I know I'm giving you a lot of
stories, and I'm trying to keep them in order.
Okay, remember, new Christian, Sierra Vista in
God's will, Tucson out of God's will, back to
Phoenix in God's will, and then serving at a
church and doing our best to serve other people.
Then God directed us to start our own church.
So I know what It's like to be in and out of
God's will. I know what it's like to know that
God is leading you and when I know what to do
and I don't do it. And I hope that that'll be
a help to you and a blessing to those who are
listening in today. So therefore, the church
that we started in Scottsdale prospered and did
incredibly well. And for like 17 years, we were
the senior pastors, the church grew and it prospered
and God opened up great opportunities. Our church
had over 2000 people in attendance. We had three
locations in the Scottsdale area, South Scottsdale,
the middle of Scottsdale, up in a place called
Carefree, north of Scottsdale. And we had three
sites that we were working through, and the jail
ministries that we had were amazing, and 2 ,200,
2 ,300 people would be coming to our church services
in a week. It was just amazing. And then in the
middle of all that, we built this beautiful new
church that God provided the funds for, and it
just was amazing. When I thought, okay, now things
are going great, going great, all of a sudden
the Holy Spirit, okay, so now it's time for you
to step down and pass this on to a younger person.
So I was approaching 70 years old when that hit
me. And I thought, Lord, is that your will? Inside,
I did not want to do it. I did not. I didn't
want to leave the church. I didn't want to step
away from the church. But I felt the power of
the Holy Spirit telling me, it's time for you
to move on. I have greater plans for the church.
And you're going to be here. You're going to
be part of it. But you need to step away. So
my wife and I stepped away from being the senior
pastors. And we joined forces with another church.
It's called Dream City Church now. And our church
was the first one to join them. to cause this
expansion that took place but now just I hope
this helps some people listening in right now
because all of a sudden Through all that ups
and downs and ups and downs and things in and
out of God's will, all of a sudden we had this
opportunity, approaching 70 years of age, to
merge with another church. And I knew beyond
a shadow of a doubt that it was God's will. I
mean, I absolutely knew. I didn't want to do
it, but I knew it was His will. So we did. We
stepped aside. But as we stepped aside, then
we were asked also to join on the board of directors
of all the campuses we have. And now today, instead
of being a part of one church, We now have 11
campuses and we're involved quite heavily. We're
loving it. We know we're in God's will. We're
now the congregational care pastors at the church.
And so we know the people. We stayed at the same
church that we were at because we knew so many
people and wanted to encourage them to stay with
us and be with us. And God has blessed us to
give us new ministries, veterans ministries,
ministries for widows, ministries for mentoring
men and training men for me. And it's just simply
amazing. move of God, how he continues to use
you if you make yourself available to him. So
I hope that, kind of an arduous story, I feel
a little bit like I've given a whole lot of talk
without maybe enough scriptures to help you,
but I truly believe that the Lord wanted me to
share my in and out experiences, up and down
experiences with the Holy Spirit and with knowing
God's will that it might encourage some out there
who may have experienced the same thing or similar
things. I truly felt led to tell our story, because
I know God's will. and how it affected us. You
see, the benefit of knowing and doing God's will
is that our faith increases, our trust in God
grows, we become closer to God, we grow spiritually,
and we receive His peace. The challenges of not
knowing God's Spirit or following His Spirit
and following His will is confusion, doubt, fear,
anxiety, worry, and all kinds of things. And
those are things I don't want in my life. And
so I thank God for the opportunities He's given
us. But I look forward to the next 10, 20 years
as long as I'm going to be here on earth, that
God has great things planned and He's going to
do a great work as long as we ask the Holy Spirit
to guide and direct us according to God's will.
