Spiritual GPS

I love the Global Positioning Satellite system! There are satellites hovering in the sky that make it possible for me to enter an address into a GPS enabled map app, and instantly I receive instructions by voice, by written directions, and even by taps on an Apple Watch anticipating each twist and turn on the way to my destination. It has effectively eliminated my need to recruit my wife as my navigator and exponentially decreased the likelihood of domestically induced road rage.

GPS has eliminated the need to print new maps every time a road is added or eliminated. If the GPS map in the satellite’s memory is current, millions of people will have happier marriages.

When God wanted to give us direction, he didn’t give us a map, He sent His Son and His Holy Spirit, whom we can access through prayer at any time. Our access to the Holy Spirit is even better than having Jesus walking on this earth (John 16:7)

The need for a printed map is eliminated when you have an experienced trail guide who knows the way intimately well. Like the voice of Siri or Alexa in a GPS map app, we have the best navigation system available to us.

Jesus didn’t deliver detailed instructions, "turn left at the stop sign" or "right turn only at the light" or warnings of a "dead end." He provided enough information for us to operate dependently upon Him by faith.

Printed maps have a limited shelf life; no one is using a traffic map from 1955 and no one has been successful at refolding it like the original. Which simply re-affirms the truism:

"as skewed as a medieval map.

Unfortunately, many Christians are still using outdated maps that were good in 1945, but not today. Christians need the principled leading of the Holy Spirit today more than ever. Jesus never intended us to use an antiquated map as He knew we would fail miserably without the Holy Spirit (our ever present trail guide), which is why He instructed the first church to keep praying and keep waiting another ten days for the Spirit to come on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:4).

Could it be that the tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit today is evidenced by the church looking so much like the church in a previous decade, instead of a vibrant, life filled body that Jesus intended?

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you today? He always speaks loud enough for the listening ear to hear.