“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” John 16:13 (ESV). Jesus spoke these words to the twelve before he was crucified. When the Holy Spirit came he truly did guide the Apostles into all the truth and we have this truth in their writings. And everyone who believes also has the Spirit of truth indwelling them. He also leads us into truth. He takes the words of Scripture and teaches them to our hearts. Our responsibility is to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) while we absorb Scripture so that we can be “rightly handling the word of truth” 2 Tim. 2:15 (ESV).
But how do we walk in the Spirit, especially when we don’t feel him? We do so by making the choice to depend on the Spirit instead of just ourselves, and then to have faith that he will guide us. We avoid our own misleading motives when we read Scripture and remember the motives of the Spirit. Sometimes we may feel the Spirit give an insight and sometimes we don’t feel the Spirit when he gives an insight. Either way, we are encouraged that we have the Spirit of God who will lead us into truth. Knowing the truth means knowing God and knowing Christ. Jesus said “I am the truth”.
