Committed to the Holy Spirit’s Direction

“So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night” (Numbers 9:16).

In Numbers 9 we read of a cloud that came down and covered the tabernacle in the wilderness. This cloud represented God’s constant presence with his people, and for us today, the cloud serves as a type of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. At night, the cloud over the tabernacle became a pillar of fire, a warm glow in a dark place.

The children of Israel always followed this supernatural cloud, however it directed them. When it rose above the tabernacle, the people pulled up stakes and followed it. And wherever the cloud stopped, the people also stopped and pitched their tents (see 9:18-19).

Another cloud descended from heaven centuries later, at the Upper Room in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit — the same Spirit who had hovered over the wilderness tabernacle — came down and hovered over some hundred and twenty worshipers who had gathered in the Upper Room after Jesus’ death. This cloud came down into the very room where people sat, and it dwelled upon the heads of the people as cloven tongues of fire (see Acts 2:3).

We who love Jesus today also have a cloud to follow. We may be filled with the Holy Spirit but we still have to commit to taking orders from him. If we don’t wait for his direction in all things, we simply aren’t walking in the Spirit. Paul’s instructions make this distinction clear: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

The meaning of Paul’s phrase regarding walking in the Spirit means: “Just say yes!” “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20). So, according to Paul, walking in the Spirit begins when we give a confident, intractable “divine yes” to all of God’s promises. It is saying, “Father, I have read your promises, and I say yes to all of them. I believe your word to me.”

God will lead you into all truth, guiding you where he wants you to go and showing you things he wants you to know. Just say yes to him today!