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Day 4: Your Holy Tour Guide:
On day 4, we’re talking about our holy tour guide, the Holy Spirit!

Let’s look at John 16:13 (KJV), where Jesus told His disciples, “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.” In this verse, Jesus used the example of a tour guide to describe the guiding ministry of the Holy Spirit. Just as a guide leads a group through a historical site, the Holy Spirit wants to guide us through life.

Jesus was informing us that if we are willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His instructions, He will act as a guide. The Holy Spirit knows what lies ahead of us. He knows the obstacles we should avoid; He sees our ultimate destination, and He knows God’s plan for us down to the smallest detail. The Holy Spirit knows every route God desires for us to take, and if we are willing to follow the Spirit’s leading, He will give us a wonderful and memorable experience along the journey.

I want to tell you that the Holy Spirit deeply desires to guide you on your journey. If you’ll let Him, He will offer you sound guidance in every sphere of life. If you listen to His voice, He will help you with decisions you need to make about your career, marriage, where you should live, etc. He is the only One who knows the future; therefore, He is the only One who is truly qualified to lead and guide you.

Divine guidance is one of the biggest challenges we face in the Christian life. However, Jesus explicitly said that the Holy Spirit is here to lead us every step along the way. What a relief and security it is to know that God the Father has charged the Holy Spirit with the responsibility of leading and guiding us to the right place at the right time—every single time. He also warns us away from certain people, places, and situations. This is His job! Without His direction, we are incapable of discerning where we should go, the people with whom we should surround ourselves, and the best timing for our endeavors.

The Bible is clear that God wants to lead us along the right paths. God doesn’t want us to make poor choices and mess up. The Bible says that God wants to lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (see Psalm 23). That means God wants to keep us on the right track. God has good plans already laid out for you, not bad plans. Our God is good, and He has promised to give us His guidance. God is not trying to keep His plans and guidance for you a secret. God wants you to know how to follow His guidance.

You cannot follow a world that does not follow God. You cannot serve God and money, you cannot serve God and anything else, you have got to make up your mind about who or what is going to be number one in your life. There can only be one number one. You cannot conform to this world and be just like everybody else and also be led by the Holy Spirit because He’s going in a different direction. Romans 12:2 (author paraphrase) says, “Do not be conformed to this world (do not copy the behavior or values of this world) but be transformed (let God transform you).” The major reason so many do not know what God wants them to do is because they are deeply rooted in this world’s system and ways of doing things; you cannot think like the world and think like God thinks. God’s plans for you are good. God wants you to overflow with His joy and peace, but those things are not found in this world.

If you want to be led by the Holy Spirit, you cannot follow friends that are not being led by God.

You have to stop allowing friends to influence your direction. One of the major reasons people miss God’s will for their lives—God’s perfect, good, and pleasing plan for their life—is because of peer pressure. Proverbs 13:20 says we should keep company with wise friends, and we’ll become wise. But if we associate with fools, our lives will suffer great hurt. Make sure your advice is coming from the right source. God wants you to have friends who are unbelievers, but you are to influence them; do not let them influence you. We are to love the people, no matter what kind of lifestyle they live, but we are to hate the world’s system of prejudices, racism, injustice, and sexism, and people hurting each other, envy, strife, division, etc. Love the people, hate the world's system.

The Holy Spirit is always guiding us. He intends for us to be in the right places, at the right times, doing the right things, with the right people so that God will be honored and glorified through us so that we can successfully accomplish all the plans God has for us.