Christian Instincts

 

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”        Luke 11:13

 

 

“In my heart I knew I should leave, but I was afraid.”

“I saw the situation my child was in but I was afraid of what it would look like to others if I pulled her out. I wish I had stopped it when I could have.”

“It looked wrong and I thought I should­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________. You fill in the blank.

How many times, as Christians, have we been certain where we were or what we were doing was not right, but we were paralyzed to do anything about it?

Out of fear of what others might think or fear of some unknown consequences, we refuse to move on the “gut instinct” we know is right. The reasons we are stuck where we are often sound like one of these: “There is no one to help me if I leave now.”  “I would have nowhere to live if I say that now.” “Who would pay the bill if I don’t go through this?” Or, “I have already invested too much time and money to stop now.”

In the scriptures, we see that it is not uncommon for man to experience this kind of fear, a paralyzing fear. But, like David in the Psalms (Psalm 64) or Habakkuk in his time of desperation (Habakkuk 1:1- 3), by the remembrance of the Lord, they move from fear to faith.

In my own times of fear I am grateful for the reminder that, as a child of God, the Holy Spirit lives in me. I have an extra set of eyes and ears that see and hear much more than I do, especially when I am paralyzed by my fear. My own instincts cannot compare to His wisdom.

Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit. In John 14:26, He calls the Holy Spirit our Helper, and says He will teach us all things and bring to remembrance all that Jesus has said to us.

When we, as children of God, are in frightening circumstances or confusing or painful times, and we feel a nudge from the inside to move or make a change, to do what we know is right, (using the scripture as our standard) we need to act on that “nudge.”  The Holy Spirit, our Helper, often prompts us when to move  or remove ourselves. When we ignore Him, we tend to get ourselves into a heap of future problems.

Why do we question Him? Why do we refuse to think, in the moment, that we can turn to God and He, through His Spirit’s power, will direct our path. We say we believe He is trustworthy, but we often consider the fear of man before we think about the fear of God.

Christians, let’s train ourselves to remember what God has promised and trust Him to direct us when things look hopeless.

Even harder, when things look fine but that Holy Spirit nudge from the inside says, “Get out now.” Will we trust God and go or rely on our own instincts?