“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and
He will tell you things to come.”          John 16:12-13 NKJV

Leadership principle number nine brings us back to the beginning of our study. The Holy Spirit is, above all things, our guide or leader. In this role He is our ultimate example. By examining His activities we find that it is impossible to be a spiritual leader without first learning to be led. The Spirit of God does not do anything on His own. He is a part of the greatest team in this or any God created universe, and stays accountable to the authority structure of the “Trinity.” He says only the things He hears, yet He moves with a fluid spontaneity, distributing a liberating kind of regulation to all He touches. Without this foundation our guidance of self and others will ultimately veer away from God, regardless of how spiritual our actions may look, sound or feel. This is the case in many of our religious organizations today. Ministers have been taught leadership principles without learning to first be led by the Spirit. As a result, they can proffer direction that congregants will follow, but not always in the most spiritual, important or beneficial way.

The Holy Spirit’s aim is to guide us into “truth.” The Greek word means “reality” and speaks of things as they really are, not as they seem to be. This is the forward path God is everlastingly leading us on. He desires to dip us deeper into the source of life, not just the ‘better lifestyle’ shallow end of a manmade pool. This temporal life will be over one day soon, and from there on out spirit will be the same concentric reality for us all.

The will of God is to direct and transform our lives now, developing in us a solid sense of spirit and truth. It is from this vantage point that God seeks His own to worship Him (John 4:23). So, let’s start giving Him what He requires while it is our choice…before He returns to demand it!