You’ve been wandering from solid moral convictions—not that
others might know, but you know how you’ve been compromising.
This comparison of your private self and your public self causes you
to feel ashamed. You are at a turning point. The Holy Spirit shows
you how you must change by giving you very specific (sometimes
difficult), practical action steps that require an immediate response.
Will you comply, surrender, or let go immediately? Or will you
hesitate and waver in your obedience?
You encourage a stranger in some small way and then, almost
immediately, hear the words: “Thank you for being my
ambassador.” The warmth you feel inside reminds you that you just
joined God to bring needed encouragement to someone. Do you
smile and acknowledge the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, or do
you discount the encounter?Under the power of the Holy Spirit, you find courage to shake off a
compulsion that has been drawing you deeper under its control. Will
you hate it and no longer give it room in your life? Will you tell
others that you need help and accountability to stay on the right
track? Or will you keep hiding it?The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, reveals how your tongue or your
thoughts have veered from God’s Word—no amount of
rationalization can defend them. Unkindness or prejudice is not
tolerated by the Holy Spirit. He wants to obliterate such actions and
attitudes from your life and vocabulary. Will you let Him work it out
of you? Will you make amends? Will you relinquish old, immature
behavior for godly character?What did you think or feel when you read the previous
examples of how the Holy Spirit might talk to you? Maybe
you’ve thought that the Holy Spirit has never spoken to you.
But perhaps the Holy Spirit has been talking directly to you
through similar experiences and you just didn’t realize it.