Thursday

So continuing on with our discussion from yesterday, Sarah has asked more or less if the Holy Spirit speaks to us in any way apart from the Bible. What about when you remember a verse you have studied when presented with a situation? Is that your conscience or the Holy Spirit? I would say it is both. A well-trained conscience will remind you of what the Holy Spirit has taught you in your studies. That is why it is so important to be continually studying - to keep that conscience trained and open to the Holy Spirit's teaching. Some may feel that this is limiting the Holy Spirit in some way, but actually He seems to have limited Himself. We see in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit actually spoke to the disciples from time to time and He used WORDS - not impressions or feelings. Now that we have His complete revelation, He has chosen to speak through it instead. (1 Cor. 13) Does He still live among us? Absolutely. Does He work in our lives apart from the Word? Well, God answers prayers so in that sense He does - but only when it is in accord with God's will as presented in the Bible. Does He reveal Himself apart from the Word? In some ways. Romans 1 talks about things we are to learn from the creation itself. But when someone claims to have been urged by the Spirit to do something without scriptural authority, I have no way to test that and so must discount it.