For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” —- Romans 8:14 – 15 (NKJV)
Romans 8 introduces us to the powerful potential we have in Christ to conquer sin. The first half of this chapter tells us that we are in Christ and His Spirit is within us while the second half shows us how we are to live this new life we have received.
In the fourteenth verse, the Apostle Paul tells us that this new life is being led by the Spirit. This means that the Spirit of God is now in control of our lives, guiding us on what to do everywhere and every time. The Spirit directs us where to go and how to get there. John 16:13 describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth who will guide us in all truths.
As Christians we are to surrender completely to the Holy Spirit and trust Him to guide us in all our ways. Those who are led by the Spirit and live according to His guidance will always rise above the flesh. We must remember that the Spirit is gentle and does not force His will on us. A life led by the Spirit will not take chances on the life God has given us because as we continue to live by the Spirit, our lives become full of the word, prayers and service.
One may ask, what are the evidences of the leading of the Spirit in us? They include:
- His leading of our Prayer life: He nudges us to pray even when it’s not our scheduled prayer time.
- His revelation of God’s word: He bring alive and reveal the mysteries in the Word of God as we study the bible.
- The teaching and Preaching we hear: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 describes how the word of God rebukes, reproofs and corrects us so to make us equipped for every good work. God’s word comes to us with a purpose hence we should be ready to hear what He wants to tell us rather than what we want to hear.
- His word/direction through the voices of People: Proverbs 11:14 talks about receiving counsel from God’s people. God has placed spiritual leaders in our lives to help us discern His instructions. We will do well by not rebuffing their counsel.
- He changes our lives and keeps us from sin
- He helps us to manifest the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-25.
However, before the Holy Spirit can lead, we must get ourselves into a neutral position where we let go of our opinions and experiences. We should not expect the leading of the Spirit to be always easy. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil – Matthew 4:1. We must know that God is always with us.
Romans 8:14b describes those led of the Spirit as the sons of God. To be sons of God means that we portray the traits and divine nature of God which includes His peace, glory, patience etc. Therefore as believers, people who relate and come in contact with us should see a resemblance of God in us. The benefit of this sonship status is that we become the object of God’s special affection hence we can go to Him boldly without fear. We not only become heirs of God but joint heirs with Christ – Romans 8:17.
We should also know that we might still have failures and shortcomings but these failings should not overshadow the reality of our sonship in God.
Romans 8:15 expounds on the life we have been called to live apart from the law. It is a life of freedom in God through the Spirit. So we don’t live by our own power in trying to be all self-righteous but we live in the righteousness that comes from the Spirit of God. The sonship status is explained by our adoption in Christ which means our old life has been wiped off by the blood of Christ and this has made us new. In Romans 8:16, the Holy Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirit that we are God’s children. He assures us through the word of God.
Finally, we must always remember that to be led by the Spirit is one of the privileges of being a Christian.