Well, I know this has been a little unusual type
podcast, one that where I've not talked in the
past that much about stories of our background,
our experiences and things, but I truly felt
led to the Holy Spirit. So I hope that was a
blessing to you. So before we close this podcast
out, I need to pray for you and talk about what's
upcoming. Heavenly Father for those who are listening
in I pray that you would touch them and bless
them and help them Lord that they would know
your will and if they're not in doing your will
father that Lord they would not give up that
they would continue to press on and do what you've
called them to do I pray the Holy Spirit would
give them wisdom would give them direction would
give them the knowledge that they need to move
forward to operate in your will and I pray Lord
a blessing upon those don't the father they'll
not feel discouraged or defeated or maybe that
God doesn't love him anymore, but Lord But I
just pray, Father, that you would help them to
be just obedient to your word, obedient to prayer,
and obedient to build a greater relationship
with the Holy Spirit. Father, I haven't got the
relationship I need with the Holy Spirit yet,
but I'm working on it every day, and I pray that
he would guide and direct each and every one
of us. Thank you, Lord, for those who are listening
in. Thank you, Father, that they've become a
part of this podcast. Bless them, Father, I pray,
and provide for them, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, if you'd like to know more, about Quality
Christian Living and about what we do in this
podcast, because this series on the Holy Spirit
is probably gonna be close to 30 or more podcasts
by the time we're finished, and depending on
how the Holy Spirit directs us. But there's a
number of podcasts. We've done a lot of different
topics. So if you'd like to know more about Quality
Christian Living, you can go to my webpage at
davidcfriendauthor .com. And when you pull up
the front page there, you'll notice a link there
to all the podcasts we've done. And so all of
these will continue to be listed I guess until
Jesus comes from what I've been told but they're
available to everyone there's some 300 and I
think 51 is what this one was podcasts that have
been done over a period of about four years so
there's topics dealing with finances there's
topics dealing with the Holy Spirit the gifts
of the Spirit how to operate in those gifts there's
series on faith and miracles and just every kind
of topic that the Lord has put upon my heart
to teach and bring to you after the 20 -some
years of pastoring and years of teaching in churches,
the Holy Spirit has given me a plethora of topics.
So you can just scroll down there and see which
ones you like. I see that daily people are picking
out stuff I've done two and three and four years
ago and listening to them and being blessed.
So I would encourage you to do that. In addition
to that, if you'd like to know about some of
the writings that I've had, you can scroll down
my web page, just one more page, and you'll see
a list of books that are on Amazon right now.
There's books on finances, there's books for
veterans, there's books for faith. and healings
and miracles and so I pray that you would be
blessed by those. Matter of fact I'm in the midst
of when this series is over I'm going to be doing
this if spirit leads as I think he is and that
is to write a book on the Holy Spirit and helping
people to know how he operates in our lives and
how to have the right relationship with him.
So that's something that we'll be doing and will
continue to do. We'll follow up our next podcast
will just be a follow -up of what we've done
on this one. I really feel like I I haven't been
able to express everything I wanna talk about
scripturally and about the Holy Spirit and God's
will. So we're gonna continue to do that for
one more week at least and see how the Holy Spirit
leads us there. So I hope that would be of interest
to you. I think the things we need to talk about
in our next podcast on the Holy Spirit and our
will and God's will is the purpose of the Holy
Spirit is to help believers, help other believers
about understanding God's will. And we'll look
at what are the ministries of the Holy Spirit
and how the Holy Spirit ministers to us and how
he helps us to do God's will. So with that, I
hope that you'll tune into that. If you'd like
to subscribe to my podcast, you can do that by
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choose to support us, we certainly do appreciate
that. So I'm going to close this podcast out
with a blessing for you and thank you so much
for listening in. I pray that God will bless
you and that he'll keep you and that his face
will shine upon you. He'll be gracious to you
and give you peace. May you prosper and be in
good health even as your soul prospers. So until
next time, may God bless you. God richly bless
you. May you know God's will and operate in God's
will and receive the leading and direction to
the Holy Spirit to help you in that direction.
May all of us desire a closer walk with God,
a stronger relationship with the Holy Spirit,
and just bless each and every one. I want to
thank you once again for listening to the Quality
Christian Living Podcast. I am your host, David
Friend. Thank you once again for listening in.