Led by His SpiritSample

Starting in 1881, D. L. Moody began holding a conference each year at what was then known as the Mount Hermon Boys School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Moody had been born in Northfield, and though he worked for many years in Chicago, he kept his home in Northfield and spent summers there. Students and Christian workers from around the world began coming. As news spread about the conferences, the crowds grew larger and larger. The story goes that one year a preacher came up to the front of the auditorium and said, “I’ve come one hundred miles to get some of Mr. Moody’s spirit.” “You don’t want Moody’s spirit,” the reply came. “What you want is the Spirit of God.”

Each Christian has the Holy Spirit living within from the moment of salvation. This was the promise Jesus made before His crucifixion and it has been a promise kept ever since. The question is not whether we have the Holy Spirit, but whether He has us. Are our lives, thoughts, desires, and ambitions yielded to His control, or are we insisting on going our own way? Many times when people say that they do not know what to do, that is not the real problem. Instead, the problem is that what God wants them to do does not line up with their own desires. It is only when we are willing to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and obey Him that we receive the guidance and comfort He offers to provide. If we place our opinions and desires over what He says, we will not live in the fullness of His power. We cannot expect the guidance of the Holy Spirit if we are unwilling to go where He tells us to go.