Pay Attention to the Holy Spirit

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The Holy Spirit’s communication is gentle and humble—difficult for us to discern when we don’t pay attention.  We experience his leading as our hearts are prepared to pay attention to His communication with us. 

How do we prepare our hearts to pay attention? 

Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, direction, and leading.  With humility express your need for His wisdom. 

Find a quiet space to pay attention.  A quiet space is found by reducing the busyness and hurry that prevent us from paying attention to His guidance.   Slowing down the pace of our life creates unhurried space to pay attention to His wisdom. 

Waiting with trust develops an attitude of expectancy, believing His timing is better than ours.   What we think needs to be done now can be something the Holy Spirit thinks needs to be done later.  Waiting with trust allows us to remain open and ready to pay attention to His unexpected response.  Our impatience can block our attentiveness to His response. 

What do we pay attention to?  Or how does the Holy Spirit make himself known?

Pay attention to our thoughts.  The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom that is beyond our thinking.  He can provide new ideas, different ways of thinking that lead us to a Christlike perspective.  

Pay attention to the status of your heart.  The Spirit’s leading gives us a sense of peace.  Anxiety is an indication we are seeking our own agenda rather than His plan. 

Pay attention to the nudges to do or say something or to not do or say something.  His small nudge can gently lead us toward Christlike choices.   Our response to these nudges is our obedience to Him.  He is in charge of the outcome, not us.    

Pay attention to circumstances.  Are things easily moving forward as He opens the way or does it seem we are pushing to accomplish our own agenda?

Pay attention to the voice of others.   God uses friends, family and even strangers to speak a word that is significant to the issues we are dealing with.  Pay attention to them. 

Like any new habit, paying attention to the Holy Spirit takes practice.  One help in this endeavor is to spend time reflecting on your day.  Did you notice any evidence of His presence?  New thoughts, nudges, situations, or heart status that indicate His presence?  Though He is always with us we need training to pay attention to His presence.