WHOSE SPIRIT?

Dearly Beloved, WHOSE SPIRIT? "When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to" (Acts 16:7 NIV). I can still remember vividly a little drama in my Yoruba Sunday school class many years ago when an elderly man was reading the above quoted passage. Instead of reading "the Spirit of Jesus," he read "the spirit of the devil." Interestingly, the word for the devil in Yoruba language, "ESU" is short of a letter from the transliteration of the word for Jesus in the language "JESU." The elderly man unintentionally confused the two words together. The other members of the class tried to cleverly correct the old man. Nevertheless, I learnt a lesson from the confusion. Reading the passage superficially, one may tend to intentionally think that it was the spirit of the devil that was hindering Paul and his companions to enter Bithynia to preach the gospel there. Probably, that was the thinking of the elderly man that misread the verse. However, it was the Spirit of JESUS, not that of the devil that did not allow them to go there because of His own divine plan for the missionary journey of Paul. The lesson from this misunderstanding of the verse is that there has been confusion to the spirit that is leading many men of God today, especially those that find it difficult to differentiate between the Spirit of Jesus and the spirit of the devil. Do you recognize when the Spirit of Jesus is leading you to do things that are contrary to your seeming good plan? Do you willingly yield to the leading of the Spirit of Jesus when He leads you to do things in His own way? It is a pity that the spirit of the devil is the one that is leading many people today, and they think that it is the Spirit of Jesus. Whose spirit is leading you, the Spirit of "JESU" or the spirit of "ESU"? "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14 NASB). In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). Prayer Requests: 1. Pray that you will have the discerning spirit to know when the Holy Spirit is leading you as against when the devil wants to mislead you. 2. Pray that our men and women of God will know when the Holy Spirit is leading them to do things against their seemingly good plans.