A Prayer for Guidance
By Meg Bucher
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” John 16:13 NLT
Admittedly, I tend to retreat when life throws a difficult situation in front of me. Conflict and division terrify me. But they are inevitable things adulting requires. Over the years, lots of time in the Word of God and in Christian counseling have helped me to improve upon my ability to face and walk through hard situations in Truth. Still a definite work in progress, I can look back and see the faithfulness of God to answer my prayers for guidance through the rough sea moments and rocky uphill climbs.
The Holy Spirit faithfully provides us with daily guidance. “The Spirit’s ministry of guiding Jesus’ followers into all the truth is a promise especially for these 11 disciples,” The ESV Global Study Bible explains, “It applies to their work of writing the NT books. The Promise also has a broader application to all believers. (Rom. 8:14; Gal 5:18). The ability to declare the things that are to come gives evidence of the full deity of the Holy Spirit (see Isa. 48:14).”
The apostles depended on the Spirit’s movement and guidance in situations of persecution and of focus in writing the books and letters we now embrace as the Bible. They didn’t know then all of their prose would be bound together, but they faithfully followed the Holy Spirit’s guidance in their lives. Jesus told them,
“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.” - John 16:1 NLT
I believe He encourages us similarly today. We may not be involved in penning the New Testament, but our text messages can certainly be strained before we send them. Our daily conversations, and even our thought lives, can be guided by the Holy Spirit if we submit to His leadership in our daily lives. Paul wrote to the Romans,
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” - Romans 8:14 NLT
Being children of God is our inheritance! We have the ability to be Spirit-led. “There is so much more I want to tell you,” Jesus said, “but you can’t bear it now.” (John 16:12 NLT) We often crave answers we don’t receive direct answers to. The Holy Spirit doesn’t drop a word out of of the sky, but He is faithful to help us see where we are going.
Let’s pray:
Father,
Praise You for sending Jesus to earth to save us. And thank You for Your Holy Spirit, who moves throughout our lives and dwells within us. It’s difficult to find our way through our days, sometimes. Life isn’t always clear, fair, or easy. Father, as we seek to be the people You purposed us to be, we pray for a fresh filling of Your Holy Spirit today. Come into our lives, minds, and hearts to direct us in the way of Your will, God. Help us to face difficult situations with confidence and truth. Teach us how to be assertive, and speak the truth in love, Father.
Father in heaven, we often want to know answers to questions that we aren’t meant to know the answers to. Help us to be patient, God, when answers seem to allude us …when healings don’t come in our time on this earth. Help us to understand the things which threaten to shake our faith God, in You, and in each other. Continue to teach us who You are, God, and who we are as Your children. Heirs to the Kingdom, help us to know what our role on this earth is. We know You have put unique gifts and purposes in all of us, Father. Today, we pray for Your guidance. Show us the way. Enlighten our minds to see with Your eyes. Calm the stirring of our souls to hear Your steady voice. Give us the supernatural, compassionate confidence we need to bring glory to You through our everyday lives.
In Jesus’ Name, we pray, Amen.
Additional Resources:
The ESV Global Study Bible®, ESV Bible® Copyright © 2012 by Crossway. All rights reserved.
Photo credit: ©Patrick Schneider/Unsplash
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