Grace - His Presence Gives Us Confidence To Go Off The Map

The following passage is taken from Bill Johnson's book "When Heaven Invades Earth".  Enjoy!

"History provides us with a lesson from a great military leader.  Alexander the Great led his armies in victory after victory, and his desire for ever greater conquest finally brought him to the foot of the Himalayas.  He wanted to go beyond these intimidating mountains.  Yet, no one knew what was on the other side.  Senior officers were troubled by his new vision.  Why?  They had gone to the edge of their map--there was no map for the new territory that Alexander wanted to possess.  These officers had a decision to make:  would they be willing to follow their leader off the map, or would they be content to live within its boundaries?  They chose to follow Alexander.

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit can present us with the same dilemma.  While He never contradicts His Word, He is very comfortable contradicting our understanding of it.  Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security.  None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit.  He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth.  But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map--to go beyond what we know.  To do so successfully, we must recognize His presence above all.

There is a great difference between the way Jesus did ministry and the way it typically is done today.  He was completely dependent on what the Father was doing and saying.  He illustrated this lifestyle after His Holy Spirit baptism.  He followed the Holy Spirit's leading, even when it seemed unreasonable, which it often did.

The Church has all too often lived according to an intellectual approach to the Scriptures, void of the Holy Spirit's influence.  We have programs and institutions that in no way require the Spirit of God to survive.  In fact, much of what we call ministry has no safeguard in it to ensure that He is even present.  When our focus is not the presence of God, we end up doing the best we can for God.  Our intentions may be noble, but they are powerless in effect."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy