I’m on a journey to become more like Jesus. And as I walk with the Holy Spirit on that journey, I find that he is constantly leading me into deeper recesses of my own soul.

Illuminating areas of my life where he is at work…

Calling me to live out my identity as a child of the living God…

Recognize.

Remember.

Respond.

These 3 questions are helping me on my journey with Jesus…

1 – Can I recognize

Let’s be 100% clear, this isn’t the same as looking for what I want him to be doing – this is looking for what he is doing.

We need to take a glance through John 14-16 to see what Jesus promises the Spirit will do and then look for those things in our lives.

Once we have eyes to see what he is doing, we have a choice.

We can ignore it, or we can join him in it with thanksgiving and anticipation.

When we experience what the Bible says the Spirit will do, we are recognizing the Spirit at work in our lives and acknowledging him.

2 – Am I remembering

In John 14:26 and 16:13, Jesus says the Holy Spirit will remind me of what Jesus has said. It is only when I remember the truths about…

who God is (he is good, gracious, glorious, and great),
who I was (an enemy of God),
what Jesus has done (he freed me with his own life),
and what my identity is now (I am a child of the living God),

…that I will be rightly motivated to act on what the Holy Spirit is doing in my life.

When faced with areas that I don’t want to change, deep fears, or lies I’ve been believing for a long time, I often need to enlist other Christians to preach the gospel to me in love – to urge me to believe the truths I know in my head, but have a hard time believing in action or in my heart. Again I have a choice at this point, to trust Jesus and what he has done for me and to stand in the identity he has purchased for me, or to believe another story.

Once we recognize the Spirit’s work, he wants to lead us to remember Jesus and how the gospel applies to the issues he surfaces in our lives.

3 – How will I respond?

The next step is to discern in wisdom how the Spirit is calling me to respond. Sometimes the step of obedience I am to take is super clear; other times it takes other Christians to help me what the wise step is.

A quick tip: obedience doesn’t always mean adding something else to your list.

Sometimes, the Spirit might be calling you to rest, to say “no” to something, to walk away from an opportunity.

Once I’ve discerned the step of faith the Spirit is leading me to take, of course I’m again faced with a choice: to obey in faith or not.  

As I continually practice these three steps:

recognize and acknowledge his work,
remember the gospel truths and trust Jesus,
respond to his leading and obey,

… then I am able to progress on this great journey for which I was made. But not alone… never alone.  And that is the great joy of partnering with the Holy Spirit.

Asking these questions of ourselves and others should be at the very centre of journeying through the Christian life together.

If you are interested in a small group resource that helps you learn more about how to partner with the Holy Spirit, check this out: https://p2c.com/students/journey/

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About the Author

Sean Cullen

Sean was our previous National Director of Power to Change – Students. He lives in Edmonton with his wife Nancy, and five children.

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