The Witness, Clearance, or Restraint of the Holy Spirit

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The apostle Paul did not always know exactly what the Lord wanted him to do. So if he was unable to find out supernaturally which way to go for ministry, he would simply go the way he thought best. If the Holy Spirit did not want him to go to that place at that time, He would give Paul a check or restraint in his own spirit.

The incidents in Acts 15 and 16 show the apostle operating this way when he intended to preach in Asia, but was rerouted by the Lord instead to Macedonia. These events prove that God has a general will as well as a specific will. It was His general will for the Gospel to be preached to every creature, but He had specific plans for when, where, and how it should be preached.

To know and follow God’s will for our lives, then, we must be very sensitive to the checks and restraints of the Holy Spirit. He will also “bear witness with our spirit” (Rom. 8:16b) to help us know His mind. The prophet Agabus, for example, gave Paul a prophecy that he was going to face suffering and prison in Jerusalem. The brethren tried to talk him out of going, but he went on, because the revelation was nothing new to him. The Spirit had been witnessing to the same truth in almost every city on his journey (Acts 20:22; 21:1–14). Agabus’s prophecy was just another confirmation of what had been said in numerous personal prophecies given to him before.

If you want the green light of God’s will to shine, then you must have clearance in your spirit. Never ignore promptings or restraints from the Holy Spirit; it will dull your spiritual senses. It will also change God’s ordained green light into a blinking yellow light inside that causes you to become either self-willed and set in your ways, or else bound up in a perpetual state of confusion and indecision.

